Just a few days now until the start of the Giro d’Italia 2024. There is obviously great anticipation for one of the most important racing events of the entire season, and a nice upward push to this expectation has been caused by the official announcement of the presence of Tadej Pogačar, who will be for the first time in his career at the start of the Italian Grand Tour, after four participations in the Tour de France and one in the Vuelta a España. The Slovenian champion will by necessity be the leading star in a firmament of stars that has yet to fully compose itself, but already features other big names. So let’s find out what the starting field looks like, as of today, for the Giro d’Italia 2024, which will begin on Saturday, May 4.

Tadej Pogačar, then. Initially, the UAE Team Emirates phenom’s presence seemed postponed once more, as he himself had designated the Tour de France and the World Championships in Zurich as his primary 2024 goals. The team, however, has a clear goal of winning at least one Grand Tour, and the Pogačar-Giro pairing on paper looks perfect. For the three weeks on the Italian roads, the Slovenian will have around him a lineup devoted entirely to him and ready to support him at his best on all terrains, with Rafal Majka, Felix Grossschartner and Mikkel Bjerg as valuable elements on the climbs of the Corsa Rosa. On the other hand, the defection of Jay Vine is certain, after the tremendous crash he was involved in at the Tour of the Basque Country.

At the moment, Team Jayco AlUla has also defined with some degree of certainty what its strategies will be for the 2024 Giro. The Australian formation will bring Eddie Dunbar back to Italy after the good things he showed as sole captain in 2023. Initially it appeared that Simon Yates, who would return to the Corsa Rosa for the sixth time in his career with the aim of doing better than that third place finish in 2021, might also be alongside the Irishman: instead, the Englishman has since veered toward the Tour, with the Oceanian team thus bringing Luke Plapp back as support for the aforementioned Dunbar. Confirming what was declared at the beginning of the season, Movistar will instead rely on Nairo Quintana: the Colombian had defined the Tour 2024 as the first major goal of the season of his return to the peloton, but a series of physical problems have affected his recent ride, even casting doubt on his presence. However, the 34-year-old has since confirmed his participation, although he has already stated that he will aim more for stage wins, and alongside him will be compatriot Einer Rubio, who came close to a top-10 finish last year.

As for the Ineos Grenadiers, Geraint Thomas will be in the game after only narrowly missing out on a final victory in 2023. The Welshman has proven over the years that he is an extraordinary regular, who can grow from day to day over the course of a three-week race. If he is in top condition and can stay out of trouble, he can be a no small obstacle to Pogačar’s ambitions. The British team will pair the 2023 runner-up with such thick riders as Thymen Arensman, who would make a remarkable “second spearhead,” a Tobias Foss looking for a revival, and the promising Magnus Sheffield, in the first major stage race of his career. Another man who has already stood on the podium at the Giro is Damiano Caruso, who will represent, with his experience, a reliable weapon for Bahrain Victorious; the latter will also measure the classification ambitions of Antonio Tiberi, fresh from a good Vuelta and a rider who has yet to fully test his potential.

The Giro d’Italia 2024 should have been the big seasonal goal for Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), who should have been at the start with general classification ambitions. “Should have,” because a physical problem forced him out of the saddle for a month and the resulting change in preparation prompted the rider and the team to declare an absence from the Corsa Rosa. The U.S. team will therefore try to take care of the classification with Juan Pedro López, a goal that in the intentions of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL will instead be on the experienced shoulders of Romain Bardet, who will return to the Giro after the excellent things he showed in 2022, where only an illness eliminated him from the fight for the podium and forced him to retire.

From within EF Education-EasyPost, moreover, rumors had filtered in recent weeks with respect to a new presence of Ben Healy at the Giro d’Italia. The Irishman was a great protagonist in last year’s edition, and the U.S. team’s executives had not discarded the possibility of also trying to take care of the classification with him, although the rider has already made it clear that he is much more interested in partial successes than in a placing, albeit of medium to high level, in an overall. The 23-year-old, however, will not be at the start, nor will the one who was supposed to make the rankings, Hugh Carthy, ultimately not selected by the U.S. lineup, which will instead field Esteban Chaves and Simon Carr. Lorenzo Fortunato (Astana Qazaqstan), already capable of good tests in this aspect in the past and a likely reference for a team that could run the Giro with an eye on stage successes, perhaps with Christian Scaroni and reigning Italian champion Simone Velasco, will also try to make the classification. Astana will also have one of its most representative men in the race, Alexey Lutsenko, who could divide his time between general classification goals and the hunt for victories on the day.

