The first Grand Tour of 2024 gets underway on May 4th when the Giro d’Italia begins in Turin. Tadej Pogačar is the main attraction as he makes his Giro debut as part of an attempt to win both the Tour of Italy and Tour de France.
UAE Team Emirates aren’t the only outfit to watch, with prime contenders coming from Ineos Grenadiers who will be backing last year’s runner-up Geraint Thomas, and Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale behind leader Ben O’Connor.
Visma-Lease a Bike come into the race missing Wout van Aert and hoping that Cian Uijtdebroeks can challenge for the GC, and Movistar’s newest hire, Nairo Quintana, is chasing stages after separating his collarbone in a crash at the Volta a Catalunya and lacking the form to race for the overall classification.
Other teams will be fully focussed on stage wins or minor classifications like the points, mountains or new Intergiro competition.
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Alpecin-Deceuninck
- Team leader: Kaden Groves
- Objective: Stage wins, points classification
- Riders to watch: Quinten Hermans
- Riders: Kaden Groves, Tobias Bayer, Nicola Conci, Quinten Hermans, Jimmy Janssens, Timo Kielich, Edward Planckaert, Fabio van den Bossche
Kaden Groves leads Alpecin-Deceuninck into the fourth Grand Tour of his career following successes at both the Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia over the previous two seasons.
Last year, the Australian enjoyed the best season of his career with seven wins, including two stages at the Volta a Catalunya and a victory in Salerno at this race. He’d round off his year with three wins and the points jersey at the Vuelta, confirming his arrival as one of the peloton’s top sprinters.
This May, he heads back to Italy facing a sterner test with a far stronger field of sprinters than he faced in Spain, where Filippo Gann was often his closest competitor. He’s also endured a slow start to the season, with no victories to date and ninth on stage 5 of the UAE Tour his sole top-10 placing.
Still, he’s the main man for the Belgian team in Italy, and there’s room to grow into the race with stage 5 looking like the first of five nailed-on sprint days (stages 3 and 4 look a tough ask for all but the hardiest fast men).
With the team’s biggest stars Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen focussed on July’s Tour de France, Welsford and the rest of his team will enjoy the freedom to get out and fight for stage wins across the three weeks, even if there are no real mountain goats in the squad.
Look out for Quinten Hermans in the hunt for stages. The Belgian hasn’t since hit the heights of a 2022 season which saw him podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but he took his first win in two years at Itzulia Basque Country and he’s strong in the hills.
Expect riders such as Edward Planckaert, Jimmy Janssens, and Tobias Bayer to figure in the lead-out train for Groves as well as heading out into the breakaway to seek their own chances. (DO)
Arkéa-B&B Hotels
- Team leader: David Dekker
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: Jenthe Biermans, Ewen Costiou
- Riders: Jenthe Biermans, Louis Barre, Ewen Costiou, David Dekker, Donavan Grondin, Michel Ries, Alan Riou, Alessandro Verre
The French squad aren’t one of the strongest squads in the WorldTour and that – plus their understandable focus on the Tour de France – shows in their Giro d’Italia selection.
The team are without their main stars in Classics man Luca Mozzato, sprinter Arnaud Démare, and hill climber Kévin Vauquelin. Instead, the eight-man squad is a definite ‘B team’, with Dutchman David Dekker likely their best chance at success.
Dekker has yet to win a race at professional level, though he did come close at the Giro last year, missing out in the stage 2 sprint as Jonathan Milan sped to victory. This year, his best results have been podium spots at the GP Monseré and a stage at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour.
Elsewhere, riders such as Jenthe Biermans and Ewen Costiou have both tasted success this year – at Pays de la Loire and the Route Adélie de Vitré – though neither will be among the first names anybody reaches for when tipping stage winners.
Look out for the team in breakaways, which figure to be their best chance at victory without a top-tier sprinter or climber on board. (DO)
Astana Qazaqstan
- Team leader: Lorenzo Fortunato
- Objective: GC top 15, stage wins
- Riders to watch: Max Kanter
- Riders: Simone Velasco, Davide Ballerini, Anthon Charmig, Lorenzo Fortunato, Max Kanter, Henok Mulueberhan, Vadim Pronskiy, Christian Scaroni
Climber Lorenzo Fortunato, he of the breakaway Monte Zoncolan victory three years ago, leads a struggling Astana Qazaqstan into the first Grand Tour of the season. The Kazakhstani squad is well down in the UCI rankings and will be desperate to pick up points in order to hang on to their WorldTour status in future.
