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Chasing the double: Can Tadej Pogačar really succeed at the Giro and the Tour?

The Slovenian could be the first rider in 26 years to win the two Grand Tours in the same season

Words: Stephen Puddicombe

Photos: SWPix.com

Winning both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France in the same season has over the last few decades become notorious as an impossible frontier in men’s cycling. Though the double has been achieved by seven riders in the past (once each by Jacques Anquetil and Stephen Roche, two times by Fausto Coppi, Jacques Anquetil and Miguel Indurain, and three times by Eddy Merckx), nobody has managed it since Marco Pantani in 1998, leading to an ever stronger consensus that it is incompatible with the demands of modern cycling. 

Some have tried in the years since, but few have come even close. For the great Grand Tour riders of the past few generations, the double has been perceived as a challenge to seek out, something to strive to add to the palmarès when circumstances dictate. Wanting to ride the Tour, but not wishing to sacrifice his home Grand Tour, Ivan Basso targeted the double in both 2006 and 2010, but, despite winning the Giro each time, was respectively refused entry in the aftermath of the Operation Puerto scandal, and suffered a lack of form.

In 2011, Alberto Contador was prompted to ride (and win) the Giro when the possibility of a doping suspension threatened his participation at the Tour, and, even though he was ultimately cleared to ride the Tour, his form also suffered, finishing down in fifth. After both those results were annulled by the delayed doping sanction, he tried again in 2015, achieving the exact same results of first and fifth respectively. And in 2017, Nairo Quintana’s attempt fell at the first hurdle when he lost out to Tom Dumoulin at the Giro, before tiredly dragging himself to a lowly 12th place at the Tour.

Chris Froome came the closest in 2018, capitalising on a slightly modified calendar that allowed for an extra week’s rest between the two races. Though he toiled to win the Giro, taking the pink jersey only after his now legendary 80km comeback attack, he was clearly still relatively fresh at the Tour. But he still couldn’t quite complete the double, finishing third behind Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas, and Tom Dumoulin — who, having also finished second behind Froome at the Giro, reiterated the double’s feasibility that year. The calendar has since reverted back to normal, removing that key extra week of rest, and none of the new generation of Grand Tour stars have attempted it since. 

That’s why Tadej Pogačar’s announcement on Sunday that he intends to ride both races in 2024 has caused such a stir in the world of cycling. Many have greeted the prospect with glee, anticipating with bated breath the best rider in the world taking on one of the sport’s great challenges. By contrast, others are questioning the rationale of the decision, predicting that it is in effect handing Jonas Vingegaard the yellow jersey on a platter. The double has come to be seen as something unrealistically idealistic, a hubristic pursuit in denial of how the real world operates, a folly even for a rider as brilliant as Pogačar. So much so, that the Slovenian was uncharacteristically coy when asked about whether he was indeed targeting GC in both, saying: “Let’s see first how it goes with the Giro, and then how it goes with the Tour. Let’s not think about the double, let's just go to enjoy racing."

Leading this vanguard of change is Pogačar himself, achieving results previously not thought possible any more. By winning Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2021, he became the first rider since Bernard Hinault 30 years earlier to win a Monument and the Tour in the same season; then following his Il Lombardia success later that year, the first to win two Monuments plus the Tour since Eddy Merckx. And though he did not couple it with a Grand Tour victory last year, his victory on the cobblestones at the Tour of Flanders totally ripped up the rulebook; nobody had won both the Tour of Flanders and the diametrically opposed Il Lombardia in the same season in 32 years, while you again had to go back to Merckx for the last time someone made the Tour de France podium as well. 

Still, the Giro-Tour double feels like an extra level of difficulty, and one that Pogačar is having to accommodate for. Something has to give from his race program, especially as he intends to also target the World Championships and Olympic Games, and so he has planned a much leaner Classics campaign. He also announced that he will only ride Strade Bianche and Milan-Sanremo in the spring, and neglect to defend his titles at the Tour of Flanders , Amstel Gold and Flèche Wallonne . 

Even with these sacrifices though, it’s going to be very hard for Pogačar to pull it off, if only because of how formidable an opponent Jonas Vingegaard has been at the last two Tours. Even if Pogačar were only targeting the Tour, he’d still have to be considered a joint favourite at best for the yellow jersey, given the way the Dane so thoroughly defeated him last year. Perhaps this contributed to his decision to ride the Giro — rather than put all his eggs in the Tour basket, a victory at the Giro would at least mean he has one Grand Tour victory in 2024 regardless of what happens in France.

Pogačar is such a special rider you sense that if anyone can buck the trend and win the Giro-Tour double, it’s him. He’s currently operating at a level few have in the whole history of the sport, and, given the unpredictability and temporary nature of the sport, cannot know how long he’ll be this good. Aware that, having recently turned 25-years-old, his body may now be in as good a condition as it will ever be, Pogačar stated that "I am now not so young anymore, and I think I can do two Grand Tours”. If ever there was a time to chase history by aiming for a Giro-Tour double, it’s now, and if ever there was a rider to do so, it’s him.

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Tadej pogačar is starting his first giro d’italia as the overwhelming favorite.

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TURIN, ITALY - MAY 02: Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and UAE Team Emirates during the Team Presentation of the 107th Giro d’Italia 2024 at the Castello del Valentino / #UCIWT / on May 02, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)

Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

MILAN — Rarely has the Giro d’Italia had such an overwhelming pre-race favorite.

Tadej Pogačar is competing in the Italian grand tour for the first time in an audacious attempt at the Giro-Tour de France double. The two-time Tour champion has been in dominant form this year.

Adding to his short odds, three of the few riders who can challenge Pogačar over a three-week race — titleholder Primož Roglič, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel — will not be at the Giro.

“It’s going to be a big challenge coming up against Tadej. I’d prefer if he wasn’t going but at the same time having him there is great,” Geraint Thomas, last year’s runner-up, says.

“It’ll change the race completely and his team will take on the weight of the race and everything that comes with that.”

Pogačar has started only five grand tours and made it to the podium of all five. He won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, was runner-up twice more, and was third in his one and only Spanish Vuelta in 2019.

The 25-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider has been the overwhelming favorite for the Giro since he announced his decision in December.

But the Giro is often wet, wild and unpredictable, as Thomas knows only too well.

The Giro starts in Turin and the 2,064-mile (3,321-kilometer) route ends in Rome on May 26.

POGAČAR vs THOMAS

Thomas is looking for a do-over at the Giro.

Last year, the Ineos Grenadiers cyclist had a 26-second lead over pre-race favorite Roglič going into the penultimate stage but lost 40 seconds on that mountain time trial to his rival, who stormed to the Giro victory.

Thomas faces another Slovenian star in Pogačar, and both are aiming to be the first rider to win the Giro and Tour in the same year since 1998 when Marco Pantani accomplished the double.

“You don’t think that first place is gone — if anything, it takes pressure off because everyone expects him to win. They don’t expect any of us to do anything,” Thomas says.

“It definitely makes the race different to last year … the main thing was getting here in good shape and then you just do what you can. It’s a massive task because (Pogačar is) a phenomenal bike rider — I’ve said recently probably one of the greatest ever — but we’re relishing the challenge.”

Beside his narrow loss last year, Thomas is no stranger to disappointment at the Giro, having had to abandon the race twice. In 2017, he was involved in a crash caused by a police motorbike, and three years later he broke his hip after a drinks bottle became lodged under his wheel.

“It’s the Giro, a lot can go good and go bad as we all know,” he said. “So yeah, we’re excited.”

Grand tours traditionally start slow and steady and bunched up. Not this year. The start is expected to be explosive.

Not only will the riders tackle the second-category climb up the Colle Maddalena on the opening day but the first summit finish comes on the second stage, at the Santuario di Oropa. It will be the earliest mountain finish at the Giro since 1989 when the race began in Sicily and went up Mount Etna.

“The riders who want to win it will have to be ready from the start and I expect a lot of spectacle,” Giro director Mauro Vegni said when the route was revealed in October.

The second uphill finish is at the end of the first week with a top-category climb of more than 14 kilometers to Prato di Tivo.

“You need to be good from start to finish,” Thomas says, “but I think it’s kind of nice in a way, it settles the race down quite early on.

“If anything, it’s nice to get a bit of tiredness in the peloton straight away. The thing with the Giro is you got to be strong at the end. Obviously, Stage 2 is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”

DECISIVE DOLOMITES

Despite race organizers’ insistence that the finale is less tough than previous editions, the final week has three of the five stages that have been given a five-star rating for maximum difficulty.

Stage 16 features 4,400 meters of elevation and the highest point of the race, over the Stelvio Pass. That is immediately followed by the Queen Stage, the hardest leg.

Pogacar could target historic Grand Tour treble in same year, says Contador

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Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar adds the Giro d’Italia to his 2024 program

FILE - Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the best young rider’s white jersey, celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the twentieth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 133.5 kilometers (83 miles) with start in Belfort and finish in Le Markstein Fellering, France, Saturday, July 22, 2023. Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar announced Sunday, Dec, 17, 2023 that he has added the Giro d’Italia to his program for the upcoming season. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

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MILAN (AP) — Two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar announced Sunday that he has added the Giro d’Italia to his program for the upcoming season.

The Slovenian cyclist made the announcement together with Giro organizers, who said that Pogacar still plans to ride the Tour in 2024.

“Andiamo (Let’s go),” Pogacar said in a brief video posted on social media.

Pogacar won the Tour in 2020 and 2021 and finished runner-up to Jonas Vingegaard in the last two editions. He has never competed in the Giro.

No rider has won the Giro and Tour in the same year since Marco Pantani accomplished the double in 1998.

