Who are the bookies' favourites for the Giro d'Italia 2020?
The Italian Grand Tour begins on October 3 with a number of big names set to compete for the maglia rosa
Tirreno-Adriatico 2020 (Getty)
You know what I hate?
The overly long wait between the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia. Doesn't it drag?
Twelve whole days with nothing but the UCI Road World Championships, Flèche Wallonne and the BinckBank Tour to occupy us.
Thankfully, the Giro kicks off on October 3 as we enter a period with enough racing action to make your head explode. How will we all manage to watch three weeks of stage racing alongside the 'spring' Classics? Who knows. Frankly, that's the least of our problems right now.
>>> Giro d’Italia 2020 start list: Line-ups for the 103rd edition
With all this racing, how on earth are we supposed to keep track of who might win? Luckily, our benevolent overlords sitting atop the gambling industry can tell us exactly which drain to flush our hard-earned money down. Anyway, here are the favourites to win the 2020 Giro d'Italia, according to the bookmakers.
2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas is the favourite for the 2020 Giro d'Italia, the Welshman seeking to end Ineos' momentary Grand Tour woes after Egan Bernal withdrew from the Tour de France and failed to defend his title.
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Thomas had been left out of the Tour squad and instead has spent his time riding himself into form at Tirreno-Adriatico before a top four finish in the individual time trial at the 2020 Imola World Championships. The 34-year-old will look to capitalise on the three time trials included in the 2020 route and he's nearly even at 5/4 to be wearing the maglia in Milan on October 25.
Second favourite is another Grand Tour-winning Brit, Mitchelton-Scott's Simon Yates. The 28-year-old was victorious at the recent Tirreno-Adriatico, only the second stage race victory of his career after the Vuelta a España in 2018, and is 3/1 to win again at the Giro.
Astana's Jakob Fuglsang is the next rider fancied for the victory. Having only competed in one Italian Grand Tour before, in 2016, the Dane has a top 10 at the Tour and two Critérium du Dauphiné victories on his palmarès. He'll be looking for continued success on Italian roads after his Il Lombardia win last month.
Steven Kruijswijk was supposed to co-lead Jumbo-Visma's Tour de France team, but a crash at the Dauphiné ruled him out of trying to improve on his third place at the 2019 French Grand Tour. Instead, he will try to better his fourth place at the 2016 Giro and redeem Jumbo-Visma's luck at 2020 Grand Tours, the Dutch team having come so close at the Tour with Primož Roglič.
The only former winner in our top 10 of favourites, Vincenzo Nibali, is also the sole Italian set to contest the overall classification. The Shark of Messina finished runner-up last year and hasn't finished outside the podium in six inclusions over the last decade. He's valued at 8/1 to win a third home Grand Tour.
Next up is a 24-year-old Russian making his Grand Tour debut. Astana's Aleksandr Vlasov has had a phenomenal 2020 season despite the disruption. Wins in the Mont Ventoux Dénivelé Challenge and Giro dell'Emilia were backed up by him topping the youth classification at Tirreno-Adriatico. He's 11/1 to win a three-week stage race at the first time of asking.
Sitting in outside chance territory is once again Bora-Hansgrohe's Rafal Majka. The Polish rider has always finished inside the top seven in four Giro participations, which would explain why he is seventh favourite at 22/1.
The only rider amongst the favourites who also rode the Tour de France is Miguel Ángel López. The Colombian is the third Astana rider named in the 10 most likely winners, having won stage 17 of the Tour up the Col de la Loze and finishing sixth overall. The 26-year-old is 33/1 to win a Grand Tour at the eighth time of asking.
Rounding out the top 10 are Sunweb's Wilco Kelderman, the Dutchman transferring to Majka's Bora-Hansgrohe at the end of the season and valued at 40/1 to take the victory, as is Ineos' Ivan Sosa, who will be riding his second-ever Giro d'Italia.
Giro d’Italia 2020 odds (Winner – Oddschecker)
1. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers - 5/4
2. Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott - 3/1
3. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana - 6/1
4. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Jumbo-Visma - 15/2
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo - 8/1
6. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana - 11/1
7. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe - 22/1
8. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana - 33/1
9. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Sunweb - 40/1
10. Ivan Sosa (Col) Ineos Grenadiers - 40/1
All odds correct at time of publication
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Jonny was Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor until 2022.
I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.
Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).
I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.