Second and final rest day for the Giro d’Italia 2024 before the exciting last week of racing, which will conclude on Sunday in Rome with the final parade under the shadow of the Colosseum. It’s also time for evaluations for the FantaGiro d’Italia, the official fantasy game of the Giro, created and produced in collaboration between RCS Sport and Team del FantaSanremo. So far, it has reached the extraordinary milestone of 102,000 registered teams, created by over 72,000 fantasy managers who have formed 6,550 leagues, sharing their love for cycling and the Giro with enthusiasts, friends, colleagues, and family.
These numbers are expected to grow as registrations for FantaGiro d’Italia are open until midnight on Saturday, May 25, on the fantagiroditalia.it website. By creating an account, participants can enter the draw for fantastic prizes: digital edition subscriptions to Gazzetta dello Sport, Wolfie Wolf plush toys by Trudi, gift cards for GiroStore in collaboration with All4Cycling, Special Jerseys produced by Castelli to celebrate the most iconic stages of Giro 2024, Giro d’Italia 2024 Jerseys autographed by their winners, and a splendid Colnago V4Rs, the bike of Tadej Pogačar.
In line with the progress of the Giro, which after the first two weeks has seen Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) as the undisputed leader, the FantaGiro d’Italia also has the Slovenian champion firmly at the top of the provisional general classification with 967 points. The battle for the other two podium spots and the top ten positions is much more uncertain. In second place is Daniel Martinez (Bora – Hansgrohe) with 336 points, followed by Jonathan Milan (Lidl – Trek) with 306. Completing the provisional top ten are Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) with 304 points, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step) with 267, Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) with 204, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) with 198, Andrea Pietrobon (Team Polti – Kometa) with 186, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) with 184, and Mirco Maestri (Team Polti – Kometa) with 183 points.
Leading the stage winners’ ranking in FantaGiro d’Italia is none other than Tadej Pogačar with 5 victories. Following him with 2 stage wins each are Jonathan Milan and Julian Alaphilippe, while with one victory each are Jhonatan Narvaez, Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Francisco Muñoz (Team Polti – Kometa), Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis), Olav Kooij (Team Visma – Lease a Bike), and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team).
The playful spirit of FantaGiro d’Italia is gradually catching on with more and more riders in the Giro, who perhaps find the game a way to relieve race tension. This can be seen in the increasing interactions between the riders and FantaGiro d’Italia’s social media and the number of “Daily Bonuses” awarded, a total of 303 in the first fifteen stages. Daily bonuses often require direct participation from the Giro’s main players, who must perform actions such as tasting local specialties, taking selfies with monuments in the start or finish cities, commenting with emojis on FantaGiro d’Italia’s Instagram posts, singing, giving interviews, and much more to earn 10 points.
The passion for FantaGiro d’Italia is also spreading beyond our national borders. Of the over 72,000 fantasy managers, 51.8% are Italian, while the remaining 48.2% are scattered around the world. Among the most involved countries are France with 10.1% of users, Spain with 7.5%, Colombia with 4.6%, the United Kingdom with 2.8%, Belgium with 2.3%, Portugal with 2.2%, the United States with 1.8%, and Denmark with 1.7%.
In the global ranking of the 102,000 teams created by fantasy managers, the FantaGiro d’Italia Trophy sees Sballo Team in first place with 2337 points, followed by AdP Bicher 27 with 2336 and Domy Team with 2295.
