Mark Cavendish aims to win Giro d'Italia stage

Isle of Man rider Mark Cavendish hopes to win at least one stage in the Giro d'Italia after being named as leader of the Omega Pharma Quick-Step team.

Having won the 2011 Tour de France green jersey for the best sprinter, he missed out on the Giro points winner's red jersey by one point in 2012.

"My goal is to win at least a stage," said Cavendish. "Hopefully a jersey comes from that. I have to rely on winning stages to get jerseys."

The Giro starts on Saturday.

The first stage is a sprint and the Manxman knows he has a chance to win the pink jersey for race leader after that opening day.

"It would be a dream to take the pink jersey in the first stage," he said. "I've won it twice before in my career, and I'd love to do it again here in Napoli. It's a special race, the Giro d'Italia, so I'd like to get it started in a good way.

"There are not too many opportunities after the first stage on Saturday, maybe two or three for the sprinters, so we'll see how it goes."

Quick-Step sport director Davide Bramati said: "We start with a very good team built around Mark Cavendish.

"The presence of a pure sprinter will change our approach to the race."

Iljo Keisse, Serge Pauwels, Gert Steegmans, Julien Vermote (Belgium), Gianluca Brambilla, Matteo Trentin, Jerome Pineau (Italy) and Michal Golas (Poland) make up the rest of the team for the 21-stage race.

"In any stage where we have a possibility we have to try to do our best to go for the win," added Bramati.

"The competition is fierce, but we can count on a good group. We believe in our team and we will be there to try to fight and win."

Team Sky announced their nine-man line-up for the first Grand Tour of the season last Wednesday, with reigning Tour de France champion Sir Bradley Wiggins named as team leader.