Next year’s Giro starts near Turin on May 4 and ends in Rome next to the Colosseum on May 26.

AP sports coverage from Europe: https://apnews.com/hub/sports-europe

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Taking Notes from Tadej: Jonas Vingegaard Hansen Hints a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France Double Is in His Future

'we'll have to wait and see how tadej does it': vingegaard chews over possible giro-tour double, but he wants to know if it's achievable first..

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Can Tadej Pogačar pull off the Giro d’Italia – Tour de France double? His archrival Jonas Vingegaard wants to know.

Vingegaard hinted this week the devilishly difficult Giro-Tour combination could be in his future, but first he wants to take a few notes from Tadej.

“We’ll have to wait and see how Tadej does it,” Vingegaard told Wielerflits of the Slovenian’s wildly ambitious attempt at the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in 2024.

“It’s something I want to try. But I’ll first have to make the Tour-Vuelta combination a success. Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll ever combine the Tour with the Giro.”

Also read: When racing less means winning more: Why Visma-Lease a Bike went off grid in winter

Pro peloton wild-child Pogačar blew the doors off when he confirmed he’d swing at becoming the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win both the pink and yellow jerseys in the same season.

No rider has achieved the peloton’s near-unreachable feat in more than 25 years, and few even consider trying it in the modern pro peloton.

The idea seems to have piqued Vingegaard’s interest nonetheless, who suggested to Wielerflits that it’s on his long-list.

“It’s difficult to say whether the Giro-Tour double is possible,” Vingegaard said. “How good Tadej will be at the Tour this year depends on how he comes out of the Giro. Many things could influence that.”

Why Tadej Pogačar is Taking On the Giro-Tour Double Now? Explainer: A lot of factors lined up for Pogačar to confront the elusive challenge of the Giro-Tour double for 2024. ‘He’s Tadej. There is no other rider like him.’ https://t.co/EvxTlNEb3o — Velo (@velovelovelo__) December 19, 2023

But it’s “one step at a time” toward a possible early season grand tour double for the Dane.

First up, Visma-Lease a Bike ‘s Tour-topper wants to know if racing to win two three-weekers in one year is even a goer by re-testing the Tour de France- Vuelta a España combo.

The late-summer double-header is typically seen as the “softer” grand tour pairing of the season. The turnaround time is longer, and the Vuelta at the end of the season means riders can head straight to the beach.

Vingegaard last year tossed his yellow jaune in the closet and rode to second at the Vuelta a España behind teammate Sepp Kuss – even though he was out of sorts.

“Before I ever try the Giro-Tour combination myself, I first want to know whether it’s possible to reach the same level in the Vuelta after the Tour,” he said. “Maybe I’ll find out if we do that combination this year. But we’ll only decide that after the Tour.”

Three Grand Tour wins from three in 2023 for Team Jumbo-Visma Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglic show off their Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia winners’ jerseys. Cor Vos ________ #LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/8LIbH5bRUD — Velon CC (@VelonCC) September 17, 2023

Froome was the last rider to successfully put the Tour and Vuelta onto the honor roll in one summer when he doubled up in 2017.

Since then, Vingegaard and Primoz Roglič have both finished on one of the top two steps of the podium in Paris and Madrid, but never won both.

“It’s difficult to say whether you can race at the same level in two grand tours. But for me, that’s also because I got sick during the Vuelta, so I never discovered my real level there,” Vingegaard said this week. “We first need to know what my level can be in a second grand tour without any problems arising along the way.

“We’ll have to wait and see how Tadej does that this year.”

Four-way brawl at 2024 Tour de France will be ‘a lot of fun’

The Giro-Tour double may be in Vingegaard’s future, but he’s got to get past this year’s Tour de France first.

Vingegaard debuted his Tour-bound season this week at the O Gran Camiño, where storm-force winds neutralized Thursday’s opening stage.

The four-day Spanish spin opens an old-school schedule of 100 percent stage-racing for Vingegaard that targets a French peak this July.

And this year, achieving even that first instalment of a possible Tour de France-Vuelta a Espana double will be more difficult than ever for the 27-year-old topper.

UAE Emirates has become a super team, Roglič has moved to Bora-Hansgrohe, and Remco Evenepoel has entered the ring.

Meanwhile, Visma-Lease a Bike won’t have the retired Nathan Van Hooydonck, or Wout van Aert, who’s testing his legs at the Giro for the first time.

“I think the extra competition will make the Tour a lot of fun,” Vingegaard told Wielerflits . “In any case, I’m really looking forward to it. It makes the challenge of winning even greater, with three challengers. We’ll analyze everything before the Tour so that we can make a super-good plan.”

And which of his three foes will “Vingo” mark closest this summer?

It depends.

“Tactically, the racing will probably be different in the Tour,” Vingegaard said. “But it’s still too early to say whose attack we will or will not respond to. We have no insight into this yet, and it depends on the situation itself.”

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Alberto Contador and the history of the Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double

No one has won the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani sailed up the Champs-Élysées in 1998. Will Alberto Contador emulate his achievement this month and become the eighth double winner in history?

I t is July 1998 and the flawed genius of Italian cycling is crossing the finish line on the Champs-Élysées in the Yellow Jersey after one of the most controversial Tours in history. The 20 days in which the race has wound around the Hexagon have seen the withdrawal of the mighty Festina squad after their soigneur Willy Voet was caught with a carload of EPO, the bitter tears of a peroxided Richard Virenque, a series of hotel raids that led to all four Spanish teams dropping out of the race, a procession of arrests, confessions and sit-down protests, and a jut-chinned rebel sitting cross legged in the road as the race teetered on the edge of disaster. That image of “ il Pirata ”, his goateed face the picture of insouciance, has become iconic.

Five days after his victory at Plateau de Beille, Marco Pantani pulled on the Yellow Jersey after an extraordinary stage to les Deux-Alpes. Crossing the line, he closed his eyes and raised his arms in a cross, a new Christ crucified. Attacking 5km from the summit of the Galibier, 48km from the finish in Deux-Alpes, the slight figure of the Italian took flight in the high mountains. He crushed the hopes of an out-of-condition Jan Ullrich, who floundered in adrift in the pouring rain, the German crumbling in the face of the Italian climber’s utter dominance. Pantani called his victory “the best day of my career” and dedicated his win to Luciano Pezzi who had steered Felice Gimondi to victory in 1965.

Rewind to June 1998. The sodden martyr of the Deux-Alpes is now the consecrated Christ of the Montecampione. Pantani goes into the stage with a slender 27” lead over Pavel Tonkov. There’s a 34km time-trial to come, where the solid Russian will surely assert his dominance. Pantani has one chance to win the Giro as the race winds through the enchanted valley of the Bresciano. He has one chance to find the moment of magic that will put enough time between himself and his unexpected rival. And finally he finds it. The Italian attacks again and again until he breaks the thread that binds Tonkov to his wheel and he is gone. Pantani carries his slender lead into the time-trial where the Maglia Rosa seems to give him wings. The Giro is his.

It’s the summer of 1987 and Channel 4 are in their second year of covering the Tour de France . The mad, epic glory is bursting on to our screens in full glorious colour from the narrow confines of the monochrome newsprint to which cycling had previously been confined. We’ve lived the internecine drama of the 1986 Tour and now we’re insatiable. Who will feed our appetite for the grand exploit and some good old-fashioned team infighting?

Stephen Roche is no tortured martyr of the velo. The Irishman was always a more calculating rider, though he shares the Italian’s individuality. And he will not only take the Double but he will go on to add the Rainbow Stripes of the world champion in Villach, Austria , with a blistering attack just 500m from the finish line on a rain sodden afternoon to take the Triple Crown. Only one other rider has ever achieved that feat – step forward Eddy Merckx.

By the time Roche arrived on the start line in West Berlin, two years before the Wall came tumbling down, he had already won the Giro in controversial circumstances. The Irishman finally beat his team-mate Roberto Visentini after the balance of power had see-sawed between them throughout the race. First blood went to Visentini in the prologue. It was advantage Roche in the Poggio time-trial and the Pink Jersey after Carrera won the time trial. But Visentini fought back – by stage 13 his lead was 2’42”. Roche had said the road would decide who deserved to be the leader and the road had spoken.

But if it had, Roche wasn’t listening.

There was no love lost between Roche and Visentini. The Italian felt he was the rightful team leader - he was the defending champion and Roche had lost most of the 1986 season to a knee injury. The Irishman accused the Italian of being a dilettante who didn’t need to ride a bike: a daddy’s boy, a playboy, not a team player. And in 1987 Roche was in the form of his life, coming into the Giro off the back of a string of wins and podium places. Then came the betrayal – Visentini reneged on his promise to ride for Roche at the Tour de France. “Balls,” said Visentini in an interview in 2014, after he learned that Roche had been inducted into the Giro Hall of Fame, “an excuse made up to explain what happened.”

For the Italian, the events of stage 15 dealt him a psychological blow from which he never recovered. On the road to Sappada, the fratricidal struggle at the heart of the Carrera team played itself out over 224km and three tough mountain passes. It was Romulus and Remus on bicycles. If LeMond had slain the Badger on the roads of France in 1986, then Roche would knock the shine off Golden Boy Visentini in Italy.

The deed was done. But Roche didn’t take the heat Hinault did the year before – maybe fans and media are sentimental enough to believe in chivalry and chauvinistic enough to excuse an English-speaking rider. Visentini had played with Roche’s head and his team had tried to silence him. The next day, on what became known as the “Marmolada Massacre”, Roche rode on head high, flanked by Scotland’s Robert Millar, as the crowds jeered and booed, soaked him in wine, spit and who knows what. He discovered a tough streak in his nature that he never knew he had. “My attitude towards the public was: ‘Say what you want, I am not going home.’ ” It was the ideal preparation for the Double, which is won as much in the head as by the legs.