One team that will be substantially reversed from early season plans is Visma | Lease a Bike. In fact, there will be no Wout Van Aert, whose absolute debut at the Giro was indeed highly anticipated, and there will be no Wilco Kelderman either. Both are dealing with injuries due to crashes sustained in recent weeks. Thus, the yellow team will rely for the classification, on young Cian Uijtdebroeks, a rider whose actual possibilities and consequent limitations are not yet known. Also at the Corsa Rosa will be, with more than partial goals, reigning European champion Christophe Laporte, Attila Valter, Jan Tratnik and, above all, sprinter Olav Kooij, who will be in the first three-week race of his career. Supporting roles also will be sewn around Edoardo Affini, Tim van Dijke and Robert Gesink. Physical problems have also changed the initial plans of Bora-hansgrohe, which has lost Lennard Kämna and will be banking on Colombian Daniel Felipe Martinez in the GC. Maximilian Schachmann will also be there, while Emanuel Buchmann will be missing, who did not take kindly to the choices of his team, which has instead decided to bet on the freshness and current excellent form of Florian Lipowitz.

Returning to the sprints, one name that is certain is that of Caleb Ewan (Team Jayco AlUla), who will return to the Giro for the sixth time in his career (the first five never saw him finish the course). The Australian could then use the Italian roads to revive a career that has been flattening in recent months. Jonathan Milan, fresh off a change of jersey after switching to Lidl-Trek and “holder” of the Cyclamen Jersey, brought home at the end of the 2023 Giro, will also be there. Milan will be escorted by Simone Consonni, Jasper Stuyven and Edward Theuns, riders who may also go for personal satisfaction when needed. UAE will focus on Tadej Pogačar, but also brings Juan Sebastian Molano, a sprinter who has the qualities to battle with the best performers in bunch finishes, as well as German sprinter Phil Bauhaus of Bahrain Victorious.

The presence of Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) is certain. The sprinter from the Netherlands will make his debut on the roads of the Corsa Rosa with the goal of winning a stage, which would put him in the small circle of “triple winners,” since he has already won in Tour and Vuelta in his career. The presence of such a sprinter raises the average level of the specialists in the field by a lot and could make the fight for the Cyclamen Jersey very uncertain. Another heavyweight sprinter who has announced his presence at the start is Biniam Girmay, who is rider who can hold his own even on short climbs and therefore could be another contender for the points classification. Girmay returns to the Giro after the excellent things he showed in 2022 and will be joined in the Intermarché-Wanty outfit by two reliable riders like Adrien Petit and Dion Smith. Alpecin-Deceuninck will reintroduce Kaden Groves to Italy, while Movistar will again call upon Colombian Fernando Gaviria to work in the sprints.

As for stage hunters, another heavyweight name who will be participating for the first time is Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep), whom the Belgian lineup, which will be relying on Tim Merlier for the sprints, has decided to spend in a different way in a race where he will have less pressure and can live with more freedom. Another “experienced” rookie who may be in the hunt for success will be Michael Valgren (EF Education-EasyPost), while Wout Poels, who had initially stated that he was pursuing the goal of completing the day’s “hat trick” of successes, after winning fractions at both the Tour and the Vuelta, will not be there. Instead, Michael Woods, who will be one of the leading men for Israel-Premier Tech (a Professional team that has a guaranteed invitation by rule) will try, and thus aims to finalize the aforementioned hat trick by returning to the Giro, where he has been missing since 2018. Also trying to raise his arms to the sky will be Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), who of successes in the Grand Tours has not yet achieved any, but who has shown that he has ideal characteristics to make the difference in tough and demanding finals.

Filippo Zana (Team Jayco AlUla), who won a stage in 2023, will also be in the pink game and who will return to the Giro again with a double role, that of supporting the classification men and, when possible, as a free hitter to cultivate his own ambitions. The two time trials on the program will greatly tickle the appetite of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who has moreover shown that he can also make his mark in breakaways (see stage of Camigliatello Silano in the 2020 Giro) and even in sprints, a fundamental in which he tried his hand especially in 2023. Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale will have in the race one of its most representative men such as Ben O’Connor, already fourth at the Tour and a man of high classification, and Aurélien Paret-Peintre, who won a stage at the 2023 Giro, as well as Andrea Vendrame, already able to make his mark in 2021. Remaining with the French teams, the young New Zealander Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ), back from a strong spring, could do very good things, while they will bring mainly second lines Cofidis and Arkéa-B&B Hotels, although the former will field a rider like Stefano Oldani, capable of winning a stage in the 2022 edition, and the latter an interesting young man like Ewen Costiou.

Following the formalization of the WildCards for the Professional teams, the starting field will be completed by riders from VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, Polti-Kometa and Tudor Pro Cycling, who will shed light on their choices as the weeks go by. Certain, as a result of the CicloMercato movement concerning him, is the inclusion among the starters of Domenico Pozzovivo (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), who will thus be at the start of his 18th Giro d’Italia, with the Italian team, however, also fielding the young and promising Giulio Pellizzari, making his debut in a GT. Another talented rookie is Davide Piganzoli, bearer of Polti-Kometa, while as far as Tudor is concerned, the appearances of Alberto Dainese, Matteo Trentin and Michael Storer are now certain, all riders who can make their mark in terms of stage victories.

Final Startlist Giro d’Italia 2024

INEOS GRENADIERS ✓
1 THOMAS Geraint
2 ARENSMAN Thymen
3 FOSS Tobias Svendsen
4 GANNA Filippo
5 NARVAEZ PRADO Jhonatan Manuel
6 SHEFFIELD Magnus
7 SWIFT Ben
8 SWIFT Connor

ALPECIN-DECEUNINCK ✓
11 GROVES Kaden Alexander
12 BAYER Tobias
13 CONCI Nicola
14 HERMANS Quinten
15 JANSSENS Jimmy
16 KIELICH Timo
17 PLANCKAERT Edward
18 VAN DEN BOSSCHE Fabio

ARKEA-B&B HOTELS ✓
21 BIERMANS Jenthe
22 BARRE Louis
23 COSTIOU Ewen
24 DEKKER David
25 GRONDIN Donavan
26 RIES Michel
27 RIOU Alan
28 VERRE Alessandro

ASTANA QAZAQSTAN TEAM ✓
31 LUTSENKO Alexey
32 BALLERINI Davide
33 FORTUNATO Lorenzo
34 KANTER Max
35 MULUBRHAN Henok
36 PRONSKIY Vadim
37 SCARONI Christian
38 VELASCO Simone

BORA-HANSGROHE ✓
41 MARTINEZ POVEDA Daniel Felipe
42 ALEOTTI Giovanni
43 GAMPER Patrick
44 KOCH Jonas
45 LIPOWITZ Florian
46 MULLEN Ryan
47 SCHACHMANN Maximilian
48 VAN POPPEL Danny

COFIDIS ✓
51 OLDANI Stefano
52 ANIOLKOWSKI Stanislaw
53 CHAMPION Thomas
54 DEBEAUMARCHE Nicolas
55 FERNANDEZ ANDUJAR Ruben
56 GESCHKE Simon
57 THOMAS Benjamin
58 WOOD Harrison

DECATHLON AG2R LA MONDIALE TEAM ✓
61 O’CONNOR Ben
62 BAUDIN Alex
63 PARET PEINTRE Aurélien
64 PARET PEINTRE Valentin
65 TOUZE Damien
66 TRONCHON Bastien
67 VENDRAME Andrea
68 WARBASSE Lawrence

EF EDUCATION-EASYPOST ✓
71 CHAVES Esteban
72 CEPEDA Alexander
73 DE BOD Stefan
74 CARR Simon
75 HONORÉ Frølich Mikkel
76 PICCOLO Andrea
77 STEINHAUSER Georg
78 VALGREN Michael

GROUPAMA-FDJ ✓
81 PITHIE Laurence
82 ASKEY Lewis
83 BARTHE Cyril
84 DAVY Clément
85 GERMANI Lorenzo
86 LE GAC Olivier
87 LIENHARD Fabian
88 PALENI Enzo

INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY ✓
91 GIRMAY Biniam
92 CALMEJANE Lilian
93 COLLEONI Kevin
94 DE POOTER Dries
95 MIHKELS Madis
96 PETIT Adrien
97 SMITH Dion Allan
98 VAN SINTMAARTENSDIJK Roel

ISRAEL-PREMIER TECH ✓
101 WOODS Michael
102 CLARKE Simon
103 FRIGO Marco
104 HOFSTETTER Hugo
105 PICKRELL Riley
106 RAISBERG Nadav
107 SCHULTZ Nicholas
109 VERNON Ethan

LIDL-TREK ✓
111 MILAN Jonathan
112 BAGIOLI Andrea
113 CONSONNI Simone
114 GHEBREIGZABHIER Amanuel
115 HOOLE Daan
116 LOPEZ PEREZ Juan Pedro
117 STUYVEN Jasper
118 THEUNS Edward

MOVISTAR TEAM ✓
121 QUINTANA Nairo
122 BARTA William
123 CIMOLAI Davide
124 GAVIRIA Fernando
125 MILESI Lorenzo
126 RUBIO Einer
127 SANCHEZ Pelayo
128 TORRES Albert

SOUDAL QUICK-STEP ✓
131 ALAPHILIPPE Julian
132 ČERNÝ Josef
133 HIRT Jan
134 LAMPERTI Luke
135 MERLIER Tim
136 SERRY Pieter
137 VAN LERBERGHE Bert
138 VANSEVENANT Mauri

TEAM DSM-FIRMENICH POSTNL ✓
141 BARDET Romain
142 ANDRESEN Lund Tobias
143 HAMILTON Christopher
144 JAKOBSEN Fabio
145 LEEMREIZE Gijs
146 VAN DEN BERG Julius
147 VERMAERKE Kevin
148 WELTEN Bram

TEAM JAYCO ALULA ✓
151 DE MARCHI Alessandro
152 DUNBAR Edward
153 EWAN Caleb
154 HEPBURN Michael
155 MEZGEC Luka
156 PLAPP Lucas
157 WALSCHEID Maximilian
158 ZANA Filippo

TEAM POLTI KOMETA ✓
161 FABBRO Matteo
162 BAIS Davide
163 BAIS Mattia
164 LONARDI Giovanni
165 MAESTRI Mirco
166 MUÑOZ Fran
167 PIETROBON Andrea
168 PIGANZOLI Davide

TEAM VISMA | LEASE A BIKE ✓
171 LAPORTE Christophe
172 AFFINI Edoardo
173 GESINK Robert
174 KOOIJ Olav
175 TRATNIK Jan
176 UIJTDEBROEKS Cian
177 VALTER Attila
178 VAN DIJKE Tim

TUDOR PRO CYCLING TEAM ✓
181 TRENTIN Matteo
182 DAINESE Alberto
183 FROIDEVAUX Robin
184 KAMP Alexander
185 KRIEGER Alexander
186 MAYRHOFER Marius
187 STORER Michael
188 STORK Florian

UAE TEAM EMIRATES ✓
191 POGAČAR Tadej
192 OLIVEIRA Rui
193 BJERG Mikkel
194 GROSSSCHARTNER Felix
195 LAENGEN Vegard Stake
196 MAJKA Rafal
197 MOLANO Juan Sebastian
198 NOVAK Domen

VF GROUP-BARDIANI CSF-FAIZANÈ ✓
201 POZZOVIVO Domenico
202 COVILI Luca
203 FIORELLI Filippo
204 MARCELLUSI Martin
205 PELLIZZARI Giulio
206 TAROZZI Manuele
207 TONELLI Alessandro
208 ZANONCELLO Enrico

BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS ✓
211 TIBERI Antonio
212 KEPPLINGER Rainer
213 BAUHAUS Phil
214 CARUSO Damiano
215 PASQUALON Andrea
216 ZAMBANINI Edoardo
217 SÜTTERLIN Jasha
218 TRÆEN Torstein