Antoine Duchesne will be the sole Canadian racing the Giro d’Italia

As of Saturday Antoine “Tony the Tiger” Duchesne will have started all three Grand Tours over a 10-year professional career. Duchesne was officially named to his Groupama-FDJ’s Giro d’Italia lineup on Tuesday. Tony the Tiger will be the sole Canadian racing the Giro this May. Last season Alex Cataford was the lone Canadian at the Italian Grand Tour.

└? #Giro104
└?? Matteo Badilatti
└?? Antoine Duchesne
└?? Simon Guglielmi
└?? Rudy Molard
└?? Sébastien Reichenbach
└?? Romain Seigle
└?? Attila Valter
└?? Lars van den Berg pic.twitter.com/qsKUAa8Awi

— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) May 4, 2021

This will be Duchesne’s fourth Grand Tour. He has completed two Vuelta a Españas–the first one with Team Europcar in 2015–and one Tour de France.

Groupama-FDJ will be chasing stage wins and possibly the mountains classification at the Giro. Neither of their GC big hitters–Thibaut Pinot and David Gaudu–will be racing in Italy. Pinot was penciled in for the Giro, but he continues to be hampered by back problems. After eighth in last year’s Vuelta, Gaudu will be looking to at least match that in this season’s Tour de France.

Duchesne recently completed the Tour de Alps in 108th. His only WorldTour stage race this season was the Vuelta a Catalunya where he was 119th. In Belgian Spring Classics, Tony the Tiger completed Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but did not finish the Tour of Flanders or the Scheldeprijs.

The Giro d’Italia begins on Saturday in Turin with a 8.6-km time trial.