Can Egan Bernal Defend Giro d'Italia Crown in 2022?
Egan Bernal is a talented Colombian rider who was victorious for the Ineos Grenadiers team in 2021 and it’s possible that he will be the talent that heads the same outfit when it comes to the 2022 renewal. Bernal won the Tour de France general classification in 2019 and the 24-year-old looks set to have his best years ahead of him.
We would expect to see Bernal among the favourites if he lines up in the 2022 renewal, with Damiano Caruso potentially his biggest rival. The Italian was hugely popular in his homeland during the 2021 competition before coming agonisingly close to the overall win and he finished less than two minutes behind the eventual champion.
Simon Yates and Dan Martin Could Also Be Giro d'Italia Challengers
Simon Yates seems to be regularly knocking on the door when it comes to the big events and the Team BikeExchange rider was third in the overall standings for the 2021 Giro d'Italia. The 29-year-old did not finish in the 2021 Tour de France although he’s previously shown his class when winning the Tirreno–Adriatico in 2020.
Similarly, Dan Martin is a talented cyclist and he could be among the Giro d'Italia betting favourites after the Irish rider finished in the top ten of the standings in 2021. There have been three top ten finishes in the Tour de France and we should also note that this cyclist was fourth in the Vuelta a Espana.
Who Are the Past Giro d'Italia Winners?
This has historically been a competition which has been dominated by Italian riders over the decades. It is only in more recent times where we’ve seen more of a mix of nationalities and the latest overseas rider was Egan Bernal in 2021. Tao Geoghegan Hart was more of a surprise winner in 2020 when the Brit obliged for the United Kingdom.
Chris Froome is more of a household name in the world of cycling and he landed a Giro d’Italia victory in 2018, with Tom Dumoulin and Richard Carapaz among the more recent winners. The last Italian to secure a general classification victory was Vincenzo Nibali.
We love the 2019 Giro d'Italia which takes place mostly in May and kicks off with an individual time trial in Bologna. There are then four flat stages before the competition starts to stiffen with two hilly stages.
Later in the Giro, the cyclists will start to battle it out on the Italian mountaintops, with six mountain stages occurring towards the end of the competition before things finish with an individual time trial and it threatens to be an exciting renewal.
Chris Froome won the Giro d’Italia in 2018 although he’s declared non-participation for 2019 due to wanting to focus on the Tour de France, although most of the elite riders are going to be competing and we look at the latest betting odds for the Giro in this article.
Dumoulin and Roglic favourites to win Giro
Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic are the 9/4 favourites to win the Giro d’Italia, with the former having won in 2017 before finishing in second last year. The Dutch rider will be the primary cyclist for Team Sunweb and is especially well-regarded when it comes to time trials and climbing.
However, Primoz Roglic could threaten the top of the leaderboard and he’s available at the same odds, with the 29-year-old coming towards his peak in the colours of Team Jumbo-Visma. The Slovenian has little experience of competing in a Giro, having missed the past two years after finishing 58th in 2016.
Simon Yates is an 11/4 chance and will be the main protagonist for Mitchelton-Scott, with the 26-year-old having been visibly impressive over the past twelve months, while Egan Bernal has to be respected for this competition and we could also see Vincenzo Nibali go for the pink jersey.
The Giro d’Italia is highly prestigious
Although the Tour de France is the jewel in the crown as far as professional cycling is concerned, the Giro comes a close second and it’s an event that all professional cyclists want to win.
The main prize is the hallowed pink jersey which is given to the winner of the general classification, with all stages timed to the finish and it’s the rider with the lowest overall time that wins the first prize. The overall leader gets the chance to wear the pink jersey for each stage in the same way that the Tour de France leaders gets the yellow jersey.
In addition, riders can also compete to finish top of the mountain classification. This is the second oldest jersey awarding classification in the Giro, with cyclists enjoying the chance to be king of the Italian mountains and the mountain stages tend to take place towards the end of the event.
The Giro has been dominated by Italian riders
The Giro d’Italia started in 1909, with Luigi Ganna winning the inaugural event and he was then followed by Carlo Galetti who won back to back titles in 1910 and 1911. The first non-Italian winner was in 1950 when Swiss rider Hugo Koblet won the general classification.
In more recent decades, we’ve seen several more international riders win the Giro and that includes the legendary Eddy Merckx who was dominant during the 1970’s. He won his first pink jersey in 1968 before a further four successes in the 1970’s.
Miguel Indurain won back-to-back Giro d’Italia titles in 1992 and 1993, with a spate of Italian riders then dominating between 1997 and 2007. Since then, Alberto Contador has won two pink jerseys and Italian rider Vincenzo Nibali has also won twice.