Giro d’Italia start list: every rider in the season’s first Grand Tour

Even without defending champion Tadej Pogacar a strong field has assembled for the first Grand Tour of the year

Tom Pidcock leads Q36.5 at the Giro d'Italia (AFP via Getty Images)

With cycling’s most famous Slovenian absent, another steps up. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) arrives at the Giro d’Italia start line in Durres, Albania the hot favourite to succeed compatriot Tadej Pogacar and lift the crown at the first Grand Tour of this season.

But even without Pogacar UAE Team Emirates-XRG have a strong contender to foil Roglic: young Spaniard Juan Ayuso, who is searching for his first Grand Tour title.

Both teams have selected a strong line-up to deliver their leading men to glory: Roglic will be supported by faithful lieutenant Dani Martinez – second at the Giro last year in his own right – and one of the 2024 race’s breakout stars in climber Giulio Pellizzari.

Ayuso can rely on the services of rock-solid mountain domestique Rafal Majka and another with Grand Tour podium pedigree in Adam Yates, as well as having the joker card of another serious young talent, Isaac del Toro.

Wildcard team Q36.5 will be in Grand Tour action for the first time, supporting Tom Pidcock as the Brit either hunts stages or targets the general classification, while there’s more British representation in his teammate Mark Donovan; Ineos Grenadiers with time-triallist Josh Tarling - a likely candidate for stage 2’s contre-la-montre in the Albanian capital Tirana - and Ben Turner; EF Education-EasyPost’s duo of Owain Doull and James Shaw; and Visma-Lease a Bike’s GC contender and former Vuelta champion Simon Yates.

Young British climber Max Poole will support French veteran Romain Bardet’s bid for one last moment in the sun before he hangs up his cleats (on the road at least), and Ethan Hayter is a prospect for the sprint stages at Soudal Quick-Step alongside another talented French starlet, Paul Magnier.

Other major names include the phenomenally talented all-rounder Wout van Aert and his rival from the recent Spring Classics, Mads Pedersen, as well as Ineos Grenadiers’ Egan Bernal, a former Giro winner back at the scene of one of his past glories, and the ageless Grand Tour stalwart and 2014 champion Nairo Quintana.

Primoz Roglic is the favourite to lift the Giro d'Italia title this year (AFP via Getty Images)

Giro d’Italia 2025 start list

Alpecin-Deceuninck

• Kaden Groves
• Quinten Hermans
• Juri Hollmann (DNF stage six)
• Jimmy Janssens
• Timo Kielich
• Edward Planckaert
• Jensen Plowright
• Fabio Van den Bossche

Arkea-B&B Hotels

• Alessandro Verre
• Giosue Epis
• Simon Guglielmi
• Laurens Huys
• Michel Ries (DNS stage seven)
• Embret Svestad-Bardseng
• Luca Mozzato
• Martin Tjotta

Bahrain-Victorious

• Antonio Tiberi
• Pello Bilbao
• Damiano Caruso
• Afonso Eulalio
• Matevz Govekar
• Fran Miholjevic
• Andrea Pasqualon (DNF stage nine)
• Edoardo Zambanini

Cofidis

• Nicolas Debeaumarche
• Milan Fretin (DNS stage 16)
• Jonathan Lastra
• Jan Maas
• Sylvain Moniquet
• Stefano Oldani
• Anthony Perez
• Sergio Samitier

Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale

• Sam Bennett
• Geoffrey Bouchard (DNF stage one)
• Dries de Bondt
• Stan Dewulf
• Dorian Godon
• Tord Gudmestad
• Nicolas Prodhomme
• Andrea Vendrame

EF Education-EasyPost

• Richard Carapaz
• Kasper Asgreen
• Georg Steinhauser
• Alexander Cepeda
• Owain Doull
• Mikkel Honore
• Darren Rafferty
• James Shaw

Groupama-FDJ