The 2021 Giro d'Italia will return a mere six months after the last edition, which was pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Taking place from May 8-30, the three-week stage race will begin in Turin, working its way through Piedmont before heading south.
Ineos Grenadiers' Tao Geoghegan Hart won't be present to defend his title, instead electing for a debut Tour de France appearance in July, so it will be up to 2019 Tour winner Egan Bernal to lead the British outfit. The team does have other potential riders for the overall with Dani Martínez and Pavel Sivakov all down to ride.
Vincenzo Nibali will likely lead Trek-Segafredo team despite recently breaking his wrist in a training ride crash. Meaning that team-mate and star climber, Giulio Ciccone could prove to be the team's GC hope.
Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) will once again be on the start line, looking to claim the Maglia Rosa that so cruelly eluded him three years ago. He'll be hoping to go better than last year, when he lost time early and then returned a positive Covid-19 test, and was then forced to abandon the race.
João Almeida (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) will be hoping to wear pink once again but this time hold it all the way to Milan, unlike last year where he showed major cracks to lose it in the final week. The team will also see the return of Belgian star, Remco Evenepoel with the Giro being his first race back after crashing out of Il Lombardia last season.
Last year's runner-up, Jai Hindley will be the main focus for the German squad of Team DSM with support from Romain Bardet. Movistar will place their hopes in the fluctuating form of Spaniard, Marc Soler. Meanwhile, Mikel Landa is confident he can do the business for Bahrain-Victorious.
Bora-Hansgrohe's Peter Sagan will be riding his second Italian Grand Tour after debuting last year, winning a stage. Other sprinters down to ride are Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates), Elia Viviani (Cofidis), Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) as they battle for the ciclamin points jersey.
The race saw a late change to the teams on the start line, with Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec invited to replace Vini-Zabù, who have been suspended from racing following doping positives.
Giro d'Italia 2021 confirmed start list and numbers
Ineos Grenadiers
1. BERNAL Egan
2. CASTROVIEJO Jonathan
3. GANNA Filippo
4. MARTÍNEZ Daniel
5. MOSCON Gianni
6. NARVÁEZ Jhonatan
7. PUCCIO Salvatore
8. SIVAKOV Pavel
Ag2r Citroën Team
11. GALLOPIN Tony
12. BIDARD François
13. BOUCHARD Geoffrey
14. CHAMPOUSSIN Clément
15. GOUGEARD Alexis
16. NAESEN Lawrence
17. VENDRAME Andrea
18. WARBASSE Larry
Alpecin-Fenix
21. MERLIER Tim
22. DE BONDT Dries
23. JANSSENS Jimmy
24. KRIEGER Alexander
25. LEYSEN Senne
26. RIESEBEEK Oscar
27. VERMEERSCH Gianni
28. VERVAEKE Louis
Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
31. CEPEDA Jefferseon Alexander
32. PELLAUD Simon
33. PONOMAR Adrii
34. RAVANELLI Simone
35. SEPÚLVEDA Eduardo
36. TAGLIANI Filippo
37. TESFATSION Natnael
38. VENCHIARUTTI Nicola
Astana-Premier Tech
41. VLASOV Aleksandr
42. BATTISTELLA Samuele
43. FELLINE Fabio
44. IZAGIRRE Gorka
45. PRONSKIY Vadim
46. SÁNCHEZ Luis León
47. SOBRERO Matteo
48. TEJADA Harold
