Blazin’ Saddles: Maglia rosa guide – Who will win the Giro d’Italia’s fight for the pink jersey?

With the long-awaited Hungarian grande partenza just days away, it’s time to weigh up the main contenders for the maglia rosa in the 105th edition of the Giro d’Italia. Having already looked at all the teams and their star riders and Giro goals, we home in on the principal protagonists for the pink jersey in the latest of our previews for La Corsa Rosa.

Giro d’Italia 2022: Who’s riding? How can I watch it on TV? Can Simon Yates win the maglia rosa? Giro d’Italia team guide: Star riders, memorable moments, which Italian food are they? Ad/> The favourite: Simon Yates Giro d'ItaliaGiro livestreamAN HOUR AGO Whisper it quietly, but it’s now or never for the 29-year-old from Bury to get the Giro monkey off his back. Yates has ridden every edition of the Giro since his eventful debut in 2018, when he came within two days of taking the overall win – only to collapse spectacularly on the Colle delle Finestre.

Since then, Yates has not only seen compatriot Chris Froome take his pink jersey but also had to watch from isolation on the sofa as another Briton, Tao Geoghegan Hart, took the surprise spoils after Covid-19 forced him to abandon in 2020. Yates struggled for form for eighth in 2019 but secured a career-high third place last year.

And now he’s ready for one last tilt at the title before mixing up his programme and shaping his season around the Tour – the only of cycling’s major stage races whose leader’s jersey has so far eluded him. Two stage wins in the Vuelta a Asturias last week shows that Yates has the legs – although they came either side of a collapse that recalled his 2018 nightmare.