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Can Simon Yates finally win the Giro d’Italia?

A look at the contenders for the first 2021 Grand Tour

Photo by: Sirotti

The 104th Giro d’Italia kicks off on Saturday with a flat, 8.6 km time trial in Turin. The race will be without its reigning champion, Tao Geoghegan Hart, who is being held back for an all-out Ineos Grenadiers assault on the Tour de France. In fact, there are no previous winners outside of Vincenzo Nibali vying for the pink jersey. But the big question this season is: Can Simon Yates finally finish his business with the Giro d’Italia?

Yates (Great Britain/Bike Exchange)
has had unfinished business with the Giro ever since his debut in 2018. In pink for thirteen days, Yates imploded on the penultimate GC day, finishing almost 38 minutes after stage winner Chris Froome and dropping to 18th before ultimately placing 21st. He consoled himself in September of 2018 with a Vuelta a España title. The next year one poor time trial limited him to eighth place. Last season he didn’t start Stage 8 after a COVID-19 positive.

Yates looked on great form at the Tour of the Alps, taking the crown over Pello Bilbao and Alexandr Vlasov. He also had top-10s at the Volta a Catalunya and Tirreno-Adriatico.

Colombian Egan Bernal has the best odds, and looked good at the Tour de la Province, Strade Bianche and Tirreno-Adriatico, but he hasn’t raced since March 13 and there are still worries about the back problems that plagued his 2020. Ineos has unleashed its usual Murderers’ Row to assist Bernal. It also has a Plan B in Pavel Sivakov.

A rider with a similar 2021 palmares to Yates is Vlasov. He emerged as Astana-Premier Tech’s best GC rider last season with fifth in Tirreno-Adriatico and 11th in the Vuelta a España. This year he has been on the podium of the Tour of the Alps and Paris-Nice. The Russian also has unfinished business with the Giro; last year in his Grand Tour debut, he had to withdraw on the second stage with stomach problems.

Alexandr Vlasov at the Tour of the Alps. Photo: Sirotti

The Wolfpack of Deceuninck-Quick Step will throw the weight of Fausto Masnada (Italy) and Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) behind the chances of one of last season’s Giro revelations, João Almeida. The Portuguese was third in the UAE Tour, sixth in Tirreno-Adriatico and seventh in the Volta a Catalunya this season. Betting odds are absurdly low on Evenepoel, a rider making his season debut after recovering from serious injuries suffered in last year’s Il Lombardia.

Almeida wore the pink jersey for 15 stages last year. Photo: Sirotti

There are a couple of Spanish possibilities. Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) was third in Paris-Nice and eighth in Itzulia Basque Country. He’ll have Bilbao and Damiano Caruso working for him. Marc Soler (Movistar) made some believers at the Tour de Romandie; not only did he take a win to lead the race, but he also beat Filippo Ganna and Rohan Dennis in the final time trial.

Other riders to look out for are Emanuel Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe), making his Giro debut; Hugh Carthy (Great Britain/EF Education-Nippo), third in last year’s Vuelta and fifth at the recent Tour de Romandie; and Team DSM’s duo of Romain Bardet (France) and Jai Hindley (Australia). Kiwi George Bennett is getting a chance to be head Bee of Jumbo-Visma—his best Grand Tour result is eighth in the 2018 Giro. Dan Martin (Ireland) is Israel Start-up Nation’s protected rider, but he hasn’t finished higher than 15th in his three 2021 stage races.

Just three weeks after breaking his wrist, two-time winner Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) was named to Trek-Segafredo’s squad, which prompted the team to post this announcement about the Shark of Messina: