After Van Aert, the pink race dreams of two other heavyweights. In December the Slovenian and the Belgian will reveal their programs
Wout Van Aert was the first. Now the Giro d’Italia dreams of two more world tenors. There are 167 days left until the start of the 107th edition and the starting grid of the pink race is taking shape between riders with ambitions of final success and contenders for stage victories. After Van Aert confirmed in recent days – during an event in Colombia, organized by Rigoberto Uran – that he will be at the start on May 4th in Venaria Reale, the focus is entirely on two other stars of world cycling: Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel .
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In mid-December, during the preparation retreat with the UAE Team – which should still field the Portuguese Joao Almeida at the Italian race – the Slovenian will clarify the calendar of races in which he will participate in 2024. And the idea that he could take starting for the first time in the Giro d’Italia is increasingly a realistic hypothesis. Having suffered a double disappointment at the Tour – in 2022 and 2023 he finished 2nd behind Vingegaard after the successes of 2020 and 2021 – the 25-year-old Slovenian, last winner of Flanders and king of the last three editions of Lombardia, could aim for the double option: racing pink largest Boucle. The first as a protagonist, the second with less psychological “weight” to be concluded a few days before the online test of the Games. Like him, Remco Evenepoel did not close the door. «He still has an open account with the Giro and was thinking of combining the Tour and the Giro. The combination cannot be ruled out one hundred percent.” With these words Patrick Lefevere – manager of Soudal-Quick Step, Evenepoel’s team -, at the end of the presentation of the 2024 Tour at the end of October, kept alive the possibility of seeing the Belgian talent again at the start of the pink race. The 2022 world champion this year won two stages (the two time trials) and wore the pink jersey for four days, before retiring, testing positive for Covid, at the end of the ninth stage with arrival in Cesena.
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This year Geraint Thomas (Ineos), after 8 days in the pink jersey at two different times, lost the Giro at the penultimate stage with the time trial ending on Monte Lussari and in 2024 he will relaunch the challenge to an always loved race. With him there will be the Colombian from Movistar Nairo Quintana 10 years after his success at the Giro and the British from Jayco AlUla Simon Yates. In the midst of these experienced runners, pay attention to a possible revelation: the Norwegian Johannes Staune-Mittet. The 21-year-old winner of the last Giro Under 23 will be at the start with the Jumbo alongside Van Aert himself.
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On May 4, 2024, there will be no shortage of Italian runners with the ambition of doing well. And in the year leading up to the Paris 2024 Games, three of the four Italians from the gold track quartet at the Tokyo Olympics are expected: Filippo Ganna – six stage victories between 2020 and 2021 as well as three days in the squad -, Jonathan Milan as the top sprinter of the Lidl Trek and Simone Consonni, the last man on the Friulian train. The sprinters’ chapter which, in the event of the participation of the Swiss Tudor di Cancellara (the names of the invited Professional teams are not yet known), will also see Alberto Dainese at the start and, with him in the team as director, Matteo Trentin. With an eye on the general classification, however, Giulio Ciccone – the Abruzzo rider with the Lidl-Trek polka dot jersey at the 2023 Tour – and Antonio Tiberi, the young talent from Bahrain at his first test in a stage race.
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