Cycling: The Giro d'Italia 2021 also impresses with its tough mountain stages. Nevertheless, some sprinters entered the starting list. On the few flat stages they will fight for the day's victories.
Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal)
With 5 stage wins in the last two Tour of France counts Caleb ewan undoubtedly one of the best sprinters in the world. Also at Tour of Italy he has already been successful three times. This year, however, the little Australian won only one race. He outperformed Sam Bennett and Phil Bauhaus on stage seven of the UAE Tour. So the yield is relatively meager. Nevertheless, a strong constitution cannot be denied. At Milan – Sanremo he showed on Poggio that he can follow attacks almost effortlessly and that he is still strong in sprinting even after such a long distance. With his starters Roger Kluge and Jasper de Buyst, he also has the best team in terms of sprint preparation here at the Giro d'Italia.
Fernando Gaviria (UAE)
It has clearly been in a low form for about a year and a half Fernando Gaviria. The Colombian is not only stagnating in his development, but seems to have taken a few steps backwards. He celebrated his last victory in a WorldTour race in 2019 at the Tour of Guangxi. Last year he fell ill twice with the corona virus and was therefore thrown off course. Of his total of 6 victories this season, he was not able to win any in the WorldTour. In 2021 he has not even had any day success so far. Since he was in spite of these poor results from his team UAE for the Tour of Italy was nominated, we can assume that the build-up of form is going according to plan. Maybe the Tour of Italy is just the right race for him to find his way back to his old strength. After all, he has already won a stage five times at the Giro d'Italia. And the team was put together to suit him. Maximiliano Richeze and Juan Sebastian Molano are among the best drivers in the world.
Peter Sagan (Bora – hansgrohe)
The hype around Peter Sagan appears to have declined somewhat in recent years. More and more young and interesting professionals are pushing into road cycling and the former rock star of this scene is chasing after his past successes. At monuments he remains unlucky and not infrequently he is the first loser in second place. However, he has already proven twice this season that the Slovak can still do it. With stage victories in the Tour de Romandie and the Tour of Catalonia, he makes it clear that his time is not over yet. Last season he competed in the Giro d'Italia for the first time and immediately won a section. Because he liked it so much in Italy, he is now returning. He can be trusted that despite starting in the Tour de France he would also like to finish the Tour of Italy. Therefore, he is not only a candidate for stage wins, but also for the points jersey. His strength is clear: Sagan doesn't need a strong team at his side to be successful. In addition, he is superior to the other sprinters when it gets wavy.
Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo – Visma)
A highly acclaimed comeback will be at the Giro d'Italia Dylan Groenewegen celebrate. Without having contested a single preparatory race, the Dutchman will be back on a start list for the first time since August 5, 2020. At that time he was responsible for a serious mass crash on the home stretch at the start of the Tour of Poland by pushing compatriot Fabio Jakobsen into the gang with a risky driving manoeuvre. He fell into a coma and was briefly in mortal danger. Completely shocked by his own behavior, Dylan Groenewegen stopped racing from then on. He was also banned by the UCI. Now he's back. It will not be easy for the remorseful Dutchman to reintegrate into the peloton, because many fans have still not forgiven him for the accident. Accordingly, we can be curious to see how the once so strong sprinter will present himself at the Giro d'Italia and whether he can even celebrate a stage win.
Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix)
Although Tim Merlier with the Giro d'Italia 2021 will contest his first Grand Tour, he is immediately one of the favorites in a mass sprint. In contrast to many of the other professionals mentioned here, the Belgian has already achieved some top results this season. The 28-year-old has already won three one-day races with Le Samyn, the Bredene Koksijde Classic and the GP Jean-Pierre Monseré. He also impressed with third place in the difficult Dwars door Vlaanderen. Last year he was successful at Tirreno – Adriatico and shocked the WorldTour pros. His weakness - not having ridden a Grand Tour yet - could also become his strength here. The names of the competitors are big. And he himself will hardly feel any pressure, but will keep up in the mass sprints without any concern. So it would not be surprising if a success could result.
Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka – Assos)
Probably the best Italian sprinter at the moment Giacomo Nizzolo. However, he has only won one race since he became European Champion in August last year. At the Clasica de Almeria he didn't exactly get to deal with the sprint elite either. His second place at Gent – Wevelgem was more convincing, when he was only beaten by Wout van Aert. In any case, with the German Max Walscheid as a starter, he enjoys a good portion of the slipstream. If he then manages to get the timing right, nothing stands in the way of a stage win at the Giro d'Italia. And the now 32-year-old has been waiting for this for a long time. He has already taken part in a tour of Italy a whopping 7 times. He has never won. There are only 10 second and 5 third places to book. So it's about time...
Matteo Moschetti (Trek – Segafredo)
The second trump of the Italians is still waiting for a stage win at the Giro d'Italia. Matteo Moschetti has competed 3 times so far, but only finished on the podium in one stage. But the now 24-year-old has only become really strong in the past two years. He celebrated twice at the Mallorca Challenge last season before suffering a serious injury. Then he came back and found it difficult to find his way back to his old strength during the corona pandemic. Things weren't going to go smoothly for the Italian this year either. Of course he needs a bit of luck to win the Giro d'Italia of all places. Given his talent, however, he can be trusted.
Elijah Viviani (Cofidis)
The largest palmares of all Italian sprinters on the starting list certainly has Elijah Viviani. The 32-year-old won as he wanted, especially in 2018 and 2019. But then he switched from Quick-Step to Cofidis - and since then things haven't been running smoothly. It wasn't until the end of March this year that he won his first race for his new team, the GP Cholet. But the competition didn't have a WorldTour format. In the meantime, he not only seems to be missing a strong team, but also the final speed. Because despite his experience, he has looked almost hopeless in mass arrivals for many months. Whether that will suddenly change at this year's Giro d'Italia seems unlikely. After all, unlike his compatriots Nizzolo and Moschetti, he has already won Giro stages, namely 5 in total.