The Italian represents their best chance at success on the GC and in the mountains here, having twice finished inside the top 16 during his time at Eolo-Kometa. He hasn’t had much to shout about this season, barring a top 10 at Tirreno-Adriatico, though he does have GC success at the Vuelta Asturias and Adriatica Ionica Race on his palmarès. One to watch when the road angles upwards.
Fellow new signings for 2024, Davide Ballerini and Max Kanter, will be hoping for glory on flatter ground. The two fastmen won’t have Mark Cavendish or Cees Bol to lead out here, but they’ll instead hope to replicate recent success at the Tour of Turkey.
On stage 2, albeit among a far weaker sprint field than the Giro’s, Ballerini led out Kanter for the German’s first win in his new colours and indeed the first win of his career. Could the confidence boost bring him another victory in Italy?
Elsewhere, Italian champion Simone Velasco and fellow former Gazprom-RusVelo man Cristian Scaroni will be leading the team’s charge in the breakaways and on hilly ground, though likely not so much in the higher mountains. (DO)
Bahrain Victorious
- Team leader: Damiano Caruso
- Objective: GC top 5
- Riders to watch: Antonio Tiberi, Phil Bauhaus
- Riders: Antonio Tiberi, Rainer Kepplinger, Phil Bauhaus, Damiano Caruso, Andrea Pasqualon, Wout Poels, Jasha Dimitri Sütterlin, Torstein Træen
As one of the more GC-focussed teams at the race, Bahrain Victorious look to head to Italy with at least a top 5 placing in Rome in their minds. 36-year-old Damiano Caruso, a veteran of 18 Grand Tours will lead the charge once again.
The Sicilian was a career-best second here three years ago and was fourth last time out, though over three minutes away from the last step on the podium. He figures to be the team’s best bet for success this May, even if he’s getting on in years and has shown very little in the way of form this spring, including at the Tour de Romandie.
Instead, plenty of eyes will be on Antonio Tiberi, the 22-year-old racer still known more for killing the San Marino Minister of Tourism’s cat two years ago than anything he’s yet achieved on the bike.
That could be slowly changing, however, given Tiberi’s increasingly promising performances over the last two seasons. He was 18th at the Vuelta a España last year and took a top 10 in Catalunya in March before finishing third overall at the Tour of the Alps.
Given the swift progress he’s been making, a top 15 or even top 10 might not be out of the question for Tiberi, though Caruso is still definitely the man most likely to bring home a major GC result. Wout Poels, sixth at the Tour of the Alps, is in good form, and could also show something, though likely not towards the top of the GC.
Watch out for Phil Bauhaus in the sprints. The German won a tough uphill sprint at Tirreno-Adriatico and has podiums to his name at the Tour Down Under and UAE Tour, too, so he should be in the mix on several flatter stages. (DO)
Bora-Hansgrohe
- Team leaders: Sam Welsford, Dani Martínez
- Objective: Stage wins, GC top 5
- Riders to watch: Florian Lipowitz
- Riders: Daniel Martinez, Giovanni Aleotti, Jonas Koch, Florian Lipowitz, Ryan Mullen, Maximilian Schachmann, Danny van Poppel, Sam Welsford
With Bora-Hansgrohe’s big focus of the season being the Tour de France with new signing Primož Roglič and GC super-domestiques Jai Hindley and Aleksandr Vlasov, it’s no surprise that the team’s Giro squad has a distinctly ‘B Team’ feel.
Still, Dani Martínez is a capable GC rider who can count a Giro d’Italia top-five finish on his palmarès, and the team can have hopes of a similar result here.
Martínez endured a down year in 2023, even with a Volta ao Algarve overall win coming early in the spring. A second place and two stage wins at the same race this spring has been his finest display in 2024, though his form is a question mark given he hasn’t raced since Tirreno-Adriatico six weeks ago.
Florian Lipowitz isn’t a rider many would’ve felt the need to take note of even as recently as a week ago, but the German climber has made a breakthrough at just the right time, racing to fourth and then a very narrow second on the summit finishes at the Tour de Romandie. The 23-year-old is likely to end his third career WorldTour stage race with a podium and is now certainly one to watch on his Grand Tour debut.
Giovanni Aleotti and Max Schachmann will all be on hand for GC support while also being capable of striking out on their own when they get the chance.
