The 106th edition of the Italy spin will bring with it one of the most powerful battles for the throne of current cycling, the one that will present the slovenian Cousin Roglic and the belgian Remel Evenpoel during the almost 3,500 km and 21 stages into which the prestigious ‘Corsa Rosa’ will be divided.
Without the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar among the competitors, the one from Jumbo and the one from Quick-Step they grab all the spotlights as the two almost unique claimants to the title of a competition that will surely have a new winner, since the Australian Jay Hindley, current champion, will not participate.
Both cyclists come to the duel after the confrontation in the Volta Catalunya that Roglic arranged, but with the most important pending account of the last Vuelta a España in which, with Evenpoel ahead, the Slovenian had an accident that prevented him from competing until the end to get the victory.
The tour of the transalpine country, divided into 21 stageswill have a lot of time trial presence and up to seven hilltop finals, among which the Three Peaks of Lavaredo, in the northern region of Veneto, stands out, and with more than 50km of accumulated unevenness.
The variety of the route compared to last year, with more than twice the kilometers against the clock than in the previous editionwill be key for Evenpoel, who will seek to gain distance with a Roglic who feels comfortable with the demanding and always present and challenging Italian climbs through the Apennines, the Alps and the Dolomites.
Other big names such as the Danish Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), the Welshman Geraint Thomas (INEOS), the Portuguese Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) or the Russian Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) will present a candidacy to sneak on the podium together with the two favorites with a fight between them that, a priori, will take place one step below the level offered by Roglic and Evenpoel.
This Saturday the ‘Corsa Rosa’ will begin with a time trial on the shores of the Adriatic, in the Abruzzo regionin which there will only be seven Spanish riders, four of them defending Movistar, in what will be the time that fewer Spanish riders will participate in the modern era.
Something that greatly complicates a repeat of Mikel Landa’s podium feat last year. Movistar, with José Joaquín Rojas, Carlos Verona, Óscar Rodríguez and Albert Torres, is present at this Giro with the intention of supporting the Colombian Francisco Gaviria.
Jonathan Lastra (Cofidis), Diego Pablo Seville (Eolo Kometa) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) complete the list of Spaniards in the ‘Corsa Rosa’.
There is less than a day left before the start of the 106th edition of the Giro d’Italia, which will start with the first time trial, about 20 kilometers on the Costa dei Trabocchiand which will end in Ortona, the town where the first ‘Maglia rosa’ of the competition will be known.