Roche’s French triumph was built on one of the most iconic stages in modern Tour de France history, stage 21 from Bourg-d’Oisans to La Plagne . The stage when the Irishman rode himself into and beyond the red, necessitating oxygen after he crossed the finish line. The stage when he saved the Tour by crossing the line only seconds after the Spanish climber Pedro Delgado to the immortal, disbelieving words of Phil Liggett: “Just who is that rider coming up behind – because that looks like Roche! That looks like Stephen Roche!” It was Roche – and he would ride into the Yellow Jersey during the final time-trial.

Spain’s Miguel Indurain came close to matching Roche and Merckx – after precisely engineering the Double in 1992 and 1993 through his unstoppable prowess against the clock, it was a brash young American called Lance Armstrong who came between “Big Mig” and the Triple Crown in Oslo in 1993. When Armstrong was summarily stripped of his titles in 2014, he was allowed to keep those Rainbow Stripes.

Like the “sphinx of Pamplona”, “ Maître ” Jacques Anquetil constructed his Grand Tour victories by demoralising the opposition by crushing them in the race of truth. Anquetil’s only Double – in a career that saw him become the first rider to win all three of the Grand Tours – came in 1964, and he won it in atypical style, by beating his eternal rival Raymond Poulidor on the legendary climb of the Puy de Dome.

Look in the dictionary under mano a mano and you’ll see a black and white image of the two Frenchman going elbow to elbow, on the roughly paved slopes of the extinct volcanic conk of the Puy de Dome. With the race ending with a time-trial into Paris, Poulidor had no option but to seize the day on his favoured terrain. 58” behind Anquetil, he would never have a better opportunity to pull on the Yellow Jersey.

What resulted was an almost mythical battle between guts, courage and determination and the implacable force of cold-hearted calculation. Though Poulidor would cross the line ahead of his rival, Anquetil still clung on to the race lead by a slender 14” – 13 more than he needed, according to Monsieur Chrono. The Norman cracked over the final kilometre and began haemorrhaging time. But too bad for Poulidor – he was incapable of forcing his advantage. He admitted later: “It’s said that Anquetil bluffed me that day, but he didn’t. I was at the end of my strength and so was he. To say I should have attacked earlier is science-fiction.” The fact was Anquetil took the Double and Poulidor would never wear the Yellow Jersey.

And then there was Merckx. The greatest of them all, who would win an unprecedented – and never equalled – 11 Grand Tours. Merckx didn’t just “do” the Double, he stamped his authority all over both races with margins of victory in the double digits. And he won in the mountains, the time-trials and on the flat showcasing his extraordinary versatility. Never more so than in his last Double in 1974 – on an innocuous stage to Orleans, his shorts soaked with blood from an operation wound that refused to heal, Merckx simply shot away from the peloton like a human bullet and took 1’ 25” from the hard chasing pack over the closing 14km of the stage. It was heady stuff. By the time the race reached Paris, Merckx had won a record eight stages.

Bernard Hinault – “the Badger” – announced himself as the most fearsome rider since Merckx by winning both the Vuelta and the Tour at the age of 23. The effortless way he cruised to the Giro-Tour Double in 1982 only confirmed that here was the first rider in a generation to challenge the career achievements of the Cannibal. But 1985 was different. A hard-fought win over Francesco Moser in Italy saw him take the race with a slender margin of 1’ 08” over the Italian who had pushed him every inch of the way by sprinting for every time bonus available. Moser might have overhauled the deficit but he simply ran out of road. Lurking behind the Sheriff, and taking the third spot on the podium, was another young hot shot American by the name of Greg Lemond.

The story of the 1985 Tour de France is often overshadowed by the internecine warfare of the 1986 race when Hinault was forced to make good on a promise to his younger team-mate, though not without a fight. And it was Lemond who would prove Hinault’s closest rival in 1985 after his team leader crashed heavily during a bunch sprint into St Etienne. The indomitable Badger was wounded, his nose broken and his eyes blackened – bloodied but definitely unbowed. He would win, but not without a little help from his friends – chiefly LeMond.

It was the American that took off after Delgado and Roche and neutralised their attacks on the slopes of Luz-Ardiden, when his leader began to flounder in the mist. LeMond claimed he had sacrificed his own chances of overall victory that day to drop back and aid his failing team leader. Hinault knew he owed LeMond a favour and declared publicly, on TV, that next year’s race would be “for the American”. In 1986 we would finally get the shootout at the OK Corral.

LeMond v Hinault, Anquetil v Poulidor, Coppi v Bartali. These are the great rivalries that have driven riders to achieve the seemingly impossible. And no rivalry was greater than that of Fausto “ il Campianissimo ” Coppi and Gino “ il Piou ” Bartali. If Merckx laid waste to his rivals on the way to his Double victories, Coppi was simply on another planet in 1949 when he beat Bartali at the Giro and then the Tour. It was the first Double and the glamourous pin-up of the Italian sport treated the faithful tifosi to a display that remains unparalleled.

On stage 17 of the Giro – a monstrous 245km of pain that crossed the Maddalena, Vars, Izoard, Montgenèvre and Sestriere under lowering and unforgiving skies – Coppi simply flew, crossing four of those forbidding Alpine passes alone and riding 190km solo to the finish in Pinerolo. He replicated the feat three years later by crossing the Croix de Fer, Galibier and Montgenèvre in first place before winning at Sestriere by seven minutes and putting the Tour firmly beyond the reach of his rival. The day before he had become the first man to win on the 21 hairpins of Alpe d’Huez – the first ever summit finish in a Grand Tour. Fausto Coppi was touched by the angels, his effortless pedal stroke propelling him effortlessly into the stratosphere.

It took another 12 years before Anquetil matched Coppi’s feat. It is 17 years since Pantani wore Yellow in Paris. Is it possible that Alberto Contador – the slight Spanish rider with the classical climbing style of a true mountain goat and the most calculating cycling brain in the modern sport – can equal that feat?

He was forced to dig deep, perhaps too deep, during the brutal last week of the Giro. He had 34 days to ready himself for the most mountainous Tour in years, where he faces the combined might of 2013 champion Chris Froome, 2014 Giro winner Nairo Quintana and 2014 Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali. Froome and Nibali gave us a tantalising glimpse of their current form at the Criterium du Dauphine. Quintana is already the winner of the Tirreno-Adriatico. All three will have watched Contador’s performance on the Colle de Finestre and perceived either fatal weakness or a calculating champion holding something in reserve for the roads of France.

Contador has already completed the most difficult part of his journey towards the holy grail of cycling. And as the winner of the 2014 Vuelta, he is on course to become only the third rider in cycling history to hold all three Grand Tour titles consecutively. Only Merckx and Hinault have achieved that feat and they are the greatest of the great. In this modern era of intense specialisation, to match them would be extraordinary.

Stamina, recovery, calculation, courage, determination, physical and mental toughness all play their part in a successful tilt at cycling’s most glittering prize. As the most successful Grand Tour rider of his generation, Contador has shown an abundance of those qualities in riding to his seven victories. But whether the Tour de France is a race too far, only the road can decide.

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Tour, Giro, and Vuelta: Cycling Grand Tours Statistics Compared (2023)

I love cycling, and I enjoy playing with numbers. One day, I asked myself: What if I combine these two hobbies? What if I create a comparison of cycling Grand Tours statistics?

The result is a unique comparison of all three Grand Tours: Tour de France , Giro d’Italia , and Vuelta a España .

I am sure you will see some of these stats for the first time.

Below, you will find comparisons of all edition distances, average stage lengths, general, mountain, and points classification winners’ height and weight data, rider BMI, and many more interesting stats.

Abbreviations used: GC – General Classification, GT – Grand Tour, TdF – Tour de France, BMI – Body Mass Index

I used publicly available data from sites such as wikipedia.org , procyclingstats.com , and official GT websites letour.fr , giroditalia.it , and lavuelta.es for the statistics and charts below. Some data is not available (especially the rider’s weights/heights).

Please, also remember the following:

• The Tour de France did not take place between 1915-1918 and 1940-1946.
• Giro d’Italia did not take place between 1915-1918 and 1941-1945.
• Vuelta a España did not take place between 1937-1940, 1943-1944, and 1951-1954.
• Lance Armstrong was stripped of all his results and prizes from 1 August 1998. No alternative winners of TdF 1999-2005 were declared yet.
• The actual rider’s racing weight could vary.

I update this article once a year once all Grand Tours are finished.

Grand Tours Total Distance

Let’s start with the basics. The chart below shows the total distance of individual Grand Tour editions. The Tour de France was the longest Grand Tour for decades.

The average Grand Tour length of all editions is 3,747 km . It was around 3,680 km between 1960-1980, 3,720 km between 1980-2000, and “only” 3,390 km between 2000-2020. The average length of the 2023 Grand Tours is 3,297 km .

Number and Length of Grand Tours Stages

The number of stages experienced an opposite trend to the average length. While the first Tour de France editions had only six stages, this number multiplied in the following decades and oscillated around 21 for the past decades.

The average Grand Tour stage length of all editions is 200 km (time trials included).

It was a whopping 278 km between 1909-1939 and 191 km between 1949-1979 (excluding Vuelta because its first edition took place in 1935). The average stage length of the 2023 Grand Tours is 157 km .

Grand Tours Average Speed

The average Grand Tours speed of all editions is 35.42 km/h .

It increased dramatically over time, mainly thanks to technological progress, better training methods, and nutrition—it exceeded the mighty 40 km/h mark.

