Giro d'Italia 2016: rider reactions

What do the riders think of the 2016 Giro d'Italia course?

Valverde, Sagan, Basso, Contador and Nibali at the 2016 Giro d'Italia presentation. Source: AAP

The route of the 99th Giro d'Italia has been announced in Milan in front of an audience of top riders - but what do they think about the course?

One Vincenzo Nibali, fresh off his first Monument victory at Il Lombardia on Sunday is very favourable towards the 2016 Giro, signalling that he is likely to target the Giro over the Tour next year.

“After two years away, I’m obviously thinking about the Giro d’Italia,” he said.

“The route for 2016 is nice and pretty cool. There are three time trials and so it’s a difficult race from start to finish. It’s a tough but I like it.”

Nibali also suggested that perhaps it would be Fabio Aru's turn to face the heat of the Tour de France in 2016.

Meanwhile, Tom Dumoulin also looked keen to take a shot at the Italian Grand Tour - especially given the inclusion of the three time trials and a start in his home country.

"It loks very appealling," he said. "but I don't know yet. i haven't been thinking about next year yet. We'll see in the winter and then make a plan."

Two riders who definitely won't be at the 2016 Giro will be Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso.

“The Giro is always special for me. It’s the most beautiful race in the world. But next year it’ll be good to watch the Giro on television," Contador joked.

Basso, meanwhile, announced his retirement from racing following his diagnosis and subsequent recovery from testicular cancer earlier this year.

The last word must go to Peter Sagan, however, who said he'd be targeting the Giro general classification before insisting that he was joking. Or is he...?