British riders in the 2013 Giro d'Italia

Bradley Wiggins

published 3 May 2013

Six British riders line up in Naples for the start of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday, May 4.

Between them they are aiming for the overall win, stage wins and performing as domestique duties for their leaders.

Adam Blythe starts his third Giro d'Italia and will be in the hunt for stage wins. Blythe is a competent sprinter but will have to get himself in to position in the closing kilometres as the team is set up for the general classification (GC) bid of leader Cadel Evans. Blythe has had a quite 2013 so far, his best result being fourth overall at the Tour of Qatar after BMC won the stage two team time trial. Look out for him on any tight, technical run-ins where his bunch riding skills will put him in contention.

Mark Cavendish comes back to the Giro d'Italia hunting stage wins. He already has ten Giro stage wins (plus a team time trial) under his belt and has the backing of his team. How cohesive they are in the lead-outs remains to be seen, but the Manxman can win with and without a full train ahead of him - he is the most prolific grand tour stage winner in the peloton. There are seven possible sprint stages at this year's race but it's unlikely Cavendish will make it to the finish in Brescia with the brutal last week in the mountains. If he can win four stages it will bring his tally of professional wins to 100 - something no other British rider has achieved.

Steve Cummings has the impressive record of finishing every grand tour he has started. It's consistency like that, plus his ability to ride well on the flat and in the mountains that makes him such a desirable team mate. His role at this year's Giro will be to support the overall ambitions of leader Cadel Evans, but should that bid fail the Briton may have the chance to go for a stage win. He took his first grand tour stage last year with a brilliant ride on stage 13 of the Vuelta adding his name to the growing list of British riders with a stage win on their palmares.

Alex Dowsett starts his first grand tour with a view to finishing and helping Movistar in the team time trial. Riding grand tours was one of the main reasons Dowsett left Team Sky last year and it's already paying off. His skill against the clock (he grew up racing time trials in Essex) should help him be competitive in grand tour TTs and his team will expect him to be a solid performer in the team time trial on stage two.

Now in his 16th year as a professional rider David Millar is one of the most experienced grand tour campaigners in the peloton and will be key to Ryder Hesjedal's Giro defence. Millar has had a quiet 2013 so far with just 12 days of racing, but he is capable of riding himself in to form at a grand tour. In fact, what Millar doesn't know about grand tours isn't worth knowing. In both 2009 and 2010 he started all three grand tours and only failed to finish the Giro on both occasions. He stopped on stage 15 of the 2009 Giro and stage 13 in the 2010 edition, which means that of 126 grand tour stages through 2009 and 2010 (21 in each), Millar missed just 14 of them. And of course he's still capable of grabbing a stage win, if he's allowed. His win in Annonay at last year's Tour was one of the highlights of his career and proves he's still dangerous if given his freedom should Hesjedal's GC bid falter.

Britain's knight comes riding in to the Giro as one of two pre-race favourites. Although it's not just a race between him and Vincenzo Nibali their results so far this year put them on top of the pile. Wiggins is being characteristically pragmatic about his Giro bid and will take the stages one day at a time. The stage eight TT is where he is expected to gain time on his rivals while the final week will prove how far he has come after six months training for steeper climbs which require regular bursts of speed. THe Giro was the first grand tour Wiggins rode. In 2003 he got to stage 18 where he finished outside the time limit in a group of 35 riders. In 2005 (he concentrated on the track in 2004) Wiggins returned and finished the Giro, placing 123rd, three hours, 32 minutes and 51 seconds behind winner Paolo Savoldelli

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Editor of Cycling Weekly magazine, Simon has been working at the title since 2001. He fell in love with cycling 1989 when watching the Tour de France on Channel 4, started racing in 1995 and in 2000 he spent one season racing in Belgium. During his time at CW (and Cycle Sport magazine) he has written product reviews, fitness features, pro interviews, race coverage and news. He has covered the Tour de France more times than he can remember along with two Olympic Games and many other international and UK domestic races. He became the 130-year-old magazine's 13th editor in 2015.

British riders in the 2013 Giro d'Italia

Adam Blythe

Mark Cavendish

Steve Cummings

Alex Dowsett

David Millar

Sir Bradley Wiggins

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