2024 GIRO D'ITALIA

Attention turns to Italy and 21 days of Grand Tour action

- Chris Marshall-Bell

Take the pizza out of the oven, pop open a bottle of Prosecco and start practicing your expressive hand gestures. It's almost time for the Giro d'Italia, and for everything to turn a brilliant shade of pink for the rest of May.

Forget about the cold of the Classics, the cobbles and the dirt, and instead prepare for the beauty and tradition of the season's first Grand Tour. Three week's of racing around Italy is about to start, and we know what that means: punchy finishes, awesome climbs, and a lot of references to food and drink.

The Giro is known for an incredibly tough 21 days of racing, and this year is no exception, with four stages with over 4,000m of climbing, six summit finishes, and very few easy days. Add in the apocalyptic weather that often hits the peninsular in May, and the whole thing can get very unpredictable - whether or not there is one outstanding favourite.

While the start list is dominated by one name - Tadej Pogačar - and lacks a little lustre due to Wout van Aert pulling out, the result of the Giro is rarely a foregone conclusion. The race never follows the more predictable pattern of the Tour de France, and in Italy things often change when you least expect it.

CAN THE JESTER STEAL THE CROWN?

Young GC contender Cian Uijtdebroeks is a big personality with a talent for ruffling feathers. Chris Marshall-Bell probes for serious intent beneath the Belgian's happy-go-lucky exterior