As we reach the first rest day, it’s time to take stock of the Giro d’Italia 2024. One thing seems clear and certain: we had fun. Every day offered interesting food for thought and uncertain endings, thanks to a well-designed route and performers who tackled it with flair and courage. Everything is still open, but we have had plenty of material to discuss.
Maglia Rosa
This leader’s jersey already has its rightful owner, as the Giro d’Italia has turned into Tadej Pogačar’s show. The Slovenian has been absolutely dominant in this first week, having won a third of the stages held so far, namely Oropa, the Perugia time trial and Prati di Tivo. It had been since 1987 that a non-sprinter had won three stages in so few days of racing. Pogačar currently sits 2’40” ahead of Daniel Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe), second in this ranking, and 2’58’’ ahead of Geraint Thomas. The UAE Team Emirates captain can also boast the widest overall margin after 9 stages since 2002.
Behind him, the tussle for the podium is tight and entertaining, featuring the aforementioned Martinez, who can also take advantage of his sprinting skills to chase down bonus points, the always solid Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), who better than anyone knows how to handle a three-week race, and Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), who after struggling in Oropa has managed to climb up the GC thanks to some remarkable performances at the time trial in Perugia and on the summit finish of Prati di Tivo.
Woe betide underestimating the young Cian Uijtdebroeks (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), whose limits are yet to be discovered. The former has been well spoken of for a couple of years now, while the latter has made a considerable leap in quality in recent weeks. The Italian, who is far from slow in time trials as well, was the only one who dared to attack in Prati di Tivo. From Martinez, 2nd overall, to Tiberi, 6th, the gap is only 1’43”.
Furthermore, let’s not exclude the possibility that a breakaway from afar might bring some outsiders back into top positions.
Maglia Ciclamino
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) has laid the foundations to try and repeat last year’s great achievement of winning the Giro’s Points Classification. He has already won one stage, in Andora, finished second twice in Fossano and Naples and has 174 points in this special classification.
Chasing him are Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Team Visma | Leae a Bike), with 116 and 115 points respectively. The Australian has clearly shown to have this jersey in his sights and has been racking up points in the intermediate sprints since day one, but he still lacks the big hit at the finish line, as he has not yet gone beyond second place in Andora. The Dutchman’s ambitions for the Maglia Ciclamino, on the other hand, were revived by his victory in Naples and it will be interesting to see if he now starts to launch himself into the intermediate sprints with more conviction.
With 100 points, Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) won in Fossano and has been involved in pretty much every bunch sprint with the exception of Naples, where he was dropped on the climbs preceding the arrival, thus having to give up the sprint and precious points. This week, between Francavilla al Mare and Cento, he will have two more chances to check his condition. Certainly, among the four pretenders, he is the one who struggles the most when the road climbs. The fight for this special jersey seems to come down to these four names.
Maglia Azzurra
The King of the Mountain is by far the most uncertain ranking so far, as almost 600 points are still up for grabs. Having won the Giro’s two summit finishes so far, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is currently in the lead with 104 well-deserved points, twice as many as second-placed Daniel Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe), who has 52. The Slovenian has left no doubt as to who the Giro’s strongest rider and climber is, hence, if he decides to ride as he has so far, i.e. with the will to fight for stage victories other than GC, then it will be really hard to snatch this jersey from him.
Among the riders not fighting for GC, interest in the Maglia Azzurra has already been shown by Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), who wore it for a few days, Simon Geschke (Cofidis), brilliant on the climbs so far, and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost). A big question mark remains for Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL), one of the big letdowns of this first part of the Giro. Other potential candidates are Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Lidl-Trek), Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan).
As mentioned, however, the big mountains are yet to be tackled and making a forecast now is virtually impossible. In a week’s time we will have a few more indications.
Maglia Bianca
The battle for the title of best young rider looks more interesting than ever. After nine very solid stages, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) leads the classification with 21” over Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), who appears to be on the rise after the problems – especially mechanical ones – he suffered on the Oropa climb on Stage 2. The Italian has recovered almost all of his disadvantage in the time trial and now seems to be able to seriously threaten the talented Belgian (two years younger).
A similar trend was shown by Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), who after a limp start pulled off some solid performances in the time trial and in Prati di Tivo. He is now 1’28” behind Uijtdebroeks. Yet his involvement in the fight for this special ranking will very much depend on team strategies, as the Dutchman is also one of Geraint Thomas’ key domestiques for GC. Also still in Maglia Bianca orbit are the surprising Frenchman Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), 2’32” behind, Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla), 3’10”, and Davide Piganzoli (Team Polti Kometa) 5’27”. These riders could also try to go for some attacks from afar as they might be granted more freedom of action from race leader Tadej Pogačar.