Away from the GC battle, Australian sprinter Sam Welsford is the man to watch for Bora-Hansgrohe, with Ryan Mullen on hand as pilot fish. The 28-year-old has been a late bloomer, turning pro just two seasons ago, but has racked up four WorldTour wins since last summer.
The former track star made his Grand Tour debut at last year’s Tour and the main objective of his second three-week outing this May will be adding a first Grand Tour stage win to his palmarès. (DO)
Cofidis
- Team leader: Stefano Oldani
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: Kenny Elissonde, Stanisław Aniołkowski
- Riders: Stefano Oldani, Stanisław Aniołkowski, Nicolas Debeaumarche, Kenny Elissonde, Rubén Fernández, Simon Geschke, Benjamin Thomas, Harrison Wood
As is the case with Arkéa-B&B Hotels, it’s a stretch to say that Cofidis are among the strongest squads at the Giro. Another French team, their Grand Tour priorities lie elsewhere, as shown in their squad selection.
There are no GC names or top-tier sprinters here. Instead, former stage winner and sole Italian in the lineup, Stefano Oldani, heads up the eight-man team. His only career win to date came at the Giro two years ago, triumphing from a large breakaway in Genoa for Alpecin-Fenix.
He’s good in the hills and likes to take his chances in the sprints – at last year’s Giro, he was in the break three times and scored five top-10 placings. So Oldani looks to be Cofidis’ best bet for success here.
Outside of him, the team will be looking for breakaway chances, with a handful of veteran racers likely to lead the charge. Kenny Elissonde, Simon Geschke, and Rubén Fernández are the men in question, though none of the trio have yet taken a top-10 result in 2024.
Polish rider Stanisław Aniołkowski, newly signed from the defunct Human Powered Health team, is another name to watch. He’s a fast finisher and has taken top-five results at the UAE Tour and Tirreno-Adriatico so far this season. (DO)
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
- Team leader: Ben O’Connor
- Objective: GC podium
- Riders to watch: Aurélien & Valentin Paret-Peintre
- Riders: Ben O’Connor, Alex Baudin, Aurélien Paret Peintre, Valentin Paret Peintre, Damien Touze, Bastien Tronchon, Andrea Vendrame, Lawrence Warbasse
Ben O’Connor can head into his first Giro d’Italia start since 2020 in high spirits, coming off the back of the best spring campaign of his career and with a first career Grand Tour podium spot well within his sights.
The Australian has a fourth place at the Tour de France on his palmarès but will be hoping to go at least one better this May, and he’ll start the Giro full of confidence following a series of impressive results over the past two months.
After starting his season with a big solo win at the Vuelta a Murcia, he took second at the UAE Tour with a Jebel Jais stage win to boot. Recent outings in Italy have seen him finish fifth at Tirreno-Adriatico and second at the Tour of the Alps, and he now heads to Piemonte as the bookies’ third favourite.
The 28-year-old will enjoy support from the Paret-Peintre brothers, Aurélien and Valentin, on a team which has already racked up more wins than they did in the entirety of the 2023 season.
Aurélien is responsible for the latest of these, winning the final stage at the Tour of Alps as Valentin finished fourth overall. His fifth place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was another indicator of his strong form, and, aside from O’Connor the brothers will be ones to watch for the French team this May.
Andrea Vendrame is the team’s Italian representative with the 29-year-old always good for one top result per outing. Three years ago he scored a breakaway win in Bagno di Romagna and comes into the Giro with two second places at the Tour de Romandie under his belt – one in a hilly sprint, and another from a summit finish breakaway. (DO)
DSM-Firmenich PostNL
- Team leaders: Fabio Jakobsen, Romain Bardet
- Objective: Stage wins, points classification, GC top 5
- Riders to watch: Chris Hamilton, Tobias Lund Andresen
- Riders: Romain Bardet, Tobias Lund Andresen, Christopher Hamilton, Fabio Jakobsen, David max Poole, Timo Roosen, Julius van den Berg, Kevin Vermaerke
Dutch squad DSM-Firmenich PostNL will be among a number of teams heading to the Giro looking to strike a balance between racing for their GC man and racking up sprint stage victories.
For the latter, they’ll look to new signing Fabio Jakobsen, the rider they revamped their sprint squad for over the winter as he joined from QuickStep. He’ll make his Giro debut with six Grand Tour stage wins plus a Vuelta points jersey to his name, and he’ll touch down in Piemonte as one of the top-tier sprint favourites.
