Following Riche Porte’s withdrawal, Team Sky will enter this season’s Giro d’Italia without a dedicated leader, aiming to give all men from their nine-rider roster a chance to shine over three weeks of action. It seems unlikely for the British squad to repeat last year’s runner up result obtained with Rigoberto Uran, but one of their biggest GC hopes in the race, Dario Cataldo, hopes to eventually finish his home grand tour within the top ten after narrowly missing on making such result on two occasions.

After an experimental Team Sky roster for the Giro was announced, Peter Kennaugh seemed to be their biggest GC hope for the Italian grand tour, but their approach needed an additional adjustment following yet another twist of action, as the 24-year old Briton pulled out of competition less than a week before the race kicked off.

In such circumstances, it became clear that all riders from the nine-man roster will be provided with plenty of opportunities over the varied three weeks of action, but in terms of the general classification, Dario Cataldo and Kanstantin Siutsou appear as their strongest cards to play.

The British team entered the Giro with Sir Bradley Wiggins as the biggest star in a line-up last year, but this story proved that second-row Team Sky riders tend to be very effective when it comes to taking unexpected opportunities, and that’s exactly what Cataldo hopes to do in his home grand tour race.

The 29-year old Italian finished the Giro just outside the top ten in 2011 and 2012, and even though he realistically rules out a possibility to fight for a victory in the general classification, still has his sight on a highly coveted ‘maglia rosa’ and aims to eventually improve on his best 12th place in the event.

“It’s going to be nice to have an opportunity to ride for myself because in my last two Grand Tours I have rode for other people,” he told TeamSky.com. “At last year’s Giro I rode for Bradley [Wiggins], and then again for Rigo [Uran] at the Vuelta.”

“Whilst it’s a huge shame we’re not going to have Richie [Porte] here with us this time around, it’s given myself and Kosta [Siutsou] a chance we might not otherwise have got to go for the GC, and we’re both looking to impress.”

“Although we’re not champions like Richie, Brad or Chris [Froome], we’re still good riders and we’re motivated to give it a really good go.”

Cataldo rode very well in the Coppi e Bartali in March, to win the individual time trial and finish runner-up in the general classification, what was followed by a training camp at a high attitude alongside Siutsou, Froome and Porte. The 29-year old Italian claimed to be satisfied with his preparations towards the Giro and ready for a brutal final week of the competition.

“Before the Giro del Trentino both Kosta and I attended an altitude training camp in Tenerife with Richie and Froomey and it was a really good experience. The camp was really tough and in the first three days we did over 11,000 metres of climbing. That means we’re ready for a tough final week at the Giro which has a similar amount of climbing.”

“We used the Giro del Trentino to fine-tune our engines, and although it was hard to come down from altitude straight into a race situation, it allowed us to improve our sharpness and hopefully that will stand us in good stead for what is to come now.”

“I’ve come close to the top 10 on two occasions at the Giro but I lacked a bit of experience back then, which I’d like to think I’ve got now. That’s my goal – I’ve prepared and I think it’s possible – so I just have to see how the legs will respond once I get on the road.”

Even though Cataldo acknowledges that decisive climbs in the final week of this year’s Italian grand tour do not suits his characteristics perfectly, he believes that thorough preparations towards the event will help him to limit losses.

“That final week is going to be very tough and climbs like the Zoncolan, Gavia and Stelvio are not to my liking. I prefer longer, more gradual climbs with less steep gradients, but I’ve managed to get over them before and I hope I can do it again. Everything else on the parcours looks good for me, so if I can ride hard to limit my losses on those stages, I could be in a good position at the end.”

It comes as no surprise that the Giro d’Italia, known for its dedicated spectators and unique atmosphere, is exceptionally close to the heart of every Italian rider and Cataldo is no exception. Even though the Team Sky rider is aware that a battle for a victory in the event might turn out to be just beyond his reach, he hopes to wear the maglia rosa for at least one day, exactly like his team mate Salvatore Puccio did following their victorious TTT last season.

“It’s going to be a baptism of fire with the team time trial coming on the very first stage, but we always do OK in those stages and having guys like Edvald [Boasson Hagen] and Ben [Swift] with big engines will really help.”

“How we do there isn’t solely down to our performance, it depends a lot on the other teams as well, but we’ll go full gas and see what happens.”

“I can’t allow myself to think about wearing the Maglia Rosa like Salva [Puccio] did last year after we won the TTT in Ischia. It would be a dream come true to have it, even for one day. I’ve come close a few times in my career and it could become an obsession if I thought about it more.”

“It’s hard to put into words what the Giro means to an Italian. The Tour de France is the biggest race in the world, but for an Italian cyclist there is nothing more important than the Giro."

“The Maglia Rosa is something I’ve dreamt about wearing since childhood, and even when I was an under-23 rider and I won the Baby Giro, I was thinking about wearing the Maglia Rosa properly one day."

“Once the Giro is over, I want to try and make the Tour de France team and do a good job for Froomey, but right now my focus is on this because these types of chances don’t come around so often.”