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After a spring full of spectacular classics, the cycling world turns all its attention to the three-week races, as the time has come for the Giro d'Italia (May 6-29). Held for the first time in 1909, the Giro is, without a doubt, one of the most prestigious races of the year, and wearing the pink jersey that distinguishes the race leader is a dream for any cyclist.

Route

In this edition, the Giro visits Hungary for the first three stages, and then it will cross Italy from south to north, with a route that includes stages in Sicily, Naples, Genoa, Turin and Verona, and that saves most of the mountains for the last week in the Alps.

If we break down the route, we can see that there are 2 time trial stages (2, 21), 6 flat stages for sprinters (3, 5, 6, 11, 13, 18), 6 mid-mountain stages that can be good for puncheurs and stage hunters (1, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14), and 7 mountains stages for climbers and riders competing for the general classification (4, 9, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20). As we said, the mountain stages are largely concentrated in the last week, when the winner of the race will be decided.

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Egan Bernal (1200) will not be in Italy to defend the title won in 2021, as he is still recovering from the serious accident he suffered while training in January. Instead, Ineos Grenadiers feature the 2019 Giro winner Richard Carapaz (1000) as the team leader. The Ecuadorian will be supported by a great team where Richie Porte (600) and Pavel Sivakov (400) stand out. Both riders start in a domestique role but have the capacity to compete for the general classification if Carapaz suffers any mishap.

João Almeida (1200), Simon Yates (800), Pello Bilbao (800), Guillaume Martin (800), Miguel Ángel López (800), Wilco Kelderman (800), Romain Bardet (800), Mikel Landa (800), Hugh John Carthy (600), Jai Hindley (600), Alejandro Valverde (800), Domenico Pozzovivo (400) or Vincenzo Nibali (400) are other men with the capacity to compete for the GC.

A nice fight for the ciclamino jersey of the points classification is also expected between the fast riders. Among them, Mathieu Van Der Poel (1000) stands out, as he wore the Tour de France’s yellow jersey in 2021, and has a great opportunity to also wear the pink jersey, since the tophill finish on the first stage fits perfectly to his characteristics. Mark Cavendish (1000), Arnaud Demare (1200), Caleb Ewan (1000), Giacomo Nizzolo (800), Fernando Gaviria (800), Phil Bauhaus (600), and Biniam Girmay (400) are other sprinters in the field who may have the ciclamino jersey as their main objective.