Provisional start list published for 2021 Giro d’Italia

With 9 days remaining until the start of the 2021 Giro d’Italia, the race’s provisional entry list has been announced.

Contenders will start racing in Turin on Saturday, 8 May, and will battle for the win throughout the 21 stages that cross the Italian peninsula, to finish in Milan, on Sunday, 30 May.

The challenge for the GC

Among the GC specialists hoping to lift the Trofeo Senza Fine is Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), who will be wearing race number 01. Meanwhile, Team BikeExchange will be lining-up a host of riders in support of team captain Simon Yates, who has already shown good form at the Tour of the Alps.

Trek-Segafredo will be hedging its bets with the two-time winner of the Corsa Rosa Vincenzo Nibali, who returns to racing after a wrist injury, and Bauke Mollema, winner of Il Lombardia in 2019, who has also won the Trofeo Laigueglia earlier this year. Team DSM too will have two potential team leaders: Jai Hindley, who finished second on the Milan podium of the 103rd Giro, and Romain Bardet, who has placed on the podium twice at the Tour de France. There will also be two big names for Deceuninck – Quick-Step, with Remco Evenepoel, returning to racing after his accident at Il Lombardia in 2020 and João Almeida, who, last year, wore the Maglia Rosa for 15 days and came fourth in the General Classification. Bahrain Victorious will be at Turin’s Grande Partenza with two riders more than capable of fighting for victory overall: Mikel Landa (three stage wins at the Giro and one podium) and Pello Bilbao, 5th overall last year, and in excellent shape at the Tour of the Alps.

Among those competing for the GC are also the young talent Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana – Premier Tech), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora – Hansgrohe), 4th at the Tour de France in 2019 and Hugh Carthy (EF Education – Nippo), 3rd at La Vuelta a España in 2020; Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), a strong rider who can boast of two Classic Monument results – Il Lombardia (’14) and Liège – Bastogne – Liège (’13) – George Bennett (Team Jumbo-Visma) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Team Qhubeka Assos).

Sprinters

There’s an outstanding number of fast wheels too in this year’s provisional entry list, all competing for stage successes and the iconic Maglia Ciclamino. The list includes three-time World Champion Peter Sagan (Bora – Hansgrohe), Italian and European Champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Team Qhubeka Assos), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), who’s already taken three stage wins at the Giro, Elia Viviani (Cofidis), winner of the Points Classification at the 2018 Corsa Rosa, Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), a multiple Grand Tour stage winner who will return to racing after last year’s Tour de Pologne and Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), who last year came first at the finish line of the Brussels Cycling Classic and won a sprint at the Tirreno-Adriatico too.

Stage Hunters

Many are the contenders for single stage wins at this year’s Corsa Rosa. Among them are Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), winner of two stages and one Maglia Azzurra, Ruben Guerreiro (EF Education – Nippo), who took a stage win and the Maglia Azzurra in 2020; Gianni Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers), who recently won two stages at the Tour of the Alps; Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious), Giro stage winner in 2018; and Giovanni Visconti (Bardiani CSF Faizane’), with two stage wins and a Maglia Azzurra already in his palmares.

Also at the start line will be Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck – Quick-Step), who won a stage in 2019; the Spanish champion Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana – Premier Tech); and UAE Team Emirates’s successful duo of Davide Formolo and Diego Ulissi (with his eight career stage wins at the Giro). As for individual time trials, all eyes are on Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), winner of the previous three ITTs at the Corsa Rosa, Victor Campenaerts (Team Qhubeka Assos), two-time European ITT champion, Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck – Quick-Step), French ITT champion and Jos Van Emden (Jumbo Visma), winner of the final time trial at the 2017 Giro.

The 23 teams Competing, and Their Key Riders

• Ineos Grenadiers: Egan Bernal, Filippo Ganna
• AG2R Citroen Team: Tony Gallopin, Andrea Vendrame
• Alpecin-Fenix: Tim Merlier, Dries De Bondt
• Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec: Jefferson Cepeda, Simon Pellaud
• Astana – Premier Tech: Aleksandr Vlasov, Luis Leon Sanchez
• Bahrain Victorious:  Mikel Landa, Pello Bilbao
• Bardiani CSF Faizane’: Giovanni Visconti, Enrico Battaglin
• Bora – Hansgrohe: Peter Sagan, Emanuel Buchmann
• Cofidis: Elia Viviani, Natnael Berhane
• Deceuninck – Quick-Step: Remco Evenepoel, João Almeida
• EF Education – Nippo: Hugh Carthy, Ruben Guerreiro
• Eolo-kometa Cycling Team: Luca Wackermann, Vincenzo Albanese
• Groupama – FDJ: Tobias Ludvigsson, Rudy Molard
• Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux: Jan Hirt, Andrea Pasqualon
• Israel Start-Up Nation: Daniel Martin, Alex Dowsett
• Jumbo-Visma: George Bennett, Dylan Groenewegen
• Lotto Soudal: Caleb Ewan, Thomas De Gendt
• Movistar Team: Marc Soler, Dario Cataldo
• Team BikeExchange: Simon Yates, Mikel Nieve
• Team DSM: Jai Hindley, Romain Bardet
• Team Qhubeka Assos: Giacomo Nizzolo, Domenico Pozzovivo
• Trek – Segafredo: Vincenzo Nibali, Bauke Mollema
• UAE Team Emirates: Davide Formolo, Diego Ulissi