Knox hoping to make Grand Tour debut at Giro d'Italia

Deceuninck-QuickStep neo-pro James Knox is hoping to make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia in May. At the moment, nothing is set in stone for the 23-year-old Brit who is in just his second year as a professional, but he’s working hard to make it onto the start line in Bologna.

"It’s not 100 per cent at the moment; things can change, but I’m going to keep working towards that and we’ll see what happens," Knox told Cyclingnews and Het Nieuwsblad. "I’m not going to cry about it if I don’t go. I’m hoping that I’m going to be good, though."

Knox is already making a case for himself this week at the UAE Tour, his third race of the season after the Tour Down Under and the Cadel Evans Road Race. The team have come focused on the sprints with Elia Viviani, but Knox has been allowed to work for himself on the mountain finishes. He showed his form by beating two Grand Tour winners on the summit finish of Jebel Hafeet.

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He says that the performances of his peers Egan Bernal (Team Sky) and Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal) show that it’s possible to come out of the under 23 category and hit the ground running, but he’s keeping his feet on the ground, too.

"It still feels like they’re in a completely different league to me so I’m not getting carried away. I was just clinging on for everything that I had on Jebel Hafeet, while those guys were playing around, attacking, and I didn’t have the legs to anything like that," he said.

"There were a few moments where I was able to get onto the back of the group and Valverde was there. He’s a hero of mine and to be racing with him and even close to him on a summit finish was a really nice feeling.

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