Jakobsen has only tasted victory once so far in 2024 as he gets used to his new surroundings. He and his team will be hoping for more in Italy as his rivals there will pose a sterner test than the sprint field at the Tour of Turkey.
On the GC side, Romain Bardet can start his third Giro with renewed confidence after finishing his run-in to the race with a fifth place at the Tour of the Alps and having finished best of the rest behind Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The 33-year-old is far from a spent force at Grand Tour level, having finished sixth at the Tour de France just two years ago. Among this GC field, a top 10 or even a top 5 should be a realistic goal.
Elsewhere, look out for Chris Hamilton in the breakaways on hilly and mountainous terrain. The Australian likes to get out in long-range moves, picking his days at every Grand Tour he starts and will be aiming for an upgrade on his second place in Bagno di Romagna three years ago.
Second-year pro sprinter Tobias Lund Andresen is another to look out for. The Dane went to the Tour of Turkey as a lead-out man for Jakobsen but instead came away with three stage wins heading into his Grand Tour debut. (DO)
EF Education-EasyPost
- Team leader: Hugh Carthy
- Objective: Stage wins, GC top 10
- Riders to watch: Simon Carr
- Riders: Hugh Carthy, Alexander Cepeda, Stefan de Bod, Andrey Amador, Simon Carr, Esteban Chaves, Mikkel Honoré, Georg Steinhauser
Hugh Carthy leads the US squad into his seventh Giro as a man looking to recapture the form which saw him finish on the podium at the Vuelta a España four years ago.
The climber had looked on course for a similar result at the Giro in 2021 before fading during the final week and he has an eighth, a ninth, and a DNF to show for his past three outings in Italy.
It’s a mountainous Giro, which suits Carthy, though the two time trials will likely see him shed minutes to other contenders. Another top 10 and a stage win – it’d be his first victory in three seasons – would be a great outcome.
Fellow Briton Simon Carr is the member of the squad who has the most to show for his season so far, having opened his season with a long breakaway win at the Trofeo Calvià and having pulled off a similar long-range break triumph in the mountains of the Tour of the Alps.
He’ll certainly be off up the road during this, his third Giro, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see him add to his breakaway win tally.
South American racers Esteban Chaves and Alexander Cepeda are more than capable of pulling off a result in the hills and mountains, though neither have shown much sign of top form so far in 2024. Chaves’ third place on the opening day of the Tour of the Alps is the strongest sign of form from either. (DO)
Groupama-FDJ
- Team leader: Laurence Pithie
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: Lewis Askey
- Riders: Laurence Pithie, Lewis Askey, Cyril Barthe, Clément Davy, Lorenzo Germani, Olivier le Gac, Fabian Lienhard, Enzo Paleni
Yep, it’s another French team shorn of their top leaders and a Groupama-FDJ squad missing David Gaudu, Stefan Küng, Valentin Madouas, and Lenny Martinez.
The team have opted for a young squad for the Italian Grand Tour, with 21-year-old second-year pro Laurence Pithie heading the lineup after a very impressive spring campaign. The New Zealander has scored 13 top-10 placings this season, including a win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and a seventh place at his Paris-Roubaix debut.
As such, he’s easily Groupama-FDJ’s best chance at success at the Giro, even if he hasn’t raced since Roubaix. Look out for him in breakaways and also in the sprint finishes, with the hillier finals slightly more to his taste than the pan-flat days.
Elsewhere, Lewis Askey looks the man most likely to challenge for a result. The 22-year-old has been quiet so far in 2024, but took a clutch of top 10s at the Vuelta a España last year and also finished second at Paris-Tours.
Other promising youngsters on the team, including 21-year-old Enzo Paleni and 22-year-old Lorenzo Germani, will likely be given free rein to learn and make breaks where they can. (DO)
Ineos Grenadiers
- Team leader: Geraint Thomas
- Objective: GC podium
- Riders to watch: Filippo Ganna, Thymen Arensman
- Riders: Geraint Thomas, Thymen Arensman, Tobias Foss, Filippo Ganna, Jhonatan Narvaez, Magnus Sheffield, Ben Swift, Connor Swift
A year on from a devastating late loss of the maglia rosa in that Monte Lussari time trial, Geraint Thomas returns to the Giro d’Italia as the solid second favourite, behind the flying Tadej Pogačar but clear of the ‘best of the rest’ including Ben O’Connor, Damiano Caruso, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Romain Bardet, and more.
