Favorites stage 1 Giro d'Italia 2024 | A hint of pink on a pitch-black day for Italian (sports) history

Grande Partenza! After days, weeks and months of anticipation, May 4, 2024 finally marks the beginning of the first Grand Tour of the cycling year: the Giro d'Italia! On day one, it will be all hands on deck, but who will ultimately come out on top (and don the first pink jersey)? IDLProCycling.com lays it all out for you!

Course stage 1 Giro d'Italia 2024

The fact that the start of the Giro d'Italia 2024 on May 4, 2024 is centered around Turin is no coincidence. May 4th is a date that holds a central place in the memory of the people of Turin, with its meaning dating back 75 years. On May 4, 1949, the Superga air disaster occurred here, in which nearly the entire team of soccer club Torino perished.

They were flying back to Turin from Lisbon after a match with Benfica, but due to poor weather conditions in Northern Italy, the plane ultimately crashed against the wall of the basilica on the Superga, the well-known hill just north of the city. All passengers lost their lives in the crash.

It's a nice gesture by RCS to posthumously honor the soccer players and other passengers who died back then. This is done with a stage of just 140 kilometers, starting in Venaria Reale, a suburb of Turin known for its palace. The cyclists will then face 45 kilometers of flat terrain, during which the breakaway is likely to gain some space.

The first mountain points can be collected after about 48 kilometers on the Berzano di San Pietro (2.8 km at 5.3%), after which the peloton heads toward the Superga. We approach it from the 'easier' side, which is 8.2 kilometers long with an average gradient of 4.3 percent. After this obstacle, we enter 25 kilometers of downhill as we make our way towards the crucial challenges of the day. The nervousness in the peloton will surely rise durnig this phase.

From Moncalieri, we head to the foot of the San Vito climb, which is 1.4 kilometers long with an average gradient of 9.8 percent. After a short descent, the cyclists can get acquainted with the final straight line, but then they face the tough climb of Colle Maddalena, seven kilometers at 6.8 percent.

It starts off fairly mild with one kilometer at 2.1 percent, but then the road rises at an average of 7.5 percent. At the top of this hill, there are just over twenty kilometers left, half of which are downhill. However, the second ascent of San Vito will be crucial, with its gradients going up to 16 percent.

This obstacle was added to the RCS two days before the announcement of Tadej Pogacar's participation. At the top of San Vito, there are still three kilometers to be covered, but making up ground will already be difficult here: up to 600 meters from the finish, the course goes downhill (and quite technically so), and then the last flat section will also be taken at breakneck speed. Hence, it seems the uphill sections will decide the outcome of the race...

Climbs
48.4 km: Berzano di San Pietro (2.8 km at 5.3%)
78.5 km: Superga (8.2 km at 4.3%)
118.1 km: Colle Maddalena (6.5 km at 7.0%)

Times
Start: 1:55 PM
Finish: around 5:15 PM

Weather stage 1 Giro d'Italia 2024

The riders should have no complaints about the weather on Wednesday. Temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius are expected, with a breeze from the south and the sun possibly making an appearance.

Favorites stage 1 Giro d'Italia 2024

He is the absolute top favorite for this Giro, and his name starts with a T and ends with adej Pogacar: Tadej Pogacar! What applies for the entire Giro 2024 is certainly true for the opening stage in and around Turin. From a marketing perspective, RCS is very keen to see the Slovenian superstar of UAE-Team Emirates sporting the pink jersey on day one, which is also reflected in the layout of this first stage.

So, what is the plan for UAE-Team Emirates? To really get the race going – hard – with riders like Domen Novak and Mikkel Bjerg, following which a pace acceleration by someone like Rafal Majka or Felix Grossschartner could serve as a launchpad for Pogacar's relentless acceleration. Whether that happens on the Maddalena or San Vito, who is going to keep up with him then...

Pure punchers like Julian Alaphilippe or very strong sprinters like Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ) and Christophe Laporte (Visma | Lease a Bike) might survive going up San Vito once, but two laps up that steep climb with the serious Maddalena climb in between is likely too much for them. Hence, we tend to lean towards the pure climbing types as outsiders, especially since they can strike an early blow for the general classification.

For diesels such as Geraint Thomas, Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers, who have a contender in Jhonatan Narváez), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) and Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma | Lease a Bike), the likely first task will be to limit the damage.

On the other hand, proven one-day racers like Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL, recently second in Liège), Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R, winner of the Tour of Murcia) and the more explosive Daniel Felipe Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe) and/or Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) are expected to stir things up. O'Connor (with Valentin and Aurélien Paret-Peintre, as well as Andrea Vendrame) and Martinez (with Max Schachmann and Florian Lipowitz) also have strong teammates by their side.

Stage hunter teams like Astana Qazaqstan Team (Alexey Lutsenko, Cristian Scaroni and Simone Velasco), Lidl-Trek (Andrea Bagioli), Soudal Quick-Step (besides Alaphilippe, also Mauri Vansevenant), Alpecin-Deceuninck (Quinten Hermans), Jayco AlUla (Filippo Zana and Luke Plapp) and also Visma | Lease a Bike (alongside Laporte, also with Attila Valter) will also aim to make their mark in their own way.

Favorites stage 1 Giro d'Italia 2024, according to IDLProCycling.com

Top favorite: Tadej Pogacar (UAE-Team Emirates)
Outsiders: Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers), Daniel Felipe Martinez (BORA-hansgrohe), Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) and Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan Team)
Long shots: Aurelien Paret-Peintre, Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ), Julian Alaphilippe, Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step), Christophe Laporte, Attila Valter (Visma | Lease a Bike), Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek) and Cristian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan Team)

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