Ineos Grenadiers have announced their roster for the 2024 Giro d’Italia, with former Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas set to spearhead their GC ambitions.
Thomas returns to the Giro one year after losing the maglia rosa on the penultimate day. But after a much less disrupted run-in, free from infection as was the case in 2023, he’s eyeing another crack at the overall.
The Welshman wasn't in top form at his final pre-Giro race at the Tour of the Alps, but it was no different from his previous preparations. Thomas follows the old-school method of just peaking for the biggest races and has done so to great effect throughout his 18-year career.
A 13th-place finish on GC came without worry for the 37-year-old and after being on the attack on stage 5, Thomas believed he was well on track to be at his best come May 4 when the Giro kicks off.
“My preparation has gone well and I’m feeling in a great place ahead of the start. We have a strong line-up and there is a good bond with this group," Thomas said. "We know what we need to do and are all feeling super motivated to get the job done and deliver."
He’ll have heavy pre-race favourite Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) to contend with as the Slovenian makes his debut at the Giro and looks to return to the top step of a Grand Tour podium for the first time since, amazingly, July 2021.
“Obviously Tadej Pogačar is the pre-race favourite and has a strong team around him, and that changes the dynamic of the race a bit," Thomas said in a team press release.
"But that also means all eyes will be on him over three long weeks of hard racing. Our plan is to be aggressive, take the race on and look for every opportunity to add pressure and take time.”
Thomas, who is attempting the Giro-Tour de France double in 2024, will have his work cut out for him if he is to get on the podium again. But he has strong support in Thymen Arensmen, who could ride for his own ambitions having finished in sixth at the Giro last year and in the same position at the Vuelta the year prior.
Tobias Foss, Filippo Ganna and Ben Swift also make up part of the eight-man squad after racing the Tour of the Alps alongside Thomas where Ineos won the first stage and looked to complete their final preparations for the Giro’s start on May 4.
Former ninth-place finisher at the Giro, Foss will make his Grand Tour debut for Ineos having taken his first win for the British squad at the Tour of the Alps.
“In Geraint, we have one of the most experienced riders in the peloton to lead the charge to Rome. He is a proven winner, a brilliant bike rider and a great leader," said DS Steve Cummings. "In the general classification, we have three riders who have all finished in the top 10 at this race so we go into it feeling confident in the depth and experience within the group."
Ganna will look to take his seventh and eighth Giro stage wins and first at his home race since 2021 on the stages 7 and 14 time trials, alongside riding for Thomas and possibly chancing his hand in breaks and bunch sprints.
The rest of the team comprises of riders who took part in the cobbled Classics, Jhonatan Narváez, Connor Swift and Magnus Sheffield. Swift and Sheffield will both be making their Giro d’Italia debut alongside it being the 22-year-old American’s first appearance at a Grand Tour.
“Last year we really kept the group together and they mostly just raced purely together, whereas this year we’ve had a bit of a different approach,” Ineos DS Zak Dempster told Cyclingnews at the Tour of the Alps.
After completing the Tour of the Alps, the British side headed to Monte Grappa to complete a vital recon of the 18.2km climb which will be tackled twice on stage 20. Dempster also told Cyclingnews that the squad only had the Oropa stage 2 summit finish and stage 1 finale left to recon ahead of the race’s start in Venaria Reale.
The Road to Rome starts here 🇮🇹🔜Meet our 2024 #GirodItalia team 👊 pic.twitter.com/oVBCl7z6BhApril 25, 2024
