The first week of this year’s Giro d’Italia is firmly in the rear view mirror and we’ve arrived at today’s first rest day in Naples.
As many predicted beforehand, Tadej Pogačar’s debut Giro victory seems like it is becoming a foregone conclusion. Barring major incident or disaster, it’s already feels likely that the Slovenian will be the man celebrating on the top step of the podium in Rome.
However, the race is still far from being boring with plenty of other stories developing in the opening week of racing, and with 12 stages still to come.
Here are five things we learned from the opening week in Italy.
The sprint stages are the most competitive part of this Giro
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While the battle for pink appears one-sided, the fight for the maglia ciclamino for the sprinters remains well and truly open.
So far we’ve had three stages end in a bunch sprint for the line and we’ve seen three different sprinters get their hands in the air to celebrate. Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Visma-Lease a Bike’s Olav Kooij are the three fast men that have tasted victory so far.
Milan leads the sprinters classification with 174 points with Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceuninck) and Kooij in second and third respectively on 116 and 115 points. Milan could find that his lead is suddenly cut should Kooij win again or Groves grab a victory in the second week.
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The nature of the racing so far means that they are simply impossible to call and pretty much anyone is capable of victory.
The only thing that will stop Pogačar might be Pogačar himself
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As our news editor, Adam, touched on last week, it’s looking increasingly likely that the only man capable of stopping Tadej Pogačar’s charge to Giro victory is Tadej Pogačar himself.
With a lead of 2:40 over second-placed Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), it’s going to take more than a miracle to wrestle the pink jersey from his shoulders and based on current form, none of the GC riders present at this year’s Giro look like they’re at the level capable of making that a reality.
For the balance of power in this year’s Giro to shift, it’s going to take one thing and that’s Pogačar cracking himself, which seems highly unlikely. The Slovenian has, however, cracked before.
Pogačar dropped like a stone on the stage that finished on the Col du Granon at the 2022 Tour de France which resulted in Jonas Vingegaard soloing to victory, laying the foundations for his eventual overall win in Paris.
Otherwise it’s going to take other forms of misfortune, like a crash or mechanical, for Pogačar to come unstuck. But even in the face of adversity he seems to just end up winning anyway, as we saw on the climb to Santuario di Oropa on stage two.
The only other thing that could topple the Slovenian is the kind of daredevil racing and long range attacks that saw Chris Froome eventually win the Giro in 2018.
Unfortunately for the likes of Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), it’s seems more likely to be Pogačar putting the hammer down and disappearing into the distance.
Narváez could be a real threat in the Olympics
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Coming into the Giro, Ineos made every effort to ensure that the spotlight stayed firmly away from Jhonatan Narváez. The Ecuadorian was reportedly in top form coming into the race and the team saw real potential in what the 27-year-old could achieve in Italy this month.
The Ecuadorian went toe to toe with Pogačar in the hills around Turin on the opening stage before eventually dispatching the Slovenian in the final sprint for the line. Arguably, going head to head with the best bike rider in the world and winning was the bigger prize than pulling on the pink jersey at the end of the day.
As if that wasn’t all enough, the Ineos Grenadiers rider was at it again on Sunday’s stage nine into Naples and went agonisingly close to a second victory in a week. His late attack proved once again that he has the legs and form this year to make himself a dark horse for the gold medal in the Olympics Road Race in Paris.
The punchy circuit around the French capital is full of the short, sharp climbs that the Ecuadorian national champion thrives on, and so why not two wins for Ecuador in a row?
Julian Alaphilippe is still full of fight
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Julian Alaphilippe is a rider who has been written off in recent years by some. Since winning two successive road world titles, the Frenchman has largely failed to match his form of old.
In his pomp, the 31-year-old was known for swashbuckling racing and a never say die attitude, but a combination of illness, injury and bad luck has got in the way since his last rainbow jersey triumph.
Alaphilippe is in his contract year at Quick-Step and will know that some big results are needed if he wants to stay put at the team he has called home for the last ten years.
Although his performances in the first week of this year’s Giro suggest his luck could well be about to change. Alaphilippe has been a regular fixture in the breakaway across the first few stages, and very nearly ran out the winner on the gravel stage won by Pelayo Sánchez (Movistar). The Frenchman showed signs of the Alaphilippe of old as he crossed swords with Sánchez and Jayco-AIUla’s Luke Plapp.
All the more impressive is that not long ago he said he had ridden the Classics season with a broken knee. Expect to see Alaphilippe fighting for stages once more as the race continues on Tuesday.
Pogačar has further fine tuned his TT ability
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Before the Giro got underway, Pogačar said that he was gradually growing more and more confident in races against the clock after spending a lot of time on his time trial bike during training.
If his stage seven performance was anything to go by, that work has well and truly paid off. He was always going to be capable of pushing for the podium on the day, but toppling Filippo Ganna, even with the climb at the end, was eye-catching.
That’s not to say that the two-time Tour de France champion was weak in time trials before. Everyone knew his capabilities and his time trialling history, particularly at the 2020 Tour de France, but this was not the same.
Pogačar has clearly been working on time trialling, and it is an asset which could become more potent and deadly in the races still to come.