The average speed of the 2023 Grand Tours was 40.49 km/h .

Will we ever see a Grand Tour surpassing the average speed of 45 km/h?

TIP : Interested in cycling? Feel free to read my guide on how to choose a bike type in 5 minutes or less.

Grand Tours (Historical Extremes)

What about the longest and shortest editions ?

Unsurprisingly, the Tour de France was the longest Grand Tour ever in 1926. Riders had to cover 5,745 km (about the same distance from New York to London).

The longest Giro d’Italia took place in 1954 (4,337 km), and the longest Vuelta a España was in 1936 (4,407 km).

The shortest Grand Tour ever was also the Tour de France.

The first two editions (1903 and 1904) were the same length of 2,428 km .

The shortest Giro was 15 km longer (1912), and the Vuelta 14 km longer (1963), resulting in 2,443 and 2,443 km.

Speaking of length, here is another “best” for the Tour de France.

The longest Grand Tour stage ever ( 482 km ) was the 5th stage in the 1919 edition.

Meanwhile, the longest Giro stage (stage 3 in 1914) was 52 km shorter. Vuelta falls behind with only a 310 km stage (stage 6 in 1935).

However, Vuelta holds a record for the fastest Grand Tour edition ever. Riders covered the 58th edition of Vuelta a España (2003) with an average speed of 42.53 km/h .

The fastest TdF was in 2022 (41.84 km/h) and Giro in 2011 (41.86 km/h).

The title for the slowest Grand Tour holds Giro d’Italia. 1914 Giro was ridden at an average speed of 23.37 km/h .

My humble guess is that this record won’t be broken – 8 out of 12 stages were classified as mountain stages.

The slowest Tour de France took place in 1924 (5,425 km). The winner, Ottavio Bottecchia, reached the winning time of 226h 18′ 21″, resulting in an average speed of 23.97 km/h.

The slowest Vuelta a España (25.72 km/h) took place in 1948. It took the winner 155h 06′ 30″ to cover the 3,990 km.

IMPORTANT NOTE : Many websites (including Wikipedia) list the 1919 Tour de France as the slowest TdF ever. This figure is incorrect because the winning time of Firmin Lambot was 231h 07′ 15″. The 1919 edition was 5,560 km long. When we do some math, it is easy to calculate that the average speed was 24.0567 km/h.

Rider’s Height, Weight, and BMI (Over Time)

How do the rider’s height, weight, and BMI develop over time? How do these data differ between riders for the general classification, climbers, and sprinters?

Unfortunately, the weights and heights of riders from the past century are often missing. So, the resulting trends can be skewed.

General Classification Winners

Are GC riders getting taller and leaner?

The past decades have shown that even riders above 1.85m can win Grand Tours—to name a few: Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Miguel Indurain, Fabio Aru, or Tom Dumoulin, who are all tall riders.

The GC winner’s height oscillates around 179 cm (±10 cm). Giro and Vuelta seem to be more “short riders friendly.” More riders below 175 cm won these Grand Tours in the past decades.

The trend for the lower weight also seems not to be a myth.

Although many heights and weight data are not available, the following chart shows that riders are really getting leaner on average .

An average GC winner’s weight was 67.67 kg between 1980-2000, while only 64.33 kg between 2000-2020.

The most interesting chart of the series of these 3 is probably the following BMI chart. BMI uses your height and weight to work out if your weight is healthy. ( Source )

Here is a quick guide on how to interpret the values:

• Below 18.5 – underweight,
• 18.5-24.9 – normal,
• 25.0-29.9 – overweight,
• 30.0 and above – obese.

The GC winner’s BMI has varied between 21 and 19 in recent decades, averaging around 20.11 . For example, Chris Froome’s BMI was around 19.08 when he won his Grand Tours, and Sepp Kuss’s (Vuelta 2023 winner) was even lower at 18.42.

BMI CALCULATOR

Mountain Classification Winners

The height data of the winners of mountain classification is also exciting. The average height of the GT mountain classification winner is 1.74 m .

Vuelta is, according to some people, considered the toughest GT. However, based on data, the average weight of the Giro mountain classification winner is 64.4 kg.

The average weight of the GT mountain classification winner is 64.4 kg .

The average BMI of mountain classification winners is 21.19 .

We can see a similar trend like with GC winners. Nowadays, climbers have a lower BMI on average than at the beginning of this classification. The average BMI of mountain classification winners is lower than the BMI of GC winners (21.51).

Points Classification Winners

Sprinters and all-around riders’ height rarely goes below 1.70 m or exceeds 1.85 m . The average height of a points classification winner is 1.79 m .

Not surprisingly, sprinters and all-around riders are heavier than climbers. The average weight of a GT points classification winner is 71.3 kg .

The average BMI of points classification winners is 22.3 . However, the BMI variance of individual winners has been relatively significant in recent years.

Rider’s Height, Weight, and BMI (Historical Extremes)

The following stats are focused on historical extremes. You can easily compare your own height and weight with Grand Tour GC winners.

The average height of a Grand Tour GC winner is 1.77 m .

The tallest GC winner ever is Bradley Wiggins (TdF 2012). He is 1.90 m tall.

The shortest GC winner ever was Romain Maes (Tour de France 1935 winner). He was 1.60 m tall.

The average weight of a Grand Tour GC winner is 67.4 kg .

The heaviest GC winner was Tour de France 1909 winner François Faber. He weighed 88 kg .

The lightest GC winner was Marco Pantani. He won the Tour de France and Giro in the same year (1998), weighing just 57 kg .

A GC winner has an average BMI of 21.51 .

A GC winner with the highest BMI was François Faber. He won the 1909 Tour de France with a BMI of 27.77 (1.78 m, 88 kg).

A GC winner with the lowest BMI was Sepp Kuss. He won the 2023 Vuelta with a BMI of 18.42 (1.82 m, 61 kg).

The average height of a mountain classification GT winner is 1.74 m .

The tallest mountain classification winner ever was Mauricio Soler (TdF 2007). He is 1.90 m tall.

The shortest mountain classification winner ever was Mariano Díaz (Vuelta 1967). He was 1.59 m tall.

The average weight of a mountain classification winner is 64.4 kg .

The heaviest mountain classification winner was the Giro d’Italia 1933 mountain classification winner Alfredo Binda. He weighed 77 kg .

The lightest mountain classification winner was José Rujano. He won the 2005 Giro mountain classification, weighing just 48 kg .

A mountain classification winner has an average BMI of 21.19 .

A mountain classification winner with the highest BMI was Mariano Díaz. He won the 1967 Vuelta a España mountain classification with a BMI of 24.92 (1.59 m, 63 kg).

A mountain classification winner with the lowest BMI was José Rujano. He won the 2005 Giro mountain classification with a BMI of 18.29 (1.62 m, 48 kg).

The average height of a points classification GT winner is 1.79 m .

The tallest points classification winner ever was Tom Boonen (TdF 2007). He is 1.92 m tall.

The shortest points classification winner ever was Stan Ockers (TdF 1955 and 1956). He was 1.65 m tall.

The average weight of a points classification winner is 71.3 kg .

The heaviest points classification winner was Rik Van Steenbergen. He won Vuelta a España 1956 points classification weighing 83 kg .

The lightest points classification winner was Joaquim Rodríguez. He won the 2012 Giro points classification, weighing just 57 kg .

A points classification winner has an average BMI of 22.3 .

A points classification winner with the highest BMI was Walter Godefroot. He won the 1970 Tour de France points classification with a BMI of 24.94 (1.71 m, 73 kg).

A points classification winner with the lowest BMI was Chris Froome. He won the 2017 Vuelta points classification with a BMI of 19.08 (1.86 m, 66 kg).

Overall Victories & Stage Wins

Eddy Merckx is the rider with the most Grand Tour GC wins (11). He won TdF and Giro 5 times, as well as Vuelta once.

The following table shows the three riders with the most stage wins for a given Grand Tour.

Consider these Incredible Bicycle Statistics to discover more about the sport we all love so much.

We have a song in the Czech Republic that goes like this:

“Statistics are boring, but it has valuable information…”

I have never enjoyed statistics, but spending dozens of hours putting this comparison together was fun. I was surprised to see some Grand Tour data visualized. The riders’ height, weight, and BMI data points are pretty interesting. What do you think about these cycling Grand Tours statistics?

I hope you like this comparison. If so, don’t forget to share it with your friends.

You can also check out my other articles dedicated to individual Grand Tours that go into more detail:

• Tour de France Statistics
• Giro d’Italia Statistics
• Vuelta a España Statistics

Cycling Grand Tours FAQ

Yes, several riders won all three Grand Tours at least once (TdF Wins, Giro Wins, Vuelta Wins): Eddy Merckx (5, 5, 1) Bernard Hinault (5, 3, 2) Jacques Anquetil (5, 2, 1) Chris Froome (4, 1, 2) Alberto Contador (2, 2, 3) Felice Gimondi (1, 3, 1) Vincenzo Nibali (1, 2, 1) No rider has won all three Grand Tours in the same calendar year.

The Giro d’Italia proves to be challenging, mainly due to the demanding Alp and Appennine climbs, as well as frequent inclement weather. The Tour de France stands out as the premier cycling event worldwide, drawing significant attention and placing considerable mental strain on riders. Nevertheless, there’s a consensus among some that the Vuelta a España is the toughest because it serves as the final Grand Tour of the season, with riders already exhausted. I’ll let you decide, but it’s evident that no Grand Tour can be considered easy.

