The main goal is to place Foliforov as high up the general classification as possible. The 25-year-old won a stage of the 2016 Giro and goes into this year’s race in good form, having won the mountains classification at the recent Tour of the Alps.
Foliforov said: “I feel great and my preparation for the Giro is complete. Last year I experienced a Grand Tour for the first time and didn’t know what to expect.
“It was incredible to make the debut memorable with a stage win, but this year is a new challenge and we will strive to improve the result.”
Savitskiy twice finished in the top 10 in sprints at last year’s Giro and starts the 2017 edition buoyed by a third-place finish on stage four of the Tour of Croatia.
Savitskiy said: “The recent third place on the fourth stage on Tour of Croatia demonstrated that I am able to compete for victory with the strongest sprinters.
“I am prepared for fierce competition at the Giro and I will do my best to be in the top three on the flat stages.”
Firsanov will aim for stage wins in the mountains, while Brutt, Lagutin, Shalunov, Tsatevich and Rovny will target rolling days suited to breakaways.
Lagutin proved his expertise in winning out of breakaways when he finished first on stage eight of last year’s Vuelta a Espana, while Rovny finished second on stage 10 of last year’s Giro.
The race will be Gazprom-RusVelo’s second appearance at a Grand Tour, having made the first at the 2016 Giro.
Firsanov said: “After making our debut at Giro d’Italia last year, we go into this year’s race with more confidence and without the same pressure. I am in a good form right now and I am looking forward to targeting stage wins.”
Renat Khamidulin, general manager of Gazprom-RusVelo, said: “The racing calendar was planned to get the riders into peak form for the beginning of May. Everybody understands it’s the most important race of the season for us and we are ready to give our maximum.
“Our line-up is well balanced and the riders will be active on every stage. The focal point for us is to make progress and we are set up not only to repeat last year’s success, but to improve on it.”
