Nibali and Mollema to Double in Giro and Tour

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Nibali and Mollema to Double in Giro and Tour
[Vincenzo Nibali and Bauke Mollema will compete in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, while Giulio Ciccone will lead the Vuelta a España after joining them in Italy in May.

Former world champion Mads Pedersen and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad winner Jasper Steiven will lead Trek-Segafredo in the spring classic and will join Nibali and Mollema on the eight-man Tour team for stage wins.

The Trek-Segafredo men's and women's teams will hold a preseason training camp in Denia, Spain, through January 25. The men's team will reveal more details about their goals and ambitions for the 2021 season later Monday.

Nibali won the Giro in 2013 and 2016, but last October he struggled against younger rivals, finishing seventh overall behind winner Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers). However, his coach, Paolo Slongo, is confident that Nibali can be competitive in Grand Tours in a normal season.

In the 2021 Giro, Mollema and Ciccone will share leadership with Nibali, taking pressure off the Sicilian. Nibali is then expected to try for a stage win at the Tour before leading Italy at the Tokyo Olympics. His contract with Trek-Segafredo runs through 2021, but he is eager to fight for one last season. He has been rumored to be moving to Ineos, but he could end his career with Trek-Segafredo.

Morema, 34, broke his wrist in a crash on stage 13 of the 2020 Tour. The team said he will try to build on his previous successes at the Tour and Vuelta with a stage win at the Giro before joining Nibali at the Tour.

Mollema finished fifth in the 2019 Giro and has three top-10 finishes in the Tour de France. He is also likely to be part of the Dutch team competing in the mountain road race at the Tokyo Olympics

Ciccone struggled in the 2020 Giro after recovering from COVID-19 just before the race, but if Nibali and Mollema go for a stage win, the 2021 Overall class, he could be Trek-Segafredo's best rider. The 26-year-old has won two stages in six appearances in his home Grand Tours and has won the mountains prize in 2019 while supporting Nibali.

Trek-Segafredo has confirmed that it will give Ciccone a clear leadership role in the Vuelta.

For the cobbled classics, Jasper Steiven and Mads Pedersen will lead a strong team that includes Quinn Simmons, Edward Theuns, and experienced domestiques Kiel Reynen and Kane de Court.

Pedersen swept aside rivals Mathieu van der Pol and Wout van Aert with a skillful run to win Ghent-Wevelgem in October.

They have been named to Trek-Segafredo's provisional Tour de France team, with four of the eight riders to be determined closer to the race.

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