Depending on how you define “the greatest.” However, the rider with the most GT wins is Eddy Merckx. He won 11 GT (5 times Tour de France, 5 times Giro d’Italia, and once Vuelta a España).

wikipedia.org procyclingstats.com letour.fr giroditalia.it lavuelta.es

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About The Author

Petr Minarik

4 thoughts on “tour, giro, and vuelta: cycling grand tours statistics compared (2023)”.

Great work! Can you add a cumulative vertical meters comparison to each GT? And create a weighted index according to Cumulative distance – Cumulative ascent – Average speed.

Thanks a lot. – Eran

Hi Eran, I thought about doing something like you describe. Unfortunately, total vertical meters are unavailable for many editions. Therefore, I decided not to include it. But you are right, that would be interesting!

You’re the guy to do it, you’re Great! I’d like to see day by day where riders have gained or lost time to the current GC leader. Does that make sense? I think it would be interesting as hell! Thanks for doing such a great job at what you do!!!

Hi Dan, Thank you for your trust and appreciation. I am afraid this is beyond my time capacity. However, this would be interesting data. 🙂 – Petr

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Giro d’Italia 2024: Tadej Pogacar’s debut, his challengers and key stages

From tadej pogacar’s much-anticipated bow, to the return of the hairpin-fraught stelvio and this year’s nod to the late marco pantani — a guide to the first grand tour of the year.

It’s unusual for a rider who has never ridden a certain race before to be such an overwhelming favourite on their debut appearance. But then Tadej Pogacar is an unusually talented rider. Already well established as a generational talent with two Tour de France titles under his belt, the Slovenian would always be fancied on his first attempt at the Corsa Rosa, but so much appears to be in his favour that it’s hard to look anywhere else for the general classification.

There’s his form: seven victories this season from just ten days of racing, including Strade Bianche, four stages and the overall title at Volta a Catalunya and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. There’s the absence of his rivals: no Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel or reigning champion Primoz

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Alberto Contador , who finished his career after the Vuelta a España last month, believes that he could have become the first rider to win all three Grand Tours in one season.

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"I would have liked, like anyone else, to have won all three Grand Tours in one year," Contador told Span's Marca newspaper.

"I've been able to win them, but in different seasons. If I had tried it when I was younger and when I had very powerful team around me, maybe I would have had more options."

Contador won more Grand Tours than any current rider has during his career. He took titles in all of cycling's three-week races, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España.

The Spaniard from Madrid's outskirts won his home race three times, in 2008, 2012 and 2014. He won the Giro twice, 2008 and 2015, and the Tour two times, 2007 and 2009.

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A positive test for clenbuterol saw him stripped of the 2010 Tour and 2011 Giro titles.

He recently retired with team Trek-Segafredo having begun his career with ONCE before racing with Discovery Channel, Astana and Saxo Bank/Tinkoff.

'El Pistolero' appeared to be firing the strongest between 2007 and 2009 when he raced with team Astana. However, he never tried racing all three Grand Tours in one season.

He came the closest to capturing all three within a 12-month span when he won the 2014 Vuelta and returned in 2015 to attempt the Giro/Tour double. He succeeded in the Giro and placed fifth in the Tour behind Chris Froome, saying the Giro had taken its toll.

Contador stands among the greats, a group of six cyclists who have won all three Grand Tours . Eddy Merckx remains the king of cycling with 11 titles. The Belgian won the Giro and the Tour five times each and the Vuelta once, the only time he raced it in 1973.

"I made the best decision," 34-year-old Contador said on his choice to retire.

"When I see a Grand Tour next year, maybe I'll get a little nostalgic. Recently I was at the presentation of the Giro d'Italia in Israel and seeing the first stage, the time trial, I thought, 'I could do well.' But it's time to leave space for the others.

"I could have continued, head and body, but it's true that now I see the Tour and the same passes... In a sense it no longer has the same charm as it did the first few times."

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Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season. 

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How to Watch 2024 Giro d’Italia

With a clear favorite, two time trials, and majestic mountain passes, cycling’s most beautiful Grand Tour promises a spectacle at its finest.

How to Watch the Giro d’Italia in Canada

How to watch the giro d’italia for free, what happened last year, riders to watch.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 Giro d’Italia:

Dates: Saturday, May 4 - Sunday, May 26

How to Watch the Giro d’Italia in the U.S.

If you’re a Max subscriber ($9.99/month), then you have access to the streaming platform’s B/R Sports package, which is the only legal way to stream the Giro d’Italia in the USA. For now, the package is free to all regular Max subscribers, but at some point, it will cost an additional $9.99 each month. That’s not as affordable as GCN+ used to be, but considering everything else you get with the B/R Sports package (such as MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA Men’s March Madness, U.S. Soccer, and 24 Hours of Le Mans coverage) it’s a pretty good deal.

Max has a user-friendly app for smartphones, streaming devices, game consoles, and smart TVs. There’s also an easy-to-navigate website, which is a helpful option for streaming the race from work. (Don’t worry, we won’t tell your boss.)

You could cancel your monthly subscription at the end of the race, but remember that Max will be offering live streams of many road, mountain, track, and cyclocross races throughout the rest of the year. If that floats your boat, consider getting an annual subscription for $99.99 (or $149.99 for ad-free streaming).

If you live in Canada, you can catch the action on FloBikes ($29.99 monthly or $150 for the year). Stream or cast from your desktop, mobile, or TV. The app is now available on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, and Apple TV. And live coverage starts at 7:45 AM EDT for most stages.

While we haven’t found legal ways to watch the Giro LIVE for free, you may be able to catch extended highlights on NBC/Peackock’s YouTube Channel a couple of hours after the events. However, where there is a will, there is a way. Just, “be careful with the ads.”

The 107th edition of the Giro d’Italia covers 3,386.7K (2,138 miles) over 21 stages, with two individual time trials, seven stages with uphill finishes, and six to eight stages expected to end with field sprints.

This year’s Grande Partenza takes place in Piemonte, near the French-Italian Alps, with two challenging road stages that will force the Giro’s GC contenders to be at their best right away. Stage 1, a 136K stage from Venaria Reale to Torino, features three categorized climbs–including the Superga and the Colle Maddalena–but it’s a short, punchy, uncategorized ascent just before the finish that could determine the stage winner.

Stage 2 begins in San Francesco al Campo and ends after 150K with this year’s first summit finish–on the Category 1 Santuario di Oropa, the climb on which deceased Italian legend Marco Pantani took one of his most famous stage wins in 1999. By the end of the first weekend, the GC battle will already be in full swing.

The race then begins working its way south, and Stages 3, 4, and 5—which finish in Fossano, Andora, and Lucca, respectively—should be days for the Giro’s sprinters. (Although the finishes of Stages 3 and 4 feature ramps inside the final 10K that could thwart the fast men.) Stage 6 brings the race from the coast into Tuscany (it finishes in Rapolano Terme) and features 12K of the strade bianche (“white gravel roads”) that give March’s Strade Bianche road race its name. If there’s one stage during the first week that has the potential to cause a few surprises, it’s this one.

Stage 7 is the first individual time trial of the Giro, and it’s a tough one: beginning in Foligno, the 37.2K race against the clock starts with over 30K of flat roads. But there’s a nasty sting in the course’s tail: a 6.5K climb to the finish line that starts steep and then ascends more gradually to the line. Riders who don’t pace themselves on the flat part of the course could explode on the final climb. There could be large time gaps here.

Starting in Spoleto, Stage 8 brings the second summit finish of the first week–on the Category 1 Prati di Tivo, a 14K climb in the Umbrian Apennines with an average gradient of 7%. With a field sprint expected in Napoli at the end of Sunday’s Stage 9 (after a 214K stage that starts in Avezzano), Stages 7 and 8 will determine which rider will wear the maglia rosa into the Giro’s first Rest Day.

The second week begins in Pompeii with Stage 10, a 142K stage that features a summit finish on a new climb, the Category 1 Bocca della Selva, a 20.9K climb with a deceiving 4.6% average gradient. The first few kilometers are actually downhill, so the climb is actually harder than its statistics suggest.

We expect Stage 11 (207K) to end with a field sprint in Francavilla al Mare, and Stage 12—with a jagged 190K stage through the Marche region (an area known for its muri or “walls”)—looks like the perfect day for a breakaway filled with puncheurs and riders who perform well in the spring classics. Friday’s Stage 13 is the flattest stage of this year’s race, which is probably a good thing considering the next two stages. This 179K stage from Riccione to Cento will be an active rest day for much of the peloton.

And they’ll need one because the third weekend begins with Stage 14–the Giro’s second individual time trial–a generally flat, 31K course from Castiglione delle Stiviere to Desenzano del Garda. This is a day for the Giro’s time trial specialists; the pure climbers will struggle to stay within shouting distance of their more powerful colleagues.

But they’ll have a chance for revenge on Sunday, when the race heads into the Alps for Stage 15, a 220K monster stage (the longest in this year’s race) with five categorized climbs, including back-to-back 2000m summits (both Category 1 ascents) at the end of the day, with a summit finish at the Mottolino ski resort just above Livigno. This weekend should blow the Giro wide open, leaving just a handful of riders still in contention to win the race overall.

The third week begins the same way the second week ends, with a 200K, high-altitude mountain stage. Stage 16 features the granddaddy of them all: the Stelvio, this year’s “Cima Coppi” as the highest summit in the race. Topping out at over 2700m, the climb comes early in the stage but will nonetheless offer a rude awakening to a peloton that’s coming out of the second Rest Day. After a long ride down into and through a valley, the day ends with the Category 1 Passo Pinei and then a summit finish on the Category 2 Monte Pana, in Santa Cristina in Val Gardena.