Bahrain Victorious
51. LANDA Mikel
52. ARASHIRO Yukiya
53. BILBAO Pello
54. CARUSO Damiano
55. MÄDER Gino
56. MOHORIČ Matej
57. TRATNIK Jan
58. VALLS Rafael
Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè
61. VISCONTI Giovanni
62. BATTAGLIN Enrico
63. CARBONI Giovanni
64. FIORELLI Filippo
65. GABBURU Davide
66. MARENGO Umberto
67. Zana Filippo
68. ZOCCARATO Samuele
Bora-Hansgrohe
71. SAGAN Peter
72. ALEOTTI Giovanni
73. BENEDETTI Cesare
74. BODNAR Maciej
75. BUCHMANN Emanuel
76. FABBRO Matteo
77. GROßSCHARTNER Felix
78. OSS Daniel
Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
81. VIVIANI Elia
82. BERHANE Natnael
83. CONSONNI Simone
84. EDET Nicolas
85. LAFAY Victor
86. ROCHAS Rémy
87. SABATINI Fabio
88. VIVIANI Attilio
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
91. EVENEPOEL Remco
92. ALMEIDA João
93. CAVAGNA Rémi
94. HONORÉ Mikkel
95. KEISSE Iljo
96. KNOX James
97. MASNADA Fausto
98. SERRY Pieter
EF Education-Nippo
101. CARTHY Hugh
102. CAICEDO Jonathan
103. CARR Simon
104. GUERREIRO Ruben
105. KEUKELEIRE Jens
106. VAN DEN BERG Julius
107. BETTIOL Alberto
108. VAN GARDEREN Tejay
EOLO-Kometa
111. BELLETTI Manuel
112. ALBANESE Vincenzo
113. CHRISTIAN Mark
114. DINA Márton
115. FORTUNATO Lorenzo
116. GAVAZZI Francesco
117. RAVASI Edward
118. RIVI Samuele
Groupama-FDJ
121. MOLARD Rudy
122. BADILATTI Matteo
123. DUCHESNE Antoine
124. GUGLIELMI Simon
125. REICHENBACH Sébastian
126. SEIGLE Romain
127. VALTER Attila
128. VAN DEN BERG Lars
Intermarché-Wanty Gobert Matériaux
131. HIRT Jan
132. HERMANS Quinten
133. KREDER Wesley
134. MINALI Riccardo
135. PASQUALON Andrea
136. PETILLI Simone
137. TAARAMÄE Rein
138. VAN DER HOORN Taco
Israel Start-Up Nation
141. MARTIN Dan
142. BEVIN Patrick
143. BRÄNDLE Matthias
144. CIMOLAI Davide
145. DE MARCHI Alessandro
146. DOWSETT Alex
147. NEILANDS Krists
148. NIV Guy
Team Jumbo-Visma
151. BENNETT George
152. AFFINI Edoardo
153. BOUWMAN Koen
154. DEKKER David
155. FOSS Tobias
156. GROENEWEGEN Dylan
157. MARTENS Paul
158. VAN EMDEN Jos
Lotto-Soudal
161. EWAN Caleb
162. DE BUYST Jasper
163. DE GENDT Thomas
164. GOOSSENS Kobe
165. KLUGE Roger
166. MARCZYŃSKI Tomasz
167. OLDANI Stefano
168. VANHOUCKE Harm
Movistar Team
171. SOLER Marc
172. CATALDO Dario
173. JORGENSEN Matteo
174. OLIVEIRA Nelson
175. PEDRERO Antonio
176. RUBIO Einer
177. TORRES Albert
178. VILLELLA Davide
Team BikeExchange
181. YATES Simon
182. HEPBURN Michael
183. JUUL-JENSEN Chris
184. KANGERT Tanel
185. MEYER Cameron
186. NIEVE Mikel
187. SCHULTZ Nick
188. SCOTSON Callum
Team DSM
191. HINDLEY Jai
192. ARNDT Nikias
193. BARDET Romain
194. DENZ Nico
195. HAMILTON Chris
196. KANTER Max
197. ROCHE Nicolas
198. STORER Michael
Team Qhubeka-Assos
201. NIZZOLO Giacomo
202. CAMPENAERTS Victor
203. FRANKINY Kilian
204. LINDEMAN Bert-Jan
205. POZZOVIVO Domenico
206. SCHMID Mauro
207. WALSCHEID Max
208. WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz
Trek-Segafredo
211. NIBALI Vincenzo
212. BRAMBILLA Gianluca
213. CICCONE Giulio
214. DE KORT Koen
215. GHEBREIGZAHBIER Amanuel
216. MOLLEMA Bauke
217. MOSCA Jacopo
218. MOSCHETTI Matteo
UAE Team Emirates
221. FORMOLO Davide
222. CONTI Valerio
223. COVI Alessandro
224. DOMBROWSKI Joe
225. GAVIRIA Fernando
226. MOLANO Juan Sebastián
227. RICHEZE Max
228. ULISSI Diego
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