2024 Giro d’Italia Preview

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, by Max Leonard

Photography courtesy of: MirrorMedia.art / Giro d'Italia

The 2024 Giro d'Italia will test some of the world's best riders to their limits. The 21 stage race starts on Saturday May 4, finishing in Rome three weeks later. Cycling journalist Max Leonard previews the challenging route and names the riders to watch out for.

The route

The 107th edition of the Giro d’Italia begins on Saturday 4 May in Turin and finishes at the Colosseum in Rome on Sunday three weeks later. In between, it traverses 3400.8km / 2113.1 mi and climbs 44,650m / 146,500 ft around Il Bel Paese, heading anti-clockwise around the country. It travels down the western side as far as Pompei, then across and up the Adriatic Coast towards a final week filled with the testing mountain roads of the eastern ranges of the Alps, before a flight transfer for the final stage in Rome.

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The average stage length is 161.9km / 100.6 mi, and, unusually, the race contains two relatively long individual time trials. Stage 7 from Foligno to Ponte Vallecepi is 40.6km / 25.2 mi long, ending in a 274 vertical-metre (899 ft) climb; Stage 14, meanwhile, runs from Castiglione delle Stiviere 31.2 km / 19.4 mi to Desenzano del Garda, on the famous lake, and is flat, with a slight net downhill from start to finish.

Overall, the course looks set to provoke a very attacking race, with relatively short stages, and climbs from Stage 1 and the first summit finish on Stage 2 at the Santuario di Oropa. Stage 6 features some of the Tuscan white gravel roads made famous by the Strade Bianche one-day race – always a spectacle – and Stage 8 in the Apennines is the race’s first full mountain stage. The mountain highlights, however, come after a quiet middle week, in a fiendishly difficult last few days that are crowned by two ascents of Monte Grappa in the penultimate stage.

The riders

There’ll be plenty of breakaways and riders going for individual stages – which should make up for the expected lack of competition in the fight for the overall leader’s maglia rosa. Team UAE’s young maestro Tadej Pogačar is attempting the Giro-Tour double this year, and – let’s be honest – there is nobody on the start sheet with the talent or the form to stop him.

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Last year’s winner, Visma–Lease a Bike’s Primož Roglič, has opted for the Tour de France this year, and the true GC battle will probably be for second place. Ineos Grenadiers’ Geraint Thomas, second in 2023, will probably be first among Pogačar’s chasing pack. On his heels will be other team leaders like AG2R’s Ben O’Connor, Israel–Premier Tech’s Mike Woods, Team dsm–firmenich PostNL’s veteran Romain Bardet and Bora–Hansgrohe’s Dani Martinez scrapping for podium places and stage wins.

Visma–Lease a Bike’s ingénu Cian Uijtdebroeks might be the one to watch as a talent emerging onto the biggest stage, after team-mate Wout van Aert pulled out due to injury.

Riders to follow:

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Tadej Pogačar

Progously talented and utterly engaging, Tadej Pogačar not only won the 2020 and 2021 editions of the Tour de France, he also took three different jerseys in the process. The Slovenian also holds numerous one-day and classic titles.

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Romain Bardet

A renowned climber, Romain Bardet is always in contention on mountain stages, and won the Mountain Classification at the 2019 Tour de France.

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Thymen Arensman

Dutch cyclist Thymen Arensman is carving a strong reputation in the pro peloton having started out in cyclo cross. The Ineos Grenadiers finished sixth in the 2023 Giro.

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Ben O’Connor

Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale rider Ben O'Connor hasn't raced the Giro since 2020. The Australian rider has enjoyed a strong start to the 2024 season, including a win at the Vuelta a Murcia.

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Damiano Caruso

Italy's Damiano Caruso is no stranger to the Giro - the Team Bahrain Victorious rider finished second in 2021, having taken stage wins along the way.

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Michael Woods

Canada's Michael Woods will be riding in his first Giro since 2018. The Israel–Premier Tech rider won Stage 9 at last year's Tour de France.

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Filippo Ganna

Italy's Filippo Ganna is a track and road specialist. On the track Filippo has won Olympic Gold in the team pursuit, and 6x world titles in the individual pursuit. He has also won a number of stages at the Giro.

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Aurélien Paret-Peintre

Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale's Aurélien Paret-Peintre is a French cyclist who recorded a remarkable breakaway win on Stage 4 of the 2023 Giro. He has enjoyed a strong start to 2024, including a 5th place finish at Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

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Wout Poels

Dutch cyclist Wout Poels has yet to win a stage at the Giro, but has picked up multiple stage wins at the Vuelta and won Stage 15 of the Tour de France in 2023.

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The Giro d'Italia starts on Saturday May 4 and finishes on Sunday May 26. Be sure to follow the Giro club for the latest updates and information on the race.