Primoz Roglic and his quest to not crash, how good is Remco Evenepoel? – 5 huge Giro d’Italia storylines

It’s almost here! The most eagerly-anticipated Giro d’Italia in years begins with a 19.6km individual time trial in Fossacesia on Saturday, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) among those hoping to snaffle the maglia rosa. Ad Evenepoel will start as narrow favourite ahead of Roglic, who has returned to the peloton in sensational form after a horror crash ended his Vuelta hopes last September. Had Roglic stayed upright, it could have been the Slovenian, and not the Belgian, who carted off with the red jersey in Spain.

Giro d'ItaliaGeoghegan Hart 'really strong' and can upset Giro favourites Roglic and Evenepoel — Gilbert2 HOURS AGO But while Remco v Primoz is the obvious talking point, there are other major storylines set to play out in Italy. What are they, you ask? Let's get stuck in. Roglic and his quest to avoid crashing Roglic’s last seven Grand Tour results are remarkable: 1st, 2nd, 1st, DNF, 1st, DNF, DNF.

When he survives the full three weeks, he is practically guaranteed a spot on the podium – but it’s an ‘if’ that is growing bigger by the year. At last year’s Vuelta, Roglic was on the hunt for bonus seconds on Stage 16 when he went down in a crash, just a few kilometres after blowing the race apart in the finale. The race was billed as Roglic’s redemption after a disappointing Tour de France campaign, where he arrived as Jumbo-Visma’s joint-leader, crashed on Stage 5, watched as team-mate Jonas Vingegaard soared into yellow, and then abandoned before the finish due to injury.

Instead, it ended with that familiar three-letter acronym. Despite that, he arrives at the Giro in perhaps his greatest form yet. He won Tirreno–Adriatico in March