With one of the strongest startlists ever for the Giro d'Italia, and so many of the GC men on scintillating form heading into the first of the Grand Tours; the next 3 weeks of cycling are set to be incredible. The first 3 stages have not disappointed with a brilliant win for Primoz Roglic in the opening prologue (closely followed by main rivals Simon Yates and Vincenzo Nibali) - the past two sprint stages have also provided us with interesting watches, with Pascal Ackermann taking his debut Grand Tour victory at his debut Grand Tour, and Fernando Gaviria being awarded the win yesterday after Elia Viviani was relegated.
Here are my predictions at the moment, for each of the jerseys;
Photo Credit - TelleReport
The Pink Jersey (GC);
It's incredibly difficult to look past Jumbo-Visma's Primož Roglič at the minute, and it's easy to see why. Roglic has raced in three different 'Stage Races' so far this year, and he's won the GC competition in all of them:
Photo Credit - ProCyclingStats
Notable mentions go to Simon Yates, who will undoubtedly give Roglic a very, very big challenge over the coming weeks. I also think Bob Jungels could cause an upset, and although he lost 46 seconds on the opening prologue, I could see him finding time very soon!
The Blue Jersey (KOM);
Difficult to guess this competition so early on as we're yet to see any real climbs. So far Guilo Ciccone (Trek - Segafredo) has swept up a mass of points, standing 18 points clear of Francois Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale) after just 3 Stages. If he can continue this form he would be a solid bet, but I'd still like to back someone else; Thomas De Gendt! He's yet to become involved in any breakaway action as he usually needs to lose time on the GC before the peleton allow a rider of such magnitude to break off of the front, but it may come in the coming days!
The Purple Jersey (Points Classification);
Another difficult competition to guess - this time because more than often the sprinters who win the most stages sweep up the most points, and the intermediate sprints are mostly irrelevant. Arnaud Demare was the only of the 'Big 5' to challenge for any of the intermediate sprints yesterday, but I don't think it will be the Frenchman or current holder Fernando Gaviria (UAE - Team Emirates). Instead, I'll opt for BORA's Pascal Ackermann.
The White Jersey (Young Rider);
Undoubtedly the easiest to guess; Miguel Angel Lopez of Astana should sweep this one up pretty easily, unless of course he manages to pull off an incredible feat in claiming the Pink jersey as his own. Tao Geoghegan Hart looked as if he could have challenged for this, but the young Brit crashed yesterday in the closing 10km and lost time. Instead, I think his teammate Pavel Sivakov could be Lopez's main challenger!
Give me your predictions below!