Everything ready for the start of the first of the three major races of the international cycling season, which will have a Colombian presence. This Saturday, May 6, the 106th edition of the Giro d’Italia will open with an individual time trial of 19.6 kilometers starting at the Costa dei Trabocchi.
The organization of the competition expects three Colombians involved in the fight for three shirts over the next three weeks, starting with Rigoberto Urán, who is among the favorites for the general classification, recalling his two second places in 2013 and 2014, along with other big names like Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Damiano Caruso, Thibaut Pinot and Alexsandr Vlasov.
Fernando Gaviria, candidate for the sprint
The Movistar Team cyclist closed his participation in the Tour de Romandie with victory in the last stage, being his second celebration of the year after winning on the fourth day of the Vuelta a San Juan. “A very important victory. I have prepared very well in the last month. It remains to rest and start the Giro d’Italia. We wanted this victory to go more calmly and knowing that the work we did at home helped, we are ready for the Giro”, said the Colombian.
The sprinters fight in the Giro for the Maglia Ciclamino, which Gaviria himself won in 2017. But this time he will have Mark Cavendish, Pascal Ackermann and Michael Matthews as rivals. “Sprinters also present include Giacomo Nizzolo, Magnus Cort Nielsen and Kaden Groves”, added the Giro organization on its website.
Santiago Buitrago goes for the white shirt
“The special classification for those born after January 1, 1998 sees Remco Evenepoel as main favorite. Other riders will compete for the Maglia Bianca, such as the aforementioned Joao Almeida, already on the podium of this classification in 2020, and Santiago Buitrago, who scored a stage in 2022″, the article notes.
Buitrago won that classification of the youngsters in the Saudi Tour in his first race of this 2023 and comes from occupying the third step of the podium in Liège-Bastoña-Liège in Belgium. The previous year he was second in the fight for the Maglia Bianca in the Giro d’Italia behind Juan Pedro López.