Once again, Thomas comes to the Giro having shown little in the way of Grand Tour-winning form, though slow – almost anonymous – starts to the season have been his modus operandi for some time now. Last year, he rounded out his Giro preparation with a spring-best 15th overall at the Tour of the Alps before finishing second to Primož Roglič. This time around he finished 13th.
Thomas is on track to challenge for the top placings, then. But how the team can take the fight to Pogačar remains unclear. The Slovenian’s long-range solos and aggressive attacking style aren’t a particularly good match for Thomas’ steadier riding.
Thymen Arensman, sixth here last year, is a capable ‘option 1b’, though even in a two vs one fight, Pogačar should still be favourite. The Dutchman has looked good this spring, taking fifth at the Volta ao Algarve and sixth at Tirreno-Adriatico, and could be on for another high placing, depending on how much he’ll be sacrificing himself for Thomas.
Elsewhere, six-time stage winner Filippo Ganna is impossible to ignore in a Giro with two time trials, even if the first of them concludes with 7km of climbing. Tour of the Alps stage winner Tobias Foss and Classics talents Magnus Sheffield and Jhonatan Narváez are all capable of adding stage wins to the team tally, depending on the freedom they’re allowed. (DO)
Intermarché-Wanty
- Team leader: Biniam Girmay
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: Madis Mihkels
- Riders: Biniam Girmay, Lilian Calmejane, Kevin Colleoni, Madis Mihkels, Simone Petilli, Adrien Petit, Dion Smith, Roel van Sintmaartensdijk
It has been two years since Biniam Girmay made history as the first Black African winner of a stage in the Giro d’Italia, and he’s coming into this year’s race as much less of an unknown.
A winner of a stage of the Tour de Suisse last year and the Surf Coast Classic after the Tour Down Under, Girmay missed out on any victories in his Tour de France debut. The Eritrean returns to the Giro d’Italia with high hopes and a team dedicated to delivering him to a win.
Should Girmay falter, then the team can look to Madis Mihkels. The Estonian has shown signs of form this year with a series of top-10 finishes from the Surf Coast Classic and Paris-Nice to Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix.
Beyond those two riders, there’s little else among Intermarché-Wanty’s Giro squad to suggest a big result is on the way. The likes of Lilian Calmejane, Kevin Colleoni, and Dion Smith should be visible in the breakaways, though. (LW)
Israel-Premier Tech
- Team leader: Michael Woods
- Objective: Stage wins, GC top 10
- Riders to watch: Simon Clarke, Nick Schultz
- Riders: Michael Woods, Simon Clarke, Marco Frigo, Hugo Hofstetter, Riley Pickrell, Nadav Raisberg, Nick Schultz, Ethan Vernon
Israel-Premier Tech enjoyed a thrilling Giro d’Italia last year with Derek Gee lighting up the race by going on the attack in seven different stages and finishing second on four of them. Gee might not have won a stage but he was awarded the most combative rider award and earned valuable points toward the team’s return to the WorldTour level in 2026.
Their GC hope will be Michael Woods, who last year staged a coup in the Tour de France to win the stage to Puy de Dôme from the breakaway. The Canadian would do well to target the second stage to the Santuario di Oropa and a shot at taking the maglia rosa.
The team will bring back Simon Clarke, a stage winner at both Tour de France and Vuelta a España who also went in several breakaways last year, coming closest on stage 6 when he and Alessandro De Marchi were caught in the final 300 metres. He’ll be hoping once again to try and complete the Grand Tour stage win triple.
Nick Schultz, winner of the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya, holding off Tadej Pogačar with a late burst to the line, is another rider capable of grabbing a stage win. In Ethan Vernon, winner of a stage in last year’s Tour de Romandie, and Hugo Hofstetter, the team also has two men capable of challenging in the sprints. (LW)
Jayco-AlUla
- Team leaders: Caleb Ewan, Luke Plapp
- Objective: Stage wins, points classification, GC top 10
- Riders to watch: Eddie Dunbar
- Riders: Alessandro de Marchi, Edward Dunbar, Caleb Ewan, Michael Hepburn, Luka Mezgec, Lucas Plapp, Max Walscheid, Filippo Zana
Jayco-AlUla head into the Giro d’Italia with Australian champion Luke Plapp as their overall contender. The Australian champion has only one Grand Tour under his belt, a 95th-place finish at the 2022 Vuelta a España, so he’s relatively untested.
