Grand Tour season kicks off this week with the Giro d’Italia, which begins in Bulgaria before criss-crossing Italy en route to the now-traditional finish in Rome.
Last year’s edition proved to be an instant classic, with young starlet Isaac del Toro first establishing himself as the dominant rider within his own team, then the dominant rider within the race, leading the general classification standings until the penultimate day.
But his hopes of a maiden Grand Tour title crumbled as Simon Yates – cruelly denied on the very same climb in the 2018 edition – stormed away on the Colle delle Finestre to leapfrog him into the maglia rosa and complete a brilliant redemption arc.
Yates’ surprise retirement shortly before this season began means there will be no title defence for the former Visma-Lease a Bike rider, while 2024 champion Tadej Pogacar opted to prioritise the Spring Classics and a bid for a fifth Tour de France title this summer.
That leaves the door open to a host of other contenders in what should be another fascinating edition of the Giro.
Who isn’t riding?
The Giro field has been weakened by the withdrawal of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Joao Almeida, who ran Jonas Vingegaard close at the Vuelta a Espana last year.
The race had been billed as another showdown between the pair, with the Portuguese rider expected to lead the UAE team in Italy. But he confirmed less than two weeks before the start of the race that illness would prevent him from taking part.
Almeida enjoyed a breakout performance at the race in 2020 and is a former podium finisher, with his absence a major blow for both UAE and for the race itself.
Spain’s Mikel Landa has endured a torrid run at Grand Tours recently and will also miss out with a fractured pelvis, which he suffered when a race organiser’s car crashed into him at the Itzulia Basque Country stage race last month.
The 36-year-old had not been expected to be a major contender but is a two-time former podium finisher, most recently in 2022, and a wily operator who top riders are rightly wary of. The news of his forced withdrawal will be extra galling given he crashed out of last year’s Giro on the first day and had been hoping for a clear run at the race this time around.
Also absent will be last year’s third-place finisher and former champion Richard Carapaz. The EF-Education EasyPost rider is still recovering from surgery on a perineal cyst after the Volta a Catalunya earlier this season, and will now be targeting the Tour de France, with the Giro simply coming too soon. His absence means that not only is the race missing another genuine contender, but one of the sport’s biggest entertainers too.
Giro d’Italia general classification contenders and form guide
1) Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike)
The undisputed favourite. The Dane has enjoyed a strong start to his season, winning both the races he has entered, Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya, and winning the two toughest stages in the latter to leave him with plenty of confidence going into the Giro. The 29-year-old is targeting a clean sweep of Grand Tour titles after storming to victory at the Vuelta a Espana last summer, so has more motivation than ever. He can also count on a stronger and likely more unified team than some of his competitors – UAE Team Emirates XRG came under fire for seemingly prioritising stage-hunting over Almeida’s Vuelta challenge last year, and it seems likely that same philosophy will underpin their Giro.
2) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
The home favourite and king-in-waiting. The 22-year-old rose to prominence with a superb run at this race two years ago, when he was still riding for lower-tier team VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane, when he was narrowly pipped by none other than Tadej Pogacar to a stage win. He was sixth at both the Giro and Vuelta last year and won the Tour of the Alps last month, seeing off several of his soon-to-be-competitors at this corsa rosa including Egan Bernal, Thymen Arensman, and Michael Storer. The youngster is in brilliant form and will have the backing of his entire country behind him, as well as a strong team.
3) Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
Red Bull have the advantage (occasionally a disadvantage) of a two-pronged leadership strategy, with Pellizzari and Hindley both targeting a top result. The pair finished sixth and fourth respectively at last year’s Vuelta and seem to work well together. Illness has disrupted his early season, but Hindley is a former winner at this race and finished second in the 2020 edition, so has proven himself multiple times over three weeks. The pair also have Aleksandr Vlasov, himself a top-10 finisher at previous Grand Tours, and Giovanni Aleotti as super-domestiques, so have a strong team to rely on.
4) Egan Bernal (Netcompany-Ineos)
The Colombian fan favourite was once cycling’s next biggest thing, winning the Tour de France aged 22 seven years ago and claiming Ineos’ last Grand Tour win at the Giro in 2021. He has not been the same since a crash which nearly killed him in training in early 2022, but has recently showed some of his previous sparkle. He finished second at the Tour of the Alps to Pellizzari and was fifth at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, while he won a shortened stage of last year’s Vuelta and was sixth overall in the Giro last time out. This could be the year he gets back on a Grand Tour podium.
5) Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
At 33 Adam Yates isn’t a spring chicken by cycling standards, but he has plenty of Grand Tour experience and pedigree, with three top-10 finishes at the Tour de France and the resilience and nous to manage a three-week campaign. In the absence of Almeida the veteran Brit is the likeliest team leader for UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and he’s enjoyed a positive build-up to this year’s race, winning the O Gran Camino stage race last month. His brother Simon won last year’s race; could we get a Yates double?
6) Thymen Arensman (Netcompany-Ineos)
Now competing as Netcompany-Ineos rather than Ineos Grenadiers and with a brand-new injection of cash courtesy of their new sponsor, the British team will be hoping to make a splash at this year’s Giro and have two potential cards. As aforementioned Bernal has the experience of winning Grand Tours, while Dutch climber Arensman is a stage winner at the Tour and the Vuelta, and finished sixth at the Giro in 2023 and 2024. This could be the year he converts that obvious class into a podium finish.
7) Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek)
Derek Gee-West was fourth at last year’s race, riding for an underpowered Israel-PremierTech squad, which he left in acrimonious circumstances over the winter. His transfer to Lidl-Trek has yet to pay dividends after a stop-start beginning to the season, hampered by illness. But the Canadian has a decent team around him – with resources split between going for GC and helping sprinter Jonathan Milan – and Lidl-Trek also have swashbuckling Italian, three-time Giro stage winner and former King of the Mountains Giulio Ciccone as an extra card to play.
8) Enric Mas (Movistar)
The Spaniard leads the line for Movistar, who also have Javier Romo and Einer Rubio in their line-up should the veteran fall out of contention early on. Mas has three second-place finishes and one third at the Vuelta but has never enjoyed the same success at its Italian counterpart, so Rubio (eighth last year) – or Romo (seventh at last month’s Itzulia Basque Country) may end up being a safer bet for the team that is always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
9) Ben O’Connor
A stage winner at the Giro in 2020, O’Connor is a permanent fixture in Grand Tour top 10s – when his races aren’t ended prematurely by bad luck and crashes or injury. The Australian has plenty of experience in three-week races and has frequently ended up in contenders’ lists simply by getting into breakaways on brutally tough mountain stages and hauling back time then, a strategy which could serve him well in a race as unpredictable and difficult to control as the Giro. The summit finishes on offer suit him, as does the lack of time-trials.
10) Michael Storer
Australian Storer was 10th overall last year and tends to go slightly under the radar, so could benefit from a mountain stage breakaway ride that turns into a serious GC challenge, à la Isaac del Toro at last year’s race. He was 10th at last year’s race and in the 2024 edition, so clearly enjoys a corsa rosa, and looks to be in good form, finishing fourth overall at the Tour of the Alps.
11) Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM)
Another one for good luck: Austrian climber Gall was fifth at last year’s Tour de France and has pedigree in the high mountains, winning a brutal stage to Courchevel in 2023, so on paper would be expected to shine in the Giro’s mountain-heavy final week. He was fifth at the UAE Tour and sixth in a strong field at the Volta a Catalunya earlier this year, so looks to be slowly coming into perfect form for a tilt over three weeks – and the minimal time-trialling kilometres will suit him.