At “just” 159K, Stage 17 is much shorter than the previous two mountain stages, but it’s jammed with five categorized climbs, including the Category 2 Passo Sella and the Category 1 Passo Rolle. The day ends with two ascents of the Category 1 Passo Brocon, which the riders climb for a second time on their way to the finish line. This will be an intense stage, and it could pose a challenge for the team defending the pink jersey to control. The riders will be either climbing or descending from start to finish and if someone’s going to stage a third-week ambush, it could come here.

The next two stages offer a break from the mountains. Stage 18 brings a 166K downhill ride from Fiera di Primiero to Padua that should end with a field sprint. Stage 19 looks like the perfect chance for a small group of opportunists–who have likely been saving themselves in the high mountains–to escape and fight for a breakaway stage win in Sappada.

The 154K stage begins in Mortegliano and climbs steadily throughout the day, culminating with three categorized climbs in the second half stage, the last of which the riders summit just 7K from the finish. After so many days of intense climbing–and with one more day in the mountains still to come–the peloton could just sit back and let the break go all the way to the finish.

That sets the stage for Stage 20, the last chance for anyone hoping to steal the 2024 Giro d’Italia from whoever's been leading it. And–as the last two editions have shown us–that’s a realistic possibility. Starting in Alpago, the stage rolls along for about 85K before the first of two ascents of the Monte Grappa, an 18K climb with an average gradient of 8.1%–that’s steep . This isn’t a stage with a summit finish–the race finishes in Bassano del Grappa after a long descent from the top of the Monte Grappa down into the valley below–but even without one, the stage should still provide a dramatic conclusion to the Giro’s GC battle.

The race concludes Sunday in Rome with a 122K road stage featuring several circuits through the Eternal City. The day will begin with clinking glasses of prosecco, and end with one last chance for the sprinters to grab some glory.

You can find the elevation profiles and course maps for each 2024 Giro d’Italia stage here .

For the second year in a row, the 2023 Giro d’Italia was decided on the grand tour’s penultimate day. In 2022, Australia’s Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) took the pink jersey from Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) on Stage 20. Hindley won a mountain stage at the end of the grand tour’s first week, then hung around near the top of the General Classification before seizing his moment late in the Giro’s final mountain stage and winning the race overall.

In 2023, Slovenia’s Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) followed the same formula, albeit without an early-stage win. After Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step)—who had won two stages and was wearing the pink jersey as the Giro’s overall leader—was forced to abandon the race after testing positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the Giro’s first Rest Day, Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) took the maglia rosa . With the exception of the two days straddling the second Rest Day, Thomas held the jersey for much of the second and third weeks.

But he cracked on Stage 20, an 18.6K uphill time trial from Tarvisio to the summit of the Monte Lussari. Roglič, who entered the day just 26 seconds behind Thomas on GC, won the stage by 40 seconds, taking the pink jersey–and the 2023 Giro–by a slim margin.

Thomas held on to finish second, and Portugal’s João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) finished third. Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious) won the Points Classification, France’s Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) won the King of the Mountains Classification, and Almeida was the Giro’s Best Young Rider.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

With most of the sport’s best grand tour riders (including Roglič) racing the Tour de France this summer, this year’s Giro has a short list of overall contenders, a list that’s headlined by one of the sport’s true superstars: Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates).

The 25-year-old has never raced the Giro, and he takes the starting line this year as the favorite to win and dominate it. Then he’s planning to head to the Tour, where he’s hoping to become the first rider since Italy’s Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and the Tour in the same season.

Geraint Thomas (INEOS-Grenadiers)

Pogačar’s biggest challenger will likely be Geraint Thomas, who’s coming back to the Giro after last year’s disappointment. The 37-year-old (he’ll turn 38 during the race) will have a strong and experienced team supporting him–and the course suits him–but he’ll have a hard time overcoming Pogačar.

Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike)

We’ll also be keeping an eye on Belgium’s Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike), who made headlines last December when it was announced that he was breaking his contract with BORA-hansgrohe (who had recently signed Roglič away from Jumbo) to join the Dutch superteam.

The winner of the Tour de l‘Avenir in 2022, Uijtdebroeks just turned 21 and is widely considered to be a future grand tour contender. Without Belgium’s Wout van Aert, who’s skipping the Giro due to injuries he sustained in a crash at a race in Belgium a few weeks ago, Uijtdebroeks becomes the focus of the team’s Giro plans. And with a strong squad alongside him, he could finish on the podium and is the easy pick to become the Giro’s Best Young Rider.

Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)

Other GC contenders include Australia’s Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), a former fourth-place finisher at the Tour de France and Giro stage-winner; Italy’s Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious), a former Giro podium-finisher; Colombia’s Daniel Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe), a former fifth-place finisher at the Giro; Great Britain’s Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), a two-time top-10 finisher; and France’s Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), a former Tour de France podium finisher who was seventh at the Giro in 2021 but might be more of stage hunter this year.

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek)

Other stage hunters include Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), a three-time stage winner who was the Giro’s King of the Mountains in 2019; France’s Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step), who’s riding his first Giro; and Canada’s Michael Woods (Israel-PremierTech), who’s hoping to complete a hat-trick of grand tour stage victories with a win in Italy.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar)

One of the most controversial riders in this year’s Giro will be Colombia’s Nairo Quintana (Movistar), winner of the Giro in 2014. But the 34-year-old hasn’t raced since finishing sixth overall in the 2022 Tour de France and then having his results disqualified after testing positive for tramadol, a painkiller that’s banned by the UCI (but not banned by WADA). He’s now back in the WorldTour with the team that made him famous. His return has not been a popular one , though, and it will be interesting to see how he’s received in Italy.

The Giro also offers several stage win opportunities for field sprinters, and that–plus the fact that the Tour de France is very not sprinter-friendly–means there will be lots of them taking the start, including Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek); Belgium’s Tim Merlier (Soudal–Quick Step); Dutch sprinters Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), and Australia’s Sam Welsford (BORA-Hansgrohe), Caleb Ewan (Jayco AlUla) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck); and Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty).

Last but not least, the Giro will see several North Americans taking the start, with Americans Larry Warbasse (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Magnus Sheffield (INEOS Grenadiers), and Will Barta (Movistar) joining Woods on the starting line, with more expected to join them as teams finalize their rosters.

.css-1t6om3g:before{width:1.75rem;height:1.75rem;margin:0 0.625rem -0.125rem 0;content:'';display:inline-block;-webkit-background-size:1.25rem;background-size:1.25rem;background-color:#F8D811;color:#000;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-position:center;background-position:center;}.loaded .css-1t6om3g:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/bicycling/static/images/chevron-design-element.c42d609.svg);} 2024 Giro d'Italia

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British cycling celebrates historic triple of Grand Tour success

First nation to win Vuelta, Giro and Tour in same year with three different riders

When Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) stepped up onto the podium of the Vuelta a España on Sunday for one last time, he was completing an unprecedented Grand Tour 'set' of success for Great Britain.

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Prior to Chris Froome in the Giro d'Italia , Geraint Thomas in the Tour de France and Yates in the Vuelta a España, no nation had ever taken all three Grand Tours in the same year with different riders.

What makes those results even more remarkable is that before 2018, Britain had never won the Giro d'Italia, and before 2017, the country had never won the Vuelta a España – and that for Yates and Thomas, these are first-time Grand Tour successes.

There has been a run of more than five Grand Tour wins in the past by the same nation and it has been equalled, too, but it is not easy to compare.

The French won six straight Tour de France from 1903-08 on the trot, which is six Grand Tours, but that was before the Giro and Vuelta were held. Then in 1924-26 before the Vuelta started in the mid-1930s, Giuseppe Enrici, Octavio Bottechia, Alfredo Binda and Giovanni Bruneo won three Giros and two Tours for Italy.

The only time in the post-War era when all three Grand Tours were up and running where a single nation won all three Grand Tours five times in succession was in 1963-64. Jacques Anquetil won the Tour and Vuelta in 1963, then the Giro and Tour in 1964, and Raymond Poulidor took the Vuelta (then held in April) in 1964 as well.

It's not unknown for nations to win all three Grand Tours in one year, the most recent being Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre taking the Vuelta, Giro and Tour, respectively in 2008, but it is extremely rare.

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Only France, in 1964 with Anquetil and Pouldor, has done that in the post-1955 era, when all three Grand Tours were running regularly. Britain, therefore, is only the third nation to do that and the first with three different riders.

Curiously enough, whilst Britain has dominated in the Grand Tours, the country's track record in Monuments and one day Classics remains much less stellar.

Mark Cavendish's win in the 2009 Milan-San Remo remains the last victory for a Briton in one of the Monuments and his gold and silver medals in the World Championships Road Race are equally unparalleled achievements for Great Britain.

At World Tour level since then, Geraint Thomas has won the E3 Harelbeke, Adam Yates has won the Clásica San Sebastián and Ian Stannard has captured the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad twice, as well as making it onto the podium of Paris-Roubaix.

But in the Grand Tours, Britain has been much more consistently successful. The million dollar question is, of course, how long it can continue.

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Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews , he has also written for The Independent ,  The Guardian ,  ProCycling , The Express and Reuters .

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Favorites general classification Giro d'Italia 2024 | Tadej Pogacar? These gentlemen also dream of the pink jersey

Is there a more beautiful jersey in cycling than the pink one? Tadej Pogacar must have thought the same thing, as after winning two yellow jerseys in the Tour de France, the Slovenian is finally making his debut in the Giro d'Italia this year. The top favorite? Absolutely. But in the Tour of Italy, it’s not always the favorite who wins. IDLProCycling.com lists the top ten contenders for the overall victory!