He’s had a strong spring, though, finishing sixth at Paris-Nice with a second place atop Mont Brouilly to boot, and also took third at the first summit finish at the Tour de Romandie last week. It may be a long shot for Plapp to challenge for the very top GC placings, though his team also enjoy several options for stage wins.
With the return of Caleb Ewan, the team have a formidable sprint presence and the team to back him up with Max Walscheid and Luka Mezgec among those providing the motors. Ewan has never finished a Giro despite five starts and five stage wins, though maybe this year will be his first as the team are sending Dylan Groenewegen and Michael Matthews to the Tour de France.
Expect Alessandro De Marchi to be on the attack, as is his style, after his successful solo breakaway in the Tour of the Alps. Eddie Dunbar, who finished seventh overall in the Giro last year, is the team’s second go-to for the GC. However, the Irishman’s run-up to the Grand Tour this spring has been somewhat disrupted by injury. (LW)
Lidl-Trek
- Team leader: Jonathan Milan
- Objective: Stage wins, points classification, GC top 10
- Riders to watch: Juan Pedro López
- Riders: Jonathan Milan, Andrea Bagioli, Simone Consonni, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, Daan Hoole, Juan Pedro Lopez, Jasper Stuyven, Edward Theuns
With the reigning maglia ciclamino added to their squad over the winter and a former maglia rosa holder heading to Piemonte in top form, Lidl-Trek can be confident as they get the first Grand Tour of the season underway.
Sprinter Jonathan Milan will lead the way for the US team this May having burst onto the scene last year with a stage win and four second places en route to the points classification win.
But for his relative lack of positioning experience, the Olympic/world/European track champion would have won even more last May, though this time around he’ll have more help in the finals in the form of Simone Consonni, Jasper Stuyven, and Edward Theuns.
A couple of wins and points jerseys across the Volta a Valenciana and Tirreno-Adriatico suggest Milan hasn’t lost a step since moving from Bahrain Victorious, and he’ll begin the race as a top-tier sprint favourite.
Juan Pedro López enjoyed 10 days in the Giro lead two years ago on the way to a youth classification win and, if he didn’t really kick on from that in 2023, he’s heading back to Italy with both his first-ever race win and first-ever stage race win in his pocket.
The Spaniard beat the likes of Ben O’Connor, Antonio Tiberi, and Romain Bardet to comfortably conquer the Tour of the Alps to round out his Giro preparation, and he can look to the Giro now with more wins in his sights, and perhaps even a return to the overall top 10 in Rome. (DO)
Movistar
- Team leader: Nairo Quintana
- Objective: Stage wins, GC top 15
- Riders to watch: Fernando Gaviria, Einer Rubio
- Riders: Nairo Quintana, Ruben Guerreiro, William Barta, Davide Cimolai, Fernando Gaviria, Lorenzo Milesi, Einer Rubio, Pelayo Sanchez
Movistar have brought back Nairo Quintana this season after the Colombian’s disqualification from the Tour de France in 2022 left him teamless last year. They have been hoping that the 34-year-old can fill a gap as GC contender.
However, after his crash in the Volta a Catalunya, Quintana is in no shape to replicate years gone by – including his triumphant May in 2014 – and challenge for the highest GC placings.
Instead, the team will likely have to be content with targeting stage wins. Depending on his shape, Quintana might ride into form to be up there during the strenuous final week, while Fernando Gaviria will battle on the sprint stages. He’s another rider battling to recapture his form of the past, having not won a Grand Tour stage in five years.
Einer Rubio is the team’s GC dark horse. The last of three Colombians on the team, the climber was the winner of the severely shortened stage 13 to Crans-Montana at last year’s Giro on the way to an 11th-place overall finish. He’s been relatively quiet this spring, though, barring a couple of summit finish top 10s at the UAE Tour.
Elsewhere, Ruben Guerreiro is a frequent attacker and has the 2020 Giro mountains classification on his palmarès, while Will Barta, who won the final stage of the Volta a la Valenciana with a long solo breakaway, is another one to watch. (LW)
Polti-Kometa
- Team leader: Matteo Fabbro
- Objective: Stage wins, minor classifications
- Riders to watch: Mattia Bais, Davide Bais
- Riders: Matteo Fabbro, Davide Bais, Mattia Bais, Giovanni Lonardi, Mirco Maestri, Andrea Pietrobon, Davide Piganzoli, Jhonatan Restrepo
Wildcard squad Polti-Kometa are definitely underdogs in the Giro d’Italia and, like all good ProTeams, they’ll surely be present in every breakaway attempt to put on a good show for the tifosi.
The team scored a rare wildcard stage win on their first Giro appearance three years ago, with Lorenzo Fortunato delivering the goods from the breakaway on Monte Zoncolan. He’s moved on to the ailing Astana Qazastan this season, though, so the team will have to seek success elsewhere.
Matteo Fabbro is his prospective replacement, coming on board from Bora-Hansgrohe. The 29-year-old is a solid climber, though perhaps less talented than Fortunato. Fifth place at the 2021 Tirreno-Adriatico is a career highlight, while this year his top results are 10th at O Gran Camiño and 11th at the Tour of the Alps.
Davide Bais scored another stage win for the team at last year’s Giro, triumphing from a three-man break on stage 7 at Gran Sasso d’Italia. His older brother Mattia is another man who loves a breakaway and he showed some good form recently with third place at the Giro della Romagna. Mirco Maestri and Tour Colombia stage winner Jhonatan Restrepo are further options for the breaks.
The team have to get lucky again to get into a breakaway that sticks to have a chance at another success like that, and aside from a stage win, they’ll undoubtedly be on the hunt for another stint in the mountains jersey like Bais enjoyed last year. (LW)
Soudal-QuickStep
- Team leaders: Julian Alaphilippe, Tim Merlier
- Objective: Stage wins, points classification
- Riders to watch: Mauri Vansevenant
- Riders: Julian Alaphilippe, Josef Černý, Jan Hirt, Luke Lamperti, Tim Merlier, Pieter Serry, Bert van Lerberghe, Mauri Vansevenant
With Remco Evenepoel fully focussed on the Tour de France (and recovering from a broken collarbone from a crash in Itzulia Basque Country), Soudal-Quickstep start the Giro d’Italia with their eyes on sprints and stage wins.
Tim Merlier has been a huge asset to the team since joining from Alpecin-Deceuninck last year, racking up 18 wins since then. He provided their only spring Classics triumphs this year at Nokere Koerse and Scheldeprijs, and, having not raced a Grand Tour last year, will make his bow for the squad this May.
He’s undoubtedly their focus for the sprints and a bid for another maglia ciclamino to go with those won by Paolo Bettini (twice), Mark Cavendish, Fernando Gaviria, and Elia Viviani. Talented youngster Luke Lamperti will be a key part of Merlier’s train.
Julian Alaphilippe has shown glimmers of good form in recent weeks and will lead the charge for stage wins on the hilly stages and in mountain-stage breakaways.
Jan Hirt, sixth here in 2022, is another prospect for the latter and, along with young talent Mauri Vansevenant – who comes off two top-10 finishes at the Ardennes Classics – is the team’s best chance at a high GC placing in Rome. (LW)
Tudor Pro Cycling
- Team leaders: Alberto Dainese, Michael Storer
- Objective: Stage wins
- Riders to watch: Matteo Trentin, Marius Mayrhofer
- Riders: Matteo Trentin, Alberto Dainese, Robin Froidevaux, Alexander Kamp, Alexander Krieger, Marius Mayrhofer, Michael Storer, Florian Stork
Tudor Pro Cycling have earned their entry into the Giro d’Italia with a truly competitive team in 2024. Veteran competitor Matteo Trentin is the most experienced in the team and, along with Alberto Dainese and Michael Storer, will be leading the charge for stage victories.
Dainese is a two-time Giro stage winner and also has a Vuelta a España stage on his palmarès. He made the move from DSM over the winter to have more freedom and will be well-supported for the bunch sprints this year. So far in 2024, he has one sprint win, coming at the Région Pays de la Loire Tour.
Another newcomer is Storer, who won two stages and the mountains classification at the 2021 Vuelta. The Australian has racked up top-10 finishes at the UAE Tour and Tour of the Alps and finished second on the hard mountain stage to Borgo Valsugana at the latter race.
Marius Mayrhofer, winner of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race last year, has several top 10s across races including Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and several stages of Tirreno-Adriatico. He’ll have underlined a few of the stages with climbs before a flat finish in his road book, and of course, the always-aggressive Trentin will surely be on the attack on several days. (LW)
UAE Team Emirates
- Team leader: Tadej Pogačar
- Objective: Overall victory
- Riders to watch: Juan Molano
- Riders: Tadej Pogačar, Rui Oliveira, Mikkel Bjerg, Felix Großschartner, Vegard Stake Laengen, Rafał Majka, Juan Sebastian Molano, Domen Novak
If there’s one team at the Giro d’Italia with a single obvious goal lying ahead of them, it’s UAE Team Emirates, and Tadej Pogačar, who head into the race with the maglia rosa in mind. Given the season Pogačar has enjoyed so far, anything less than overall victory would be a disaster, especially with no Jonas Vingegaard or Primož Roglič around to challenge him.
