Simon Yates heads into his fifth Giro d'Italia as one of the favorites to win, and while the BikeExchange-Jayco team is committed to supporting him in his GC challenge, he still has no intention of targeting the Maglia Rosa.

Yates knows how unpredictable this race can be; in 2018, he led the GC for 13 stages before giving up the lead on the third and final day and dropping down the order. However, he stepped up in the final stage of the 2021 Giro d'Italia and secured a spot on the overall podium in Milan with a third-place finish.

"I still have fond memories of the wonderful celebrations on the podium in Milan last year, and it wouldn't be bad to experience the same emotions again," Yates said in a team statement.

"From the start in Hungary to the final stage in Verona on May 29, the road will be long and tough, but I'm ready and I have great teammates, and I'm looking forward to the next stage in Milan, where I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun.

Michael Hepburn will defend Yates as road captain for his seventh Giro d'Italia, along with Chris Juul-Jensen and Australian Callum Scottson. The three were riding together when Yates finished third in 2021.

American and Italian time trial champions Lawson Craddock and Matteo Sobrero will also be part of the team, while Damien Howson and Lucas Hamilton (who is back racing after crashing over the barriers on stage 5 of Iturria-Basque in early April ) will be used to support the climb.

"The Giro d'Italia has been a big goal for the team in recent years, and this year is no different," said Hamilton. The Giro d'Italia has been a major goal for the team over the past few years and this year is no different. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to."

After years of fine-tuning his preparation, Yates started the season fifth in Ruta del Sol and second in Paris-Nice before falling ill after the third stage in Volta a Catalunya. After recovering, he began training at high altitude. The Vuelta Asturias, contested over three stages, was his last test of race form before the Giro.

"Simon is back from the Vuelta Asturias and it was good preparation for him and for the other teams after the high altitude block," White said.

Scotson, Howson, Craddock, and Jules-Jensen are also riding with Yates in the Asturias, and their team priorities are aligned, as is their preparation. The same is true for the Ineos Grenadiers, led by Richard Kalapas, who took Elia Viviani off the roster. However, they are aiming for a third consecutive team championship, a rival they have not publicly stated they are aiming for.

BikeExchange-Jayco is less aggressive in setting up the team's second Grand Tour win as the only mark of success at the Giro d'Italia, in addition to the British rider's 2018 Vuelta a España victory. The aim will be wider once the race starts, but that doesn't mean it won't narrow later on.

"Success in a sense is not the end result," Yates said. 'We want to go in with the best conditions and get the best result. If I don't win, that's okay because somebody else is better than me. If I go out there and I'm not at the level they want me to be, that's a failure for me."

"In terms of the actual race, it's always about the podium. You aim for the podium, and then when you get close to the final week, you see if you're in a position to win, and then you attack from there."