Giro 2023: The favorites of the Tour of Italy under scrutiny, from Remco Evenepoel to Primoz Roglic via Geraint Thomas

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Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel as the big favourites, Geraint Thomas, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Joao Almeida as the outsiders of choice: the Giro plateau looks great…

Credit: Quentin Guichard

Remco Evenepoel

  • Country : Belgium
  • Crew : Soudal-Quick Step
  • Age : 23 years
  • 2nd entry
  • Best result : Abandonment (2021)
  • Coast :*****

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Like Midas, Remco Evenepoel turns everything he touches into gold. He had three goals in 2022 (Liège, Vuelta and the Worlds) and won everything. Rebelote at the end of April with a second Doyenne. Next on the list? The Giro of course. The competition is warned and with 70 kilometers of time trial, the Belgian will have enough to dig even if his opponents also know how to do the exercise. One of the doubts lies in his less powerful team, on paper, than the Jumbo-Visma. But Remco himself says he is stronger than on the last Vuelta, so…

Deprived of competition, Evenepoel crushed everything: the summary of the Remco-show

Primoz Roglic

  • Country : Slovenia
  • Crew : Jumbo Visma
  • Age : 33 Years
  • 3rd entry
  • Best result : 3rd (2019)
  • Coast :*****

Primoz Roglic has revenge to take. No, he will probably not win the Tour de France this year, and maybe never. His three Vueltas are already quite an accomplishment, but adding a Giro to them would give another color to the prize list of a rider who has dominated stage races since 2019. He has everything to triumph in this Tour of Italy and he scored a point in the duel which opposes him to Remco Evenepoel by beating him in Catalonia. Be careful not to underestimate Roglic, especially not.

Evenepoel tried everything but Roglic remained stuck in his wheel until the end

Joao Almeida

  • Country : Portugal
  • Crew : UAE Team Emirates
  • Age : 23 years
  • 4th participation
  • Best result : 4th (2020)
  • Coast :***

What if he was the third man behind the two ogres? Accustomed to the pink race for a few years now, 4th in 2020, 6th in 2021 before retiring in 2022, the Portuguese hopes to finally grab a place on the box on this edition, if not better. Comfortable in the lap times, always improving in the mountains where he manages to keep up with the best, João Almeida has confirmed that he is a complete rider and a threat on many terrains.

Arrived in UAE a little over a year ago, the former Soudal-Quick Step rider is also well surrounded with Jay Vine, Brandon McNulty and Davide Formolo. The Giro is Joao’s race. It’s up to him to prove it now.

Geraint Thomas

  • Country : Britain
  • Crew : INEOS Grenadiers
  • Age : 36 years
  • 5th participation
  • Best result : 80th (2012)
  • Coast : **
The G-Man is not necessarily in good shape before tackling this first Grand Tour of the season. But it’s not so bad, as he had confided in The Cycling Show. Victim of an infection on the Tour Down Under in January, the Welshman took time before starting the machine.

Thomas: “I don’t feel 100% before the start but maybe that’s a good thing”

If he has no reference in 2023, the winner of the Tour de France 2018 is not to be underestimated, far from it. Best of the rest of the pack on the last Grande Boucle, behind the gluttonous Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, Geraint Thomas still has some under the pedal at almost 37 years old (he will celebrate them on the 25th next hand). It remains to be seen if the rods will manage to heat up during these three weeks to play for the win.

Aleksandr Vlasov

  • Country : Russia
  • Crew : BORA-hansgrohe
  • Age : 27 years old
  • 3rd entry
  • Best result : 4th (2021)
  • Coast : **

Where is Aleksandr Vlasov? Sick, the Russian abandoned the Tour of the Alps but he participated in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in stride, taking an anonymous 46th place. So far his season is not reassuring since he only took 9th place in Tirreno-Adriatico before his retirement from the Tour of the Alps. But his recent history on the big tours (5th in the Tour de France 2022, 4th in the Giro 2021) pleads for him. It remains to be seen how he will manage the long kilometers of time trials, an event which he does not love without completely hating it.

Tao Geoghegan Hart

  • Country : Britain
  • Crew : INEOS Grenadiers
  • Age : 28 years
  • 3rd participation
  • Best result : Winner (2020)
  • Coast : **

INEOS has cartridges on this Giro. A former winner of the pink race too. Crowned in 2020, Tao Geoghegan Hart recovered in 2023 after three years of “looking for himself”. Winner of the Tour of the Alps, third in Tirreno-Adriatico, sixth in the Tour of Andalusia, the Londoner was reassured.

Second victory in two days, Geoghegan Hart is the strongest: the summary

However, if the squadron of Sir Dave Brailsford is provided, the winner of the 2020 edition does not have the label of absolute leader. Despite his bib 111, “TGH” should share the costume with Geraint Thomas. This is perhaps the “weak” point of his candidacy, yet very promising, for the podium.

If the six cities have solid assets to claim final victory. Others might also join in the battle. For his last Giro, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) will bravely play its luck. The Bahrain Victorious has two heavyweight outsiders in its ranks with Jack Haig And Damiano Caruso2nd in 2021 behind Egan Bernal. Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) or the veteran Domenico Pozzovivo (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) are also to follow.

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