Please also read/coming soon on IDLProCycling.com:

- Preview of the Giro d'Italia

- Favorites for the points classification (purple jersey)

- Favorites for the mountain classification (blue jersey)

- Favorites for the youth classification (white jersey)

- Betting pool tips for the Giro d'Italia

Recent winners of the Giro d'Italia

2023 - Primoz Roglic

2022 - Jai Hindley

2021 - Egan Bernal

2020 - Tao Geoghegan Hart

2019 - Richard Carapaz

2018 - Chris Froome

2017 - Tom Dumoulin

2016 - Vincenzo Nibali

2015 - Alberto Contador

2014 - Nairo Quintana

Favorites for the General Classification of the Giro d'Italia 2024

To compile this list, (former) editors at IDLProCycling.com were asked for their top ten in response to the question: "Who is most likely to win the Giro d'Italia?" Each top ten was assigned points as follows: 12 points for first place, 10 for second place, and then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. For each rider, the total points received were converted into a percentage of the maximum points possible. This percentage is indicated next to each rider. This helps give a clearer view of how the odds stack up according to IDLProCycling.com!

Antonio Tiberi/Juan Pedro López - Bahrain Victorious/Lidl-Trek: 17/108 points (15.7%)

We start off with a tie in the rankings. Antonio Tiberi appeared seven times on our lists, but often in the ninth or tenth spot. The 22-year-old Italian will chase a classification for the first time in a grand tour for Bahrain Victorious, and why would he not be able to surprise everyone? His third place in the Tour of the Alps was impressive. Top five is his goal, but with us, he just has to make do with narrowly making the top ten.

The same applies to Juan Pedro López, the winner of the Tour of the Alps and a former wearer of the pink jersey for several days. Representing Lidl-Trek, the 26-year-old Spaniard seems to have carte blanche to try again. His stage win in the Alps—where he dramatically dropped everyone—promises much. The problem for him are the time trial kilometers, so he must go on the offensive in his beloved mountains for a top ranking.

Damiano Caruso - Bahrain Victorious: 18/108 points (16.7%)

At number nine, we find Damiano Caruso, Tiberi's teammate at Bahrain Victorious and, of course, the runner-up of the 2021 Giro! That same year, he also won a stage in the Vuelta. However, the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023 didn't go as well for him.

Can he do it again at the age of 36? Or will it be more about chasing stage wins and supporting the new generation? His results in 2024 haven't been very spectacular, but neither were they before his second place in 2021. Caruso is tough, never count him out!

Luke Plapp - Jayco-AlUla: 18/108 points (16.7%)

Scoring the same as Caruso but placed a spot higher, Luke Plapp has caught the attention of several editors who believe he could be this Giro’s surprise package. One even placed him third! Why? Plapp finished sixth in Paris-Nice and seems to be climbing better than ever. Moreover, the Australian from Jayco-AlUla is an outstanding time trialist.

His switch from INEOS Grenadiers to Jayco is paying off, although he recently mentioned that the team's focus for the classification is on Eddie Dunbar. The Irishman isn't on our list, but Plapp is. He’s poised to surprise us. The Giro has often been a platform for riders to come into their own. Maybe this is the moment for the 23-year-old Plapp.

Daniel Felipe Martínez - BORA-hansgrohe: 39/108 points (36.1%)

Another man who, after a surprising departure from INEOS, has been tearing up the streets is Daniel Felipe Martinez. He beat Remco Evenepoel twice (!) in explosive finishes at the Tour of the Algarve. And let’s not forget his role as a domestique for the overall winner Egan Bernal in 2021, where he finished fifth in the Giro.

At BORA-hansgrohe, this year is all about the Tour de France. They are sending Primoz Roglic, Jai Hindley, and Aleksandr Vlasov to focus on it. This gives Martinez free rein to fully explore his potential as a GC contender. If he's really on point, he can compete with the best. He has, after all, also won the GC in the Dauphiné and the Tour of the Basque Country in his career.

Cian Uijtdebroeks - Visma | Lease a Bike: 46/108 points (42.6%)

At Visma | Lease a Bike, since December, they have had one goal: to make a splash in the Giro! Despite losing Wout van Aert and Wilco Kelderman to injuries, there remains more than enough quality to compete for stage wins every day. Olav Kooij, Jan Tratnik, Attila Valter... Impressive, to say the least.

One rider who consistently sneaks under the radar is Cian Uijtdebroeks. The young Belgian's switch from BORA to Visma last winter has been much discussed, and the Giro might shed light on whether this move was beneficial. Considering his eighth-place finish in a competitive Vuelta in 2023, he’s expected to perform even better in this Giro... We're eager to see what he does!

Thymen Arensman - INEOS Grenadiers: 54/108 points (50.0%)

Thymen Arensman is the first and only Dutchman on this list (most of our editors are Dutch), but he's no ordinary competitor. Born to race for the GC, Arensman might not typically finish in the top three of explosive finales, but he consistently secured a strong top ten spot in both the 2022 Vuelta and 2023 Giro.

Having finished sixth twice in a grand tour, he's aiming higher now. Let’s say at least top five. Geraint Thomas is the declared leader at INEOS Grenadiers, but the 24-year-old Arensman is a dangerous dark horse. After finishing fifth in the Algarve and sixth in the Tirreno, and with a year at INEOS under his belt, it's time for him to harvest the fruits of his labor.

Ben O'Connor - Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale: 61/108 points (56.5%)

We're slowly moving towards the podium, but according to our editorial team, it might just be out of reach for Ben O'Connor. Nonetheless, the Australian from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale is having an excellent season. There's no reason to believe he can't continue this form into the Giro.

The 28-year-old O'Connor is rock solid in the mountains and has improved significantly in time trials over the past few years. He won a stage in the 2020 Giro and followed up a year later with a stage win and an eighth-place finish in the final classification in the Tour de France. 2023 was marred by crashes and injuries, but in 2024, O'Connor has already impressed with a second-place finish in the UAE Tour and the Tour of the Alps, and fifth in the Tirreno.

Romain Bardet - Team dsm-firmenich PostNL: 68/108 points (63%)

Romain Bardet in the best form of his life? At Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he finished second with impressive form, after placing fifth at the Tour of the Alps. Watching a good Bardet race is a delight. And who knows what he might achieve in the GC if dsm-firmenich PostNL fully commits.

And why not? The time trials won't be easy for Bardet, but the Frenchman has greatly improved in this discipline and also has plenty of mountain stages and bonus sprints to compensate. After his second and third places in the Tour in '16 and '17, we'd love to see him on the podium again. However, it won't be handed to him on a silver platter!

Geraint Thomas - INEOS Grenadiers: 73/108 points (67.6%)

As previously noted, Geraint Thomas is the leader at INEOS Grenadiers, but it's always tough to fully gauge the Welshman. After his Tour de France victory in 2018, his career seemed to wane, but in recent years, he's rediscovered his top form. He finished third behind Pogacar and Vingegaard in the 2022 Tour and was the runner-up to Roglic in last year's Giro.

INEOS wants to race aggressively, whatever that may mean. Thomas on the attack? We've rarely seen that. He's mainly a model of consistency. Never really having a bad day, always finishing among the leaders. And in this way, we might see him on the podium again in Rome.

Tadej Pogacar - UAE-Team Emirates: 108/108 points (100%)

Whether any of the ten names mentioned can dream of overall victory will largely depend on one rider. Tadej Pogacar is the man to beat, the rider who stands out when everyone else is performing at their usual level. And this season, the Slovenian from UAE-Team Emirates is at his best...

He clinched a victory at Strade Bianche after an epic eighty-kilometer solo break, secured four (!) stage victories and the overall win in Catalonia, and topped it off with a win at Liège-Bastenaken-Liège following another bold solo effort from La Redoute. With a strong team backing him at UAE, if Pogacar stays healthy for three weeks, everything points to him dominating. However, the Giro still has to be raced, particularly with Pogacar also eyeing a win at the Tour de France this summer...

Tadej Pogačar is starting his first Giro d’Italia as the overwhelming favorite

The Associated Press

May 2, 2024, 11:09 AM

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MILAN (AP) — Rarely has the Giro d’Italia had such an overwhelming pre-race favorite.

Tadej Pogačar is competing in the Italian grand tour for the first time in an audacious attempt at the Giro-Tour de France double. The two-time Tour champion has been in dominant form this year.

Adding to his short odds, three of the few riders who can challenge Pogačar over a three-week race — titleholder Primož Roglič , Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel — will not be at the Giro starting on Saturday.

“It’s going to be a big challenge coming up against Tadej. I’d prefer if he wasn’t going but at the same time having him there is great,” Geraint Thomas, last year’s runner-up, says.

“It’ll change the race completely and his team will take on the weight of the race and everything that comes with that.”

Pogačar has started only five grand tours and made it to the podium of all five. He won the Tour in 2020 and 2021, was runner-up twice more, and was third in his one and only Spanish Vuelta in 2019.

The 25-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider has been the overwhelming favorite for the Giro since he announced his decision in December.

But the Giro is often wet, wild and unpredictable, as Thomas knows only too well.

The Giro starts in Turin on Saturday and the 3,321-kilometer (2,064-mile) route ends in Rome on May 26.

POGAČAR vs THOMAS

Thomas is looking for a do-over at the Giro.

Last year, the Ineos Grenadiers cyclist had a 26-second lead over pre-race favorite Roglič going into the penultimate stage but lost 40 seconds on that mountain time trial to his rival, who stormed to the Giro victory.

Thomas faces another Slovenian star in Pogačar, and both are aiming to be the first rider to win the Giro and Tour in the same year since 1998 when Marco Pantani accomplished the double.

“You don’t think that first place is gone — if anything, it takes pressure off because everyone expects him to win. They don’t expect any of us to do anything,” Thomas says.

