Giro d’Italia, Caruso and Fortunato the Azzurri from the standings in year zero after Nibali’s farewell

It’s a Tour zero, the one that on Saturday will start marching along the sea of ​​Abruzzo for the first 19 of its 3,489 km. A Giro without Italy, at least in appearance, and maybe it won’t be like this. Zero, because he is the first after Nibali, the first without the centralizer for at least a decade of almost all hopes of grabbing the final pink jersey and also the last Italian winner of a major stage race. Year 2016, that is, a lot of time ago. Never had Italy gone so far without winning its Giro. Twice he had waited five years, in the years 1970-1974 and in those from 1992 to 1996. Never more. In the meantime, many firsts: a Dutchman had never won before (Dumoulin), a Briton (Froome), an Ecuadorian (Carapaz) and an Australian (Hindley). Geoghegan Hart and Bernal also feasted on pink prosecco. And, Nibali excluded, in all these years we’ve only been on the podium once, with Damian Caruso in 2021.

Without Nibali, without Ciccone. But there is Caruso

Eventually the Covid will leave home Julius Ciccone, that perhaps the Giro would not have won it, but it would almost certainly have been part of the match in the mountains. The Abruzzese, with a broken heart, had to give up the departure from his region like the Lancianese Dario Cataldo, which fell in March at the Volta a Catalunya. Ciccone’s best spring, with two weight successes, ended in the worst way. Thus, for ranking and surroundings, the man of reference will be Damian Carusowho at the age of 35, two seasons after the incredible second place in Milan behind Egan Bernalfirst of all he will have to earn the rank of captain in a Bahrain Victorious four-pointed. In addition to the Ragusano, the reds start with You have G, Buitrago and Mäder and the first hard stage, that of Lago Laceno, the fourth, could act as a “playoff” between them. The latest Caruso, third in the final classification of Romandie, seems to have the right consistency for a new assault on the podium.

Pozzovivo’s near record

For classification and surroundings, then, there is always the eternal Dominic Pozzo alive, the oldest of the Giro, with his 40 years. With 17 appearances since 2005, “Pozzo” will join Pierino Gavazzi in second place ever: Wladimiro Panizza stands out at an altitude of 18. As soon as he arrived at Israel, Pozzovivo showed off at Coppi&Bartali, then a few steps back at Tour of the Alpsbut the top-10 does not seem unattainable.

Lucky tries again

And it is not, on paper, not even for Lorenzo Fortunato. The extraordinary victory over Zoncolan in 2021 did not have a good replica. But at the age of 27 – he will do it in Lago Laceno – the Bolognese updated his bulletin board just the Sunday before the Giro, at the Vuelta Asturias: queen stage and final classification. There were no insurmountable opponents, it’s true, and there were just three stages, but a success in cycling is priceless fuel. The EOLO-Kometa will form a square around him. An Italian leader of an Italian team in the Giro and with high ranking ambitions hasn’t been seen since time immemorial. At Romandie, then, we saw a very ambitious Filippo Zana uphill. Beyond the unmemorable result in the Thyon 2000 stage, the Italian champion could take care of the classification.

The very young: Aleotti and Frigo

Absent the interesting 19-year-old Giulio Pellizzari, third in a mountain stage at the Tour of the Alps, at least two young Italians could leave the group and be seen. In 2022, with Bora-Hansgrohe, John Aleotti was Jai Hindley’s uphill wingman, now he should take over the ambitions of Vlasov, but with some possible uphill license. In 2019, Aleotti finished the Tour de l’Avenir in 2nd place, beaten only by future time trial world champion Tobias Foss. And then, in Israel’s home, the 23-year-old can emerge Marco Frigo: a long apprenticeship abroad, a fairly tortuous transition to professionalism, recent good signs in the mountains.