Despite the presence of another Tour de France winner on the start line, and with the entire Giro ahead of us, the main questions hanging over Pogačar’s head seem to be ‘How much can he win by?’ and ‘Can he conserve his energy to complete the Giro-Tour double in July?’
He’s raced a limited schedule of just 10 race days heading to the Grande Partenza in Piemonte, but he’s already won seven times, including dominant displays at Strade Bianche (an 81km solo), the Volta a Catalunya (by almost four minutes), and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (a 35km solo).
Nothing is set in stone in cycling and anything can happen over the course of three weeks of racing, but UAE Team Emirates have put all their eggs in the Pogačar basket this Giro for a reason. Rafał Majka and Mikkel Bjerg figure to be among his top domestiques.
Elsewhere, there’s no sign of a Plan B with the team’s squadron of talented GC riders absent from the start list. Juan Sebastian Molano and Rui Oliveira will be the go-to riders for the sprinter-friendly stages, though neither will be top favourites for victories in what is a very strong sprint field. (DO)
VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè
- Team leader: Domenico Pozzovivo
- Objective: Stage wins, GC top 10, minor classifications
- Riders to watch: Giulio Pellizzarri
- Riders: Domenico Pozzovivo, Luca Covili, Filippo Fiorelli, Martin Marcellusi, Alessio Martinelli, Giulio Pellizzari, Alessandro Tonelli, Enrico Zanoncello
At the grand old age of 41, Domenico Pozzovivo found another lifeline for his career in VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, joining the team in late February after parting ways with Israel-Premier Tech over the winter.
It’s been more than a decade since the Italian won a Grand Tour stage (at the 2012 Giro), but he has 24 Grand Tours in his legs and has been a consistent top-10 finisher, including eighth at the Giro two years ago.
A top-10 finish at the Giro would be a huge result for the team which has raced every Giro but one since the 1990s. If Pozzovivo can stay healthy and avoid crashes, he’s certainly capable of such a result, having done so in the recent Giro d’Abruzzo and Settimana Coppi e Bartali.
Other riders capable of winning include Alessandro Tonelli, the only other rider over 30 in the young team, the winner of a stage in the Volta a la Valenciana this year. Enrico Zanoncello is a quick finisher who won the opening stage in Abruzzo.
The team won’t be putting pressure on Giulio Pellizzari, but the 20-year-old is a talent on the rise and his eighth place in the Tour of the Alps is a very promising sign for a solid overall finish. (LW)
Visma-Lease A Bike
- Team leaders: Olav Kooij, Cian Uijtdebroeks
- Objective: Stage wins, GC top 5
- Riders to watch: Christophe Laporte, Attila Valter
- Riders: Christophe Laporte, Edoardo Affini, Koen Bouwman, Robert Gesink, Olav Kooij, Jan Tratnik, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Attila Valter
Visma-Lease a Bike’s historic Grand Tour triple in 2023 will be exceedingly difficult to duplicate this time around with no Primož Roglič and Jonas Vingegaard recovering from his Itzulia Basque Country crash.
However, the ‘killer bees’ will be hoping that Cian Uijtdebroeks can live up to his promise as a GC hopeful that was so heavily touted in Belgium after his Tour de l’Avenir victory in 2022.
The 21-year-old finished eighth overall at last year’s Vuelta a España, and so is making his Grand Tour debut following his contentious mid-contract transfer from Bora-Hansgrohe. He hasn’t yet shown himself to be competitive against the likes of Tadej Pogačar this spring, his best results being fifth at O Gran Camiño and seventh at Tirreno-Adriatico, so he may have a mental disadvantage in that regard.
Sprinter Olav Kooij will make his Grand Tour debut after racking up 13 wins last year. He won’t have Wout van Aert on lead-out duties but will be among the top favourites on the flat stages.
Elsewhere, Jan Tratnik and Attila Valter will be first on hand to provide support to Uijtdebroeks in the mountains, while European champion Christophe Laporte will be on lead-out duties as well as seeking stage wins of his own. (LW)
