All eyes are on Tadej Pogačar on the Giro d’Italia however Robbie McEwen can’t wait to see the dash finishes in the course of the subsequent three weeks. The Australian received 12 levels on the Giro d’Italia throughout his personal skilled profession and has change into a wonderful tv dash and race analyst since retiring in 2012.
The 2024 Giro d’Italia has attracted lots of the greatest sprinters on this planet, with solely Jasper Philipsen, Mark Cavendish and Dylan Gronewegwen absent and totally centered on the Tour de France.
This yr’s Corsa Rosa begins with two testing levels in Piemonte on the weekend however then there are six or seven dash alternatives, together with a last prestigious dash end in central Rome for individuals who survive the excessive mountains of the third week.
For those that would possibly change into tired of Pogačar’s dominance and even think about the way forward for males’s racing bleak, then McEwen is satisfied the Giro d’Italia sprinting would be the good antidote. The Australian will once more be a part of the Eurosport commentary group for the Giro and spoke to Cyclingnews and different media whereas travelling to Europe from his dwelling on Australia’s Gold Coast.
“The Giro d’Italia sprints are going to be unimaginable, I’m actually wanting ahead to the dash battles we’ll see,” McEwen stated with real enthusiasm for the game and particularly for sprinting.
“If you return to once I was racing, there have been plenty of sprints within the Giro however both [Mario] Cipollini or [Alessandro] Petacchi dominated because of their lead-out prepare. Now the whole lot is simply extra sophisticated. I see a extremely evenly matched group of sprinters on this yr’s race they usually’re at all times essentially the most thrilling sprints. It’s going to be a shock every day.”
McEwen’s first win on the Giro got here in Strasbourg in 2002 when he beat Cipollini after the Giro began within the Netherlands. His final Giro win was in 2007 in Bosa, Sardinia, when he beat Paolo Bettini and Petacchi.
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McEwen raced BMX bikes as a boy and used his velocity and small physique to tackle the facility sprinters like Cipollini, Petacchi, Erik Zabel, Tom Boonen and Thor Hushovd between 1996 and 2012. He would usually dive by a niche that opened up alongside the boundaries after which surge by to victory. McEwen was fearless however expert on a motorbike. He received 116 races throughout his profession, most of them in high-speed sprints.
He began the Giro d’Italia 10 occasions however by no means truly completed the Corsa Rosa because of the must be robust and recent for the following Tour de France. It left him with a way of unfinished enterprise.
“I’d like to be amongst them this yr, I beloved the Giro sprints. For some riders, the extra chaotic, the higher and that was the identical for me,” McEwen enthused.
“The Tour de France is such an unlimited beast of a race that they’ve to complete on fairly large roads, the place the Giro has the flexibleness to complete in cities and there is these lefts and proper turns.
“I believe that makes actually entertaining racing, and it kind of ranges the taking part in subject between those that brute energy in a straight line, however those that can truly race, those that order, those that can struggle place, and that is the place I actually like that in regards to the Giro sprints.”
Star-studded sprinters begin checklist
The 2024 Giro d’Italia sprinter begin checklist consists of Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL), Caleb Ewan (Jayco-AlUla), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar), Alberto Dainese (Tudor Pro Cycling), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty), Danny Van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious) and Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates).
The likes of Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), Kiwi revelation Laurence Pithie and his Groupama-FDJ teammate Lewis Askey, Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) and Christophe Laporte (Visma-Lease a Bike) may emerge on the hillier, extra selective levels that finish in dash.
“I believe I counted 12 or 13 guys that may be within the combine to win any dash stage. I’m undecided I’ve seen that a lot of anyone race. I do not see anyone who is absolutely going to dominate all people else. There’s going to be a component of luck, talent and velocity concerned every time,” McEwen recommended.
McEwen has already achieved some analysis for the three weeks to come back, primarily based on his personal intensive data of sprinting.
“A man who at all times appears to make sense of the chaos as Tim Merlier even when he then fades deeper right into a Grand Tour. He simply finds the gaps, follows the suitable wheels and he is received actually good intuition and confidence,” McEwen stated in reward of the Soudal-QuickStep sprinter.
“I’m additionally actually wanting ahead to how good Caleb Ewan goes to be on the Giro. He had a extremely sophisticated starting of the season. He began properly, after which he received very in poor health, and I believe he tried to come back again too shortly. He’s been coaching at altitude and has received on the Giro, so he can win once more.
“There’s additionally Kaden Groves for the Aussies. It’s a pity that Sam Welsford wasn’t chosen however it’s a possibility for Danny Van Poppel to point out himself.”
McEwen noticed how Jonathan Milan confirmed his sprinting capacity in final yr’s Giro d’Italia and expects much more from the Italian after his transfer to Lidl-Trek. Milan could have a strong lead-out prepare that features Jasper Stuyven, Ed Theuns and lead-out man and fellow observe pursuiter Simone Consonni.
“The sky is the restrict with Milan as a result of he is simply received such a large engine. His engine is simply ridiculously enormous,” McEwen stated.
“He was such a pleasant shock to all people final yr. I believe he truly has plenty of margin to enhance. He’s form of tough across the edges within the sprints. If he can clean the whole lot out, he’ll get even quicker.”
McEwen by no means completed the Giro d’Italia however usually rode the Giro and Tour in the identical yr and is aware of in regards to the psychological and bodily fatigue concerned. He tipped Pogačar to win the Giro d’Italia however with a touch of warning.
“I do not keep in mind anybody being such an enormous favorite to win. Something actually actually bizarre must occur for him to not win,” McEwen recommended. “If the whole lot goes OK, if he has no incidents, accidents or sickness, he’ll win. He’s going to win by as a lot as he looks like profitable by.
“I believe the others additionally can be going into the race believing they’re racing for a second. Yet the gorgeous factor in regards to the Giro is that each time we predict we all know what is going on to occur, one thing else occurs.”
McEwen has some easy recommendation for Pogačar as he targets the Giro-Tour double.
“Be conservative within the Giro as a result of it is a very long time till the top of the Tour,” McEwen warned.
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