“It definitely makes the race different to last year … the main thing was getting here in good shape and then you just do what you can. It’s a massive task because (Pogačar is) a phenomenal bike rider — I’ve said recently probably one of the greatest ever — but we’re relishing the challenge.”

Beside his narrow loss last year, Thomas is no stranger to disappointment at the Giro, having had to abandon the race twice. In 2017, he was involved in a crash caused by a police motorbike, and three years later he broke his hip after a drinks bottle became lodged under his wheel.

“It’s the Giro, a lot can go good and go bad as we all know,” he said. “So yeah, we’re excited.”

Grand tours traditionally start slow and steady and bunched up. Not this year. The start is expected to be explosive.

Not only will the riders tackle the second-category climb up the Colle Maddalena on the opening day but the first summit finish comes on the second stage, at the Santuario di Oropa. It will be the earliest mountain finish at the Giro since 1989 when the race began in Sicily and went up Mount Etna.

“The riders who want to win it will have to be ready from the start and I expect a lot of spectacle,” Giro director Mauro Vegni said when the route was revealed in October.

The second uphill finish is at the end of the first week with a top-category climb of more than 14 kilometers to Prato di Tivo.

“You need to be good from start to finish,” Thomas says, “but I think it’s kind of nice in a way, it settles the race down quite early on.

“If anything, it’s nice to get a bit of tiredness in the peloton straight away. The thing with the Giro is you got to be strong at the end. Obviously, Stage 2 is important, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”

DECISIVE DOLOMITES

Despite race organizers’ insistence that the finale is less tough than previous editions, the final week has three of the five stages that have been given a five-star rating for maximum difficulty.

Stage 16 features 4,400 meters of elevation and the highest point of the race, over the Stelvio Pass. That is immediately followed by the Queen Stage, the hardest leg.

Apart from one short section, the peloton will constantly be climbing or descending on the brutal 159-kilometer (99-mile) route from Selva di Val Gardena, with four classified climbs before the top category ascent to the finish on the Passo Broncon.

The winner of the Giro will likely be decided on the penultimate stage, with two category-one climbs up Monte Grappa on May 25, Thomas’ 38th birthday.

The race will transfer to Rome for the largely processional 126-kilometer (78-mile) final leg through the streets of the capital, ending near the Colosseum.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Pogacar could target historic Grand Tour treble in same year, says Contador

ALCUDIA, Spain - Tadej Pogacar looks unstoppable for this year's Giro d'Italia and could even do something never seen before in cycling history and win all three Grand Tours in the same season, according to Spanish great Alberto Contador.

Slovenian Pogacar has started the season in sensational fashion and blew away a high quality field to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege last weekend having also been victorious at Strade Bianche and the Tour of Catalunya.

The 25-year-old UAE Team Emirates rider is the favourite to win the maglia rosa on his Giro debut and Contador believes he is on course to take men's cycling to a new level.

"I think if he doesn't have any sickness, a crash or mechanical problem it's very hard to beat him," two-times Giro winner Contador told Reuters in Mallorca where he is joining 8,000 amateur riders in the 312 Gran Fondo on Saturday.

"He goes well in the long climbs, the short climbs, in the time trials he flies, in the descents he goes well even in bad weather, he has everything."

Pogacar won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021 but was usurped by Jonas Vingegaard in the last two years and Contador says the Dane will again be the main obstacle for Pogacar winning for a third time in France this year.

But he says Pogacar can break new ground and write himself in the annals of cycling alongside the likes of Eddy Merckx as can Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel.

"I think we are in a golden moment for men's cycling," the 41-year-old Contador, who retired in 2017, said.

"Maybe in France, Italy, Spain they don't have a big star but we need to enjoy whether they are from Slovenia, Netherlands or Belgium. It's so incredible, riders like Pogacar, Vingegaard, Van de Poel. Pogacar is doing something that never in the history and also what Mathieu (Van de Poel) did in Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders we need to enjoy this time.

"Pogacar for me, he can win every race and when I say every race, if he trained 100% for Paris-Roubaix he can win that too."

No rider has ever won all three Grand Tours in the same season but Contador believes Pogacar could do the treble.

"I think that if Pogacar wins the Giro and wins the Tour de France this year he will try for the Vuelta a Espana to make history."

Contador's optimism is not shared, however, by his old adversary Vincenzo Nibali, who will also be stretching his retired legs in the round-the-island Mallorca event.

"In the same year, it's out of the question," Nibali, who like Contador won all three Grand Tours but not in the same year, told Reuters.

"Maybe the Giro and Tour this year for Pogacar is a good option because I don't know the speed of the recovery for Vingegaard after his crash at the Tour of the Basque Country."

The Giro begins on May 4. REUTERS

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Can Thomas thwart mighty Pogacar at Giro d'Italia?

Hot sun, torrential rain, hail, snow, ice... the Giro d'Italia is often the most entertaining race of the road cycling season.

Beginning in Turin on Saturday, three weeks of competition for the pink jersey over 3,400km - 44,650m of which will be ascending - creates a unique event which often offers more drama than its more famous, and more temperate, sister race the Tour de France.

But this year could represent a historic moment: step one of Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar achieving one of cycling's greatest feats - winning both the Giro and the Tour de France in the same year.

To do it you need to be one of cycling's greatest riders - tick. And in the form of your life - tick.

But hot favourite Pogacar's rivals, such as Britain's Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers, will not simply lie down. Especially given Thomas missed out so narrowly last year.

"No you don’t think first [place] is gone," says the 37-year-old.

"If anything it takes the pressure off because everyone expects him to win. No-one expects any of us to do anything, so there's no pressure from that side of things," adds the 2018 Tour de France winner.

"But [Pogacar's presence] makes the race different to last year, 100%. I think he's one of the greatest riders ever."

Will Pogacar do the Giro-Tour double?

Last achieved by Italy 's Marco Pantani in 1998, doing the ultimate Grand Tour double has eluded a few generations of greats since.

It seemed an unlikely dream this year thanks to the presence of Pogacar's only rival for supremacy, Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark - last year's Tour winner by more than seven minutes following Pogacar's capitulation following an early season of success and subsequent injury during the spring classics.

However, in April, Vingegaard was injured in a freak crash at a race in northern Spain which left him with a broken collarbone, punctured lung and a great deal of uncertainty whether he would be fit for the Tour at the end of June.

"I watched [the crash] live. It was horrific, really terrible to see," says Pogacar, 25.

With Vingegaard's awful luck, UAE-Team Emirates' Pogacar becomes favourite for the Tour. As for the Giro? He should win it at a canter.

Of the 10 races or stages he has started this year, Pogacar has won a staggering six - and the way he has done so has stunned the sport.

In March, before the tough one-day classic Strade Bianche - a 215km race encompassing the loose, chalky roads of Tuscany - he was asked about his plan to win.

At a time when riders are understandably cagey about their intentions, he simply stated: "With 80km to go, I will attack."

He did exactly that, and not one of the 200-odd riders could get near him.

He has done pretty much the same in every race in 2024, most recently at the brutal one-day 'monument' classic Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

An assumption he will dominate this race is made by all, purely on form, but this irked Pogacar before this race.

"I think it is disrespectful to the other riders. We're not so much different on the climbs," he said.

But he eventually conceded that his dominance of so many races draws certain expectations, adding: "I don't know, maybe it's a bit my fault."

Can Thomas beat Pogacar?

On paper, no. But Thomas is considered one of Pogacar's biggest rivals in a race often denied the best riding talent, who are being preserved for the Tour in July.

Pogacar even names Thomas alongside France's Romain Bardet as his main threat.

Thomas' form in recent seasons since his dominant Tour victory six years ago has been strong in patches.

He finished on the Tour podium in 2022 behind the aforementioned modern-era greats of Pogacar and winner Vingegaard, and only missed out on winning the Giro last year when he finally lost the pink jersey on the penultimate stage to Slovenia's Primoz Roglic on a "stupid mountain" time trial, as Thomas puts it.

Other contenders for pink this year include Colombia 's Daniel Martinez, Australia 's Ben O'Connor and Spain's Juan Pedro Lopez.

Not household names, but the injury and misfortune associated with this race means there is always a chance.

Described by many as the most entertaining three-week Grand Tour, the Giro is almost always unpredictable. In 2020, Thomas crashed out when a discarded drinks bottle from another rider rolled under his front wheel, causing him to break his pelvis.

Last year Belgian prodigy Remco Evenepoel came to grief in bad weather after a dog ran into the peloton, causing several riders to leave the road.

"The main thing is getting here in good shape, and then do what you can," says Thomas.

"Obviously it's a massive task because [Pogacar's] a phenomenal bike rider.

"But we rise to the challenge - they’ve got a strong team and so do we, and there's plenty of other bike riders here as well.

"It’s the Giro - a lot can go good, and bad, as we all know."

Giro d'Italia 2024 route and standout stages

The race begins in Turin on 4 May and rolls into Italy's capital city Rome on 26 May.

But there will be anything but rolling across the brutal mountain stages, where Grand Tours tend to be won and lost.

Standout mountain sections include Stage 8's 152km assault to Prato di Tivo, before three more mid-race tests and a final lung-busting assault up to Bassano del Grappa in the Dolomites on the penultimate stage, which includes two very steep category-one ascents.

Pogacar's strength comes from his all-round ability, and if he has not already accelerated away on the climbs, he will test opponents' pain thresholds during the two time trials, including Stage 7's 40.6km test to Perugia, which ends with a stinging climb.

The sprinters have a little less to choose from this time around as this course was designed to attract Pogacar to participate, but there is still a picturesque dart into Rome on the final day, won so brilliantly last year by Mark Cavendish - and one which could be set this time around for fellow Briton Ethan Vernon.

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