With a startlist like this poor of samples, the only, huge, attraction of the Giro d’Italia 2024 is obviously Tadej Pogacar. Everyone focused on the performance of the Slovenian, making his debut on the streets of the Corsa Rosa: he is the big favourite, one step (if not two) above all his other rivals for the general classification.
The UAE Emirates phenomenon will be able to manage the race, also taking advantage of an exceptional team, practically as he wishes. The undeclared objective seems to be to make good and bad weather, as often happens when he is competing: dominating from the first to the last day (wearing the Pink Jersey since Turin) does not appear so utopian.
Many of the twenty-one stages, perhaps excluding those purely for sprinters, appear within the reach of the champion who recently won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège: the question that many are asking is how long will he try to replenish his palmares, trying to launch himself into the attack day after day?
It is essential to also look to the future, in fact in July there is the Tour de France and we’re on the hunt for a historic double, which has been missing from international cycling for years now. Up to a certain point, force management will be needed. Mauro Gianetti, the team’s sporting director, recently expressed himself on this topic: “It will be important to manage your strength well during the Giro and have sufficient energy for the Tour de France. This is the challenge.”
