Ineos Grenadiers – as usual, the British team presents a very strong team in support of the favorite to win the 2022 Giro d’Italia, Richard Carapaz. For many the biggest favorite to win the 2022 edition of the Giro, Carapaz will have Richie Porte and Pavel Sivakov as his most decorated right-hand men in the mountains. I’m very curious to follow Ben Tulett’s first Grand Tour start. It’s unlikely that the promising 20-year-old will play a big role in this race, but it will certainly be an important step in his development. Jonathan Castroviejo, the experienced all-rounder Spanish veteran will certainly be another important piece for Carapaz’s aspirations to win his second Giro.
AG2R Citroen – keeping the tradition of French teams not really investing in the Giro, AG2R will bring a subpar team to the Italian GT. Andrea Vendrame will try to repeat his success from last year and win another stage, as will the other GT stage winners on the team: Lilian Calmejane and Nans Peters. None of these riders yet fulfilled the potential they once shown. It’s risky relying purely on breakaways to win stages, hence why I wouldn’t expect much from the French team.
Alpecin Fenix – Mathieu Van Der Poel. Not much more to see here. Or, to put it better, Van Der Poel’s star is so bright that it obfuscates everything else. The Dutchman said he wants to finally finish a GT at 27 years of age, and the possibility to wear the pink jersey is attractive to him. Let’s see if he can repeat his successes of the 2021 Tour in this Giro.
Astana Qazaqstan – Miguel Angel Lopez showed a few days ago that he is in form with a stage win atop the Grossglockner, in the Tour of the Alps. David de la Cruz can be a good second option for the team or a luxury domestique for Lopez. The possibility that this is Vicenzo Nibali’s last Giro is another point of interest regarding Astana’s 2022 Giro.
Bahrain Victorious – a team with several good leaders but no undisputed one. Pello Bilbao is clearly the in-form rider, in my opinion, for the team and should easily be the choice to lead it. I don’t know how many chances Mikel Landa will still get at 32 years old but, until he shows otherwise, a protected rider status is good enough for him. If Bilbao overperforms expectations and is in the fight for the podium of the 2022 Giro d’Italia then Landa should obviously work for him. Bilbao is having a great 2022, most recently finish 4th and winning a stage in the Tour of the Alps.
Bardiani CSF Faizanè – Filippo Zana is the team’s biggest hope in terms of future potential. He was 3rd in last year’s Tour de l’Avenir and already started and finished the Giro twice in the last 2 years. He was 7th in a stage last year and will be hoping to improve upon that result, maybe even insert himself in the fight for the mountains’ jersey. Enrico Battaglin and Sacha Modolo are the team’s most decorated riders, but the former is having trouble finishing races this year and the latter has only won once during the past 4 years.
Bora Hansgrohe – running out of time for redemption. That’s certainly the motto of Bora’s 2022 Giro d’Italia lineup. Wilco Kelderman already had a fantastic career but won’t forget how he let his golden chance to win a GT escape through his fingers in this very race in 2020. It’s unlikely that he will ever get such an opportunity again. Interestingly, his now teammate Jai Hindley is one of the riders that benefitted from Kelderman’s collapse at the time to finish that edition of the Giro in second place, in front of the Dutchman. Hindley has done very little since that second place though and will be hoping to get back on track in the 2022 Giro d’Italia.
The same can be said for Emanuel Buchmann: after a surprising 4th place in the 2019 Tour de France, his career nosedived. To be fair, bad luck and injuries are a cause of some of these riders’ recent shortcomings, certainly in the cases of Buchmann and Hindley. With that being said, I still hope these riders will all have their moments in this year’s Giro. And I choose to believe that Hindley’s 5th place in the Tirreno Adriatico and 13th in the Vuelta a Catalunya are a good sign for his upcoming performance in the race that made him a household name among cycling fans.
Cofidis – inspired by their sponsor’s business model, the French team always place a lot of importance on the Vuelta (in addition to the Tour, of course). In the Giro, not so much. Last year Victor Lafay won Cofidis their first stage in this competition since 2010. The French team has never had a top-10 finisher in the Giro (13th is their best result by Ivan Parra, in 2007). I don’t know how likely this is to change in 2022 but the group of riders Cofidis is bringing to the start line in Budapest this year is strong.
Led by the crown jewel of the team, Guillaume Martin, their lineup includes sprinters Davide Cimolai and Simone Consonni (who is having a good 2022, with several top-10 finishes). Consonni is a candidate to win a stage or, at the very least, to give the French team some top-10 stage finishes. Remy Rochas finished the 2021 Vuelta in 15th place and is another rider to keep an eye on.
Drone Hopper – Androni Giocattoli – I would take this team over Bardiani’s, while keeping in mind that both team’s are obviously a level below the others. Eduardo Sepúlveda recently finished 3rd in the Tour of Turkey and has all the tools to win a stage in the Giro. He has ridden 6 GTs in his career and his best stage result is 15th. Disappointing for sure, but he is still the most established rider of his team in the mountains. Romanian sprinter Eduard Grosu has the ability to fight for top-10 finishes in the sprints, even if his 2022 ha been disappointing so far. Much like Zana for Bardiani, Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion is Androni’s biggest hope for the future.
EF Education-EasyPost – Hugh Carthy has a very strong supporting cast to contend for a podium place in the 2022 Giro d’Italia. Simon Carr, Johan Esteban Chaves, Odd Christian Eiking and Merhawi Kudus are four very capable climbers. Magnus Cort’s strength seems to be the Vuelta rather than the Giro, but the Dane is very real threat to win stages, either in a sprint or in a breakaway.
Eolo Kometa – Last year’s dream day view, with Lorenzo Fortunato winning the Zoncolan stage will be difficult to repeat. Not because the team got weaker, on the contrary. Simply because a wildcard team winning the queen stage of a GT is extremely unlikely. To do it two years in a row? Nearly impossible. With that being said, Fortunato is coming off a 2nd place in the Vuelta a Asturias. Given that he was 16th in the general classification last year it is not outside of the realm of possibility that he might fight for a top-10 placement in 2022. Or the king of the mountains’ jersey. It would sit well on the shoulders of a Zoncolan winner.
Vicenzo Albanese, 11th in the Milano Sanremo earlier this year, is also a possibility for a stage win. He is also coming off a very good participation in the Vuelta a Asturias, finishing 2nd in two of the race’s three stages. Out of the three invited teams, I would say Eolo is easily the most likely to make an impact on the 2022 Giro d’Italia, with Fortunato, Albanese, and Diego Rosa all being candidates to perform well in the Italian GT.