This year’s Giro d’Italia will feature some of the most exciting talents in cycling, all battling for the first Grand Tour victory of 2021 - but who is the bookmakers’s favourites?
As the Giro gets under way in Turin on May 8, we’ll see the likes of Egan Bernal, Simon Yates, Remco Evenepoel and Romain Bardet also chasing the famous pink jersey on the roads of Italy.
This year’s edition looks like a wide open race and we could be in for some thrills and surprises over the three weeks - here’s who the bookies are expecting to thrive:
The bookies’s favourite to win this year’s Giro is Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), the winner of the 2019 Tour de France, with odds of 11/4.
Bernal has been quiet so far this season, having last raced in mid-March and not winning a race August 2020.
The Colombian has been dealing with back problems which forced him out of last year’s Tour de France, but showed promising signs earlier this year, finishing with a third-place overall finish in the Tour de la Provence where he finished second on the Mont Ventoux/Chalet Reynard stage, and third place in Strade Bianche.
But the Giro will be the first race for the 24-year-old since Tirreno-Adriatico on March 16, where he finished fourth overall.
The next in line to take the pink jersey, according to the bookmakers, is British rider Simon Yates, winner of the 2018 Vuelta a España.
>>> Giro d’Italia 2021 start list: The line-ups for the 104th edition
Yates has unfinished business in Italy after coming within days of victory back in 2018 before he dramatically fell out of contention.
The Team BikeExchange rider currently has odds of 7/2 to win his second Grand Tour.
Yates took his first wins of the season in the Tour of the Alps earlier this month, winning stage two and securing the overall with strong displays on some tough climbs.
After his victory in the Vuelta, Yates hasn’t challenged for an overall Grand Tour title, his best result coming in the 2019 Giro where he finished eighth.
Third favourite to win the 2021 Giro title is Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) at 5/1, who has lived up to the hype over the last few seasons after joining the WorldTour at 18 years old to great fanfare in 2019.
>>> How to watch the Giro d’Italia 2021: Live stream the first Grand Tour of the season
But the 21-year-old Belgian hasn’t raced since August 2020, after he suffered serious injuries in a crash at Il Lombardia, which has left him with ongoing issues.
The superstar rider plans is training at altitude and will make his racing return at the Giro, so victory in his first ever Grand Tour and his first race for nine months would be quite a feat.
Further down the list of bookies’s favourites, we have Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 12/1, Britain’s Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) at 16/1, and Alexander Vlasov (Astana) also at 16/1.
Giro d’Italia 2021 odds (Winner- Oddschecker
Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, at 11/4
Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange, at 7/2
Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, 5/1
Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 12/1
Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo, at 16/1
Alexander Vlasov (Rus) Astana, at 16/1
Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Ineos Grenadiers, at 20/1
Jai Hindley (Aus) Team DSM, at 33/1
Daniel Martínez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, 33/1
Joâo Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 33/1
All odds correct at time of publication
Alex is the digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter and now as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output.
Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) and joining CW in 2018, Alex has covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers.
Away from journalism, Alex is a national level time triallist, avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
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