Galdeano - Nieve hasn't been lucky

It's been a checkered year so far for Mikel Nieve.

The usually ever-reliable climber showed flickers of early-season form back in February when he finished third on a hard stage of the Tour Méditerranéen, but has since then found top results hard to come by due to persistent struggles with allergies.

Read: Allergies suspend Nieve's season

To get his season back on track, the 28-year-old opted out of the Tour de Romandie to "recover and start thinking about the second half of the season".

To perform up to expectations in that latter part of the season, Nieve will today travel to the thin air of Sierra Nevada along with a sizeable contingent of team-mates.

"He'll be back racing in the Bayern Rundfahrt and then the Dauphiné", team manager Igor González de Galdeano says. "Mikel has suffered from bad luck in this first part of the season, but he's now recovering from the health problems which hindered him. I hope he'll be back, fully competitive, by June and July".

Igor Antón, who'll co-lead the team with Nieve at this summer's Tour de France, is yet to decide on where he'll rev up for the big event.

"We still have to decide whether Igor goes to the Dauphiné or to the Tour de Suisse", de Galdeano explains. "We'll see how he does at the training camp and how he's going physically before deciding which race he'll line up in. There's plenty of time to take the right decision".

Joining the two ace climbers will be Romain Sicard, Juan José Oroz, Gorka and Ion Izagirre, Mikel Astarloza and Juan José Lobato.