PARIS: Spain’s Mikel Landa will head up Team Sky’s challenge at the Giro d’Italia starting on Friday as the leader of a nine-man team. Landa won two stages as he finished third in last year’s race with Astana and goes into the season’s first Grand Tour in good form after winning the Tour of Trentino last month. Landa will be joined by compatriots David Lopez and Mikel Nieve, who will provide support in the mountains along with Colombian Sebastian Henao. Italian Elia Viviani, a stage two winner in Genoa last year, was also included in the team. The 99th edition of the Giro begins with a 9.8-kilometre individual time trial around Apeldoorn in the Netherlands.