Featured image courtesy of getty images
The first of the three Grand Tours is here – the 2021 Giro d’Italia.
It’s 90 years since Learco Guerra became the first man to win the coveted maglia rosa, a famous pink jersey that symbolises a bike race where Italy comes together to show off its beauty, history and total magnificence. To mark the 90th year, the 2021 Giro looks set to be an absolute stunner. Kicking off from Turin, taking in the Apennines, some gravel roads located in Tuscany, before venturing into the Dolomites – this is why La Corsa Rosa is often known as the toughest Grand Tour of the year.
The Tour de France is the most famous bike race on the planet, the Vuelta a España is the most mountainous, arduous and leg sapping, but it’s the Giro with its constant thrills and spills with snow still left on high mountain roads in May, that make the race for pink the hardest. All are a challenge in their own right but for now it’s the stunning scenery of Italy that captures the imagination.
3,479.9 km in total from Turin to Milan with two key time trials, uphill finishes, sprints and difficult mountain tests, who are the main contenders to win the Giro arrives in the city of fashion?
It’s May, where the Giro returns to its rightful spot. Last year’s race was rescheduled because of you know what, and the result was one of the most unexpected ever despite a reduced competitive field caused by positive COVID tests forcing teams to leave.
INEOS Grenadier’s had arguably one of their best Grand Tours to date. They lost leader Geraint Thomas to a crash only three days in, but in time trial world champion Filippo Ganna, Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez taking a stage win and Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart winning the race overall on the final stage – it was a sensational performance by the team.
Geoghegan Hart rode with a calm head, kept himself out of trouble, rode onwards as the stages passed, crept up the general classification until eventually he found himself in pink after knocking Jai Hindley out of contention in the final Milan time trial.
All in all it was a weird Giro to watch. Thomas crashing out with a fractured pelvis, other pre-race favourites Steven Kruijswijk and Simon Yates withdrawn because of COVID and young Portuguese Joâo Almeida, who wasn’t even meant to start the race, ended up wearing pink for 15 days!
No Tao Geoghegan Hart at this year’s race as he focuses on a Tour de France debut, so who will win this new race for Giro glory?
A former Vuelta champion looking to complete unfinished business. A previous Tour de France winner with some lingering doubts over how he can perform. A young debutant who should have made his Grand Tour debut last year and a two-time Giro champion loved by his home fans looking to bounce back.
There is no doubt that Simon Yates starts as favourite.
Winner of the 2018 Vuelta, there’s two reasons why Britain’s Simon Yates starts as pre-race favourite. The first is his recent form at the Tour of the Alps where he won the key mountain stage and sealed the overall title, plus top tens in Tirreno-Adriatico and Catalunya. The second reason is redemption, unfinished business for a rider who totally dominated the pink jersey, won three stages and looked unstoppable before falling from grace in the third week. That was the 2018 Giro d’Italia, when Yates lost it all, Chris Froome did the impossible and the rest is history.
Still only 28 years of age, it was his bounce back performance in 2018 from Giro disappointment to Vuelta success, that proves Simon Yates can win more Grand Tours than currently on his palmarès. Lessons were learnt from the 2018 Giro implosion and in 2019 he tried again but only managed eighth place.
Last year was a disaster because Yates had to pull out because of COVID, the first mountain test atop Mount Etna being a sure sign that he wasn’t looking good. Struggling and losing the wheel, Yates’s race gone out of the window.
Now comes a huge opportunity for Simon Yates. Watching fellow British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart win the Giro last year must have been both a delight to see but also frustrating, because by all rights Yates should’ve been in contention.
The route suits him, two time trials might make it slightly nervy as TT’s aren’t his strong point but in all fairness Yates has improved his time trialling. Adding a pink jersey on top of red in 2018 is the aim. It won’t be easy with other rivals and anything can happen on the road, but for sure Simon Yates starts as the man with unfinished business in Italy.
If it wasn’t for a lingering back problem then you would count Egan Bernal as an out-and-out Giro contender. The 2019 Tour de France champion starts as the rider INEOS have chosen to replicate the achievements of last year, but as many fans are predicting, it does look unlikely.
The back injury Bernal sustained last year definately cost him his title defence at the Tour, and the issue isn’t clearing away. How the Colombian rides is a big unknown. Preparations for the race have been low key and with no genuine insight into how Egan Bernal has fared alongside other rivals, it is hard to see how he does in Italy.
Bernal could yet come back and surprise, with some of his early 2021 results such as at Strade Bianche, showing some promise. The 2019 Tour victory was a surprise as the weather that year raked havoc, the first Colombian to win the yellow jersey, surely a new era of yellow dominance for Bernal? But that has yet to happen.
INEOS Grenadiers are the strongest team on paper and they do have options if all goes wrong with Bernal. Russian Pavel Sivakov finished ninth in the 2019 Giro, and despite a crash at the Tour of the Alps, he did look good and can easily influence how this Giro plays out on the road.
For Bernal though, questions remain as to whether he can put on a performance and challenge for pink – it looks a stretch to say the least.
One man who is certain to get a great cheer as the Giro winds around Italy is the former two-times champion Vincenzo Nibali, who rides as the veteran contender at 36 years of age, his tenth career start on home soil, and maybe his last? Winner of the pink jersey in 2013 and 2016, the shark of Messina is undoubtedly one of the greatest Grand Tour riders of his generation, the best descender in the pro peloton and on his day he lets the legs do all the talking.
But are Nibali’s days numbered? Last year was perfect evidence that the ‘old dog’ was eight minutes down and overshadowed by new emerging talent. That’s cycling and Vincenzo Nibali knows too well that the new kids are on the block. He did manage to finish second to 2019 champion Richard Carapaz but that was the last time it really looked good for Nibali at his home Grand Tour.
He did break his wrist when out training last month, so that does put into question whether injuries might dampen his progress. Trek-Segafredo don’t just have Nibali to ponder their tactics on. Dutchman Bauke Mollema has notable experience as one of the best climbers and in Italian Giulio Ciccone, he’s a former stage and King of the Mountains classification, a rider with pure talent who can go good.
From old to young, the talent of the new generation of riders is on show for everyone to see, and in one rider alone he will be a fine example of youth on display. At 21-years-of-age, Remco Evenepoel is on everyone’s lips. The Belgian was down to ride last year’s Giro, only to suffer an awful crash at Il Lombardia and miss out entirely.
Six months on and now Evenepoel gets a chance to make his debut but without any prior preparation. Like Egan Bernal, it is a complete unknown as to how he will go at this Giro. Will he shock everyone and win the pink jersey? It would take something incredible for him to do such a thing, but this young man can do near enough everything when it comes to showcasing supreme cycling talent.
Deceuninck-Quick Step arrive with arguably the strongest team. They are not coming with a sprinter, all in for trying with Remco Evenepoel but with his wingman, the rider who wasn’t meant to start the Giro last year. Portuguese climber João Almeida (below) arrives as the man who rode as superstar in 2020. He wore pink for 15 years with pride. Winning the overall title was unlikely but Almeida certainly rode with courage to finish fourth overall.
Confidence and experience from last year’s stint in pink will have been a huge positive for Almeida. He’s a good time triallist too but with less TT kilometres compared to last year’s race, climbing among the best in the mountains must be a priority.
Who else could realistically challenge for the maglia rosa?
Astana Premier Tech have a rising Russian star in Aleksandr Vlasov. Finishing second at Paris-Nice back in March, Vlasov was the only man who could keep up with Simon Yates at the Tour of the Alps and at this Giro, like Yates, it’ll be unfinished business as Vlasov had to withdraw from the race just two days in last year. Suffering from illness, the 25-year-old will be looking for a Giro bounce back.
Simon Yates isn’t the only British rider to keep your eyes on at this Giro. Last year’s third place in the Vuelta was a huge step forward in the career of Hugh Carthy. He was solid at the Tour of Catalunya and Itzulia Basque Country and in the Tour of the Alps, a fifth place overall showed that Carthy is on the right path. Can he build on his third place at the 2020 Vuelta? Winning atop the ridiculous slopes of Angliru was a defining moment, and maybe just maybe could it be possible that Hugh Carthy triumphs on top of the Zoncolan? Simon Yates is from Lancashire, Hugh Carthy the same, it could come down to a battle between the Lancastrians at this Giro!
Basque rider Mikel Landa starts another Giro d’Italia but this time as outright leader. He is always a rider who can perform to the highest level but has only finished on a Grand Tour podium once – six years ago at the Giro. 32-years-of-age, Landa (below) arrives with a strong Bahrain-Victorious team with the ever dependable Damiano Caruso, a good all-rounder in Matej Mohorič and in fellow Spaniard Pello Bilbao, he did finish fifth at last year’s race. This could be Mikel Landa’s last chance to try and win a Grand Tour.
Last year’s runner-up Jai Hindley also starts for Team DSM. The Australian was unfortunate to crash and abandon the Tour of the Alps recently but to be fair Hindley did look spiritedly bright and up for the fight. He took a stage victory last year, found himself riding ahead of team-mate Wilco Kelderman as he lost the pink jersey, Hindley taking pink himself before losing out to Geoghegan Hart in the final TT. Because the field was severely diminished last year, it is hard to see if Jai Hindley can repeat the same performances as last year.
Hindley will also be joined by Team DSM team-mate Romain Bardet, who is riding his first year with a new team and a fresh start. Bardet was tipped as the man to try and conquer the French Tour de France drought, but for 2021 he has decided to ride in Italy instead, to take away the added pressure French contenders for yellow get year after year. Romain Bardet should ride well, not so much as a genuine contender for pink but it’ll be good to see him racing among different terrain. Who knows the Giro might suit him better!
Anyone else?
- Fourth place at the 2019 Tour seems a long time ago now for German Emanuel Buchmann. The Bora-Hansgrohe rider has been tempted to ride in Italy instead for this year. Inconsistency is Buchmann’s current problem and he could be overshadowed by Bora’s team objectives – Peter Sagan is back to ride the Giro again.
- A slow start to the season but showing off good climbing in the legs should give Irishman Dan Martin some confidence. Another rider who suffered from a crash at the Tour of the Alps, he has the ability to suffer during a three week Grand Tour while keeping pace and being consistent. This Giro should be good venture and maybe a stage win would make things all the better for Martin as well.
- Grand Tour leadership for Jumbo-Visma’s George Bennett means some freedom to try your best. The Kiwi starts in a team that might have more of a focus on winning sprints, but that doesn’t mean that Bennett cannot compete in the mountains.
- For former Tour de l’Avenir winner Marc Soler, he leads Movistar outright. While Enric Mas, Miguel Angel Lopez, and Alejandro Valverde all focus on the Tour de France, Soler will be looking to take team leadership by the scruff of the neck.
The 104th Giro d’Italia. The Grand Tours are on the verge of starting. Who wins the pink jersey is the big question. Plenty of names to watch as we learn their fate across the next three weeks.
