Dombrowski, Barta and Craddock: The few Americans at the 2022 Giro d’Italia

Twenty-two teams and 176 riders in total are expected to roll off the 2022 Giro d’Italia start line in Budapest, Hungary come Friday, May 6, with a few North Americans will be among them.

The historic battle for the pink jersey and ‘Endless Trophy’ will see riders complete a total of  2141 miles (3,445 km) with 165,945 feet (50,580 metres) of climbing over the course of 21 race stages. 

Here’s who’ll be representing North America in Italy. 

Teams:

There are two US-registered WorldTour teams present at the Giro  — 

EF Education-EasyPost (in their new special-edition kit)  and Trek-Segafredo — but alas, they do not have any North Americans among the starting 8. 

Joe Dombrowski (Astana Qazaqstan Team)

The 30-year-old from Delaware is America’s best-ranked rider on the startlist, having won a stage here himself last year while riding for UAE-Team Emirates.

Now riding in the Astana Qazagstan Team colors, Dombrowski  will be working in support of his team leaders Vincenzo Nibali and Miguel Ángel López, but he will seize the opportunity for another stage win, should it present itself.

"My role will be to work for [Miguel and Vincenzo], but you know, sometimes opportunities can surface, like last year,” he told Cycling Weekly. “And if there's a chance to win a stage that would be great. Doors sometimes close but sometimes open, and you just need to find the open ones.” 

The American climber enjoys the racing in Italy, even counts the Giro as his favorite race on the calendar. He’s ridden every edition of ‘La Corsa Rosa’ since 2016, making this his seventh appearance. He’s made it into a stage podium twice and his best GC finish was 12th in 2019.

Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco)

Thirty-year-old Texan, Lawson Craddock, is the current US National Time Trial champion who will surely be showing off his stars-and-stripes skinsuit in the stage 2 time trial on Saturday.

After six seasons with the EF-Education squad, Craddock joined Team BikeExchange looking for new challenges. This is Craddock’s second time at the Giro d’Italia and will be riding in support of Simon Yates. After last year’s success, the Briton is aiming for another GC podium finish. 

Will Barta (Movistar Team)

The third and final American on the start line is Idahoan Will Barta. The 26-year-old will be making his Giro debut  as part of an almost entirely Spanish line-up at Movistar. 

Barta’s last Grand Tour was the Vuelta a España in 2020 and he was forced to ride a shortened season in 2021 after fracturing his femur in a January training crash. 

A new recruit to the Movistar squad, Barta will be riding in support of team leaders 42-year-old veteran Alejandro Valverde, and Iván Sosa, bolstered by his recent win at Vuelta a Asturias. Still, the American may just surprise everyone — just like he did in 2020 when he finished second in a time trial stage at the Vuelta. 

Watch

If you’re in the US or Canada, you can watch the Giro d’Italia live every day on GCN+, with live pictures being shown along with on demand and highlights from the Italian Grand Tour.