The Giro is a month away, so who is going?

The Giro d’Italia is exactly one month away, its start in Fossacesia Marina, the first 2023 Grand Tour carrying a distinctive time trial flavour (three chronos for a total of 73.2 km) compared to this year’s Tour de France (22 km) and Vuelta a España (25 km). Who will be the contenders for the maglia rosa? There will likely be a new winner. Not only will Jai Hindley not be defending his pink jersey, but only two of the top-10 of the 2022 edition are returning.

The two obvious favourites are Olympic Games chrono champion Primož Roglič and 2022 Worlds time trial bronze medalist Remco Evenepoel. World road champipon Evenepoel bossed the UAE Tour to hoist the trophy before Roglič nipped him on the GC of Volta a Catalunya, a stage race with no time trials. Roglič also took his second Tirreno-Adriatico in the same month as Catalunya.

If Remco and Roglič are the locks for the first two steps of the podium, João Almeida heads the field to round it out. The Portuguese ace for UAE-Emirates was good at his home tour Volta ao Algarve, and even better in Tirreno-Adriatico (2nd) and the Volta a Catalunya (3rd). In his corner he’ll have Jay Vine, who got the season off to a roaring start with the Tour Down Under title, but crashed out of the UAE Tour.

Alexander Vlasov is a there or thereabouts rider who is always clanging around the top-10 of stage races and Grand Tours. Last season he was fifth in the Tour de France and came fourth in the 2021 Giro. So far in 2023 Vlasov has a fifth in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and ninth in Tirreno-Adriatico.

Strong time trialist Geraint Thomas aspires to be the Usual Ineos Threat, but 88th in this year’s Tour Down Under and 45th in the Volta a Catalunya is underwhelming. It’s more likely that his new Dutch teammate Thymen Arensman, sixth in last year’s Vuelta a España, or 2020 victor Tao Geoghegan Hart will be the ones to watch. After two runner-up spots in stage races to start the season and his second place in Milan-San Remo, Ineos fans might like Filippo Ganna’s chances in the TT-heavy Giro, but they should keep in mind that not only has he never finished a Grand Tour higher than 61st, but he’s also never come higher in the GC table than 63rd in a WorldTour stage race.

Other Italian choices are Domenico Pozzovivo of Israel-Premier Tech, three-time stage winner Giulio Ciccone of Trek-Segafredo and surprise 2021 runner-up Damiano Caruso.

Thomas, Arensmen, Geoghegan Hart, Vlasov and Pozzovivo will be contesting the 2.Pro-rated Tour of the Alps from April 17-21 in Italy and Austria.