Geraint Thomas is set to embark on his latest attempt to win Giro d’Italia.

Having been pipped to the post agonisingly in the penultimate stage of last years race by Primož Roglič in the final time-trial, Thomas is set to embark on his latest attempts to win the coveted maglia rosa.

“Preparation has been good, slightly slower as I want to do the Tour de France later in the year but it’s smother running than last year,” said Thomas.

“Last year I had a UTI and during training, I felt a bit stronger this year than I did 12 months ago coming here but who knows.

“All I know is I feel I’ve done all I can and I’m excited now to get racing.”

Unlike many grand tours, racing at this years Giro for the overall classification begins almost straight away, with a mountain top finish on stage two.

The course also features two individual time trial each more than 30kilometres which should suit Thomas’ capabilities.

“The course is alright, it has a few longer time trials and doesn’t have a silly stupid thing up a mountain this year,” quips Thomas, referring to the time trial where he lost his lead 12 months ago.

“I think the climbs aren’t as steep as previous years which probably suits me a bit better, hopefully the weather will be a bit better too.

“Stage two is important for the overall but it’s not the be all and end all.

“You need to be good from the start to the finish in any grand tour but with the mountains coming early earlier than normal it settles the race down early on.

“At least it’s not like the tour where you have those long flat days at the start of the tour which are chaos and it’ll create tiredness in the peloton as well.”

One name rises high above the rest in the list of Thomas’ rivals for the Giro’s Pink jersey or Maglia Rosa and that is two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar.

The Slovenian has been in fine form again this season, winning Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège along with the overall and four stages at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

Interestingly, this is the 25-year-olds debut at the Giro but is seen by many as the winner elect.

“You don’t go in to the race thinking to yourself that Tadej Pogačar is bound to win but he is a phenomenal bike rider, one of the greatest ever,” said Thomas.

“UAE have a strong team around him as well but I think we have a strong team too which is similar to last year but with a few new guys like Magnus Sheffield.”

Aside from Pogačar, there are a number of other threats for the podium and top 10 across a real range of ages and teams.

33-year-old Frenchman Romain Bardet has shown glimpses of being back to some of his best form recently with a second placed finish behind Pogačar at Liège-Bastogne-Liège along with a fifth placed finish at the Tour of the Alps.

He hasn’t finished on the podium of a grand tour since his second place at the 2016 Tour de France, the same year as Movistar’s Nairo Quintana won La Vuelta.

Quintana hasn’t shown the form required to challenge at the Giro but will certainly be in the reckoning for a stage win or two as will countryman Esteban Chaves who has already won three at the Giro alongside finishing second overall in 2016.

Fellow Columbian Daniel Martinez is a former teammate of Thomas’ at Ineos but has since moved to BORA-hansgrohe.

Generally, the 28-year-old seems to fade in the grand tours and goes stage hunting but is handy on a time trial bikem winning Columbia’s National title this year, and is a previous winner of the Critérium du Dauphiné so cannot be taken lightly.

Bahrain-Victorious’ Damiano Caruso has already tasted a podium at his native Giro back in 2021 and finished fourth last year, although this season he has yet to sparkle and may well be a foil for his young teammate and countryman Antonio Tiberi.

22-year-old Tiberi has had a real break through year, finishing third in the general classification at the Tour of the Alps alongside a second placed finish in the youth classification at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, and will surely have his eyes on best young rider once more.

However, he will face stiff competition from Team Visma – Lease a Bike’s Cian Uijtdebroeks.

The 21-year-old Belgian won two stages and the overall at Tour de l’Avenir in 2022 and with no other obvious general classification competitor in his team, he may be given free rein to see how far he can go in the high mountains.

Other young guns include Florian Lipowitz who finished third at the recent Tour de Romandie and Thomas’ teammate Thymen Arensman who finished sixth at the Giro last year and may well be given more license to compete for himself with Thomas’ eyes drawn somewhat to the Tour de France.

Lidl-Trek’s Juan Pedro López is no longer eligible for the white jersey having turned 26 but will be looking to make top 10 having won a stage in 2022 on his way to 10^th overall and recently won the Tour of the Alps ahead of Tiberi and Bardet.

Others to keep an eye on include Irishman Eddie Dunbar who finished seventh at the Giro last year with an impressive fourth placed finish on stage 16, while Australian Ben O’Connor’s second places at Tour of the Alps and UAE tour showed form akin to that which saw him finish fourth at the 2021 Tour de France.

Fellow Australian and Dunbar’s Jayco AlUla teammate Luke Plapp is a fiend on a time trial bike and is current Australian time trial and road race champion, whilst he also finished sixth in Paris-Nice and second at the UAE tour last year.

Finally, Domenico Pozzovivo may well be 41 but he knows how to get around Italy, having finished in the top 10 on seven occasions and will be out to do so again for new team VF Group-Bardiani CSF- Faizanè.

The Giro is renowned for throwing up a few surprises, hopefully Thomas will have a cards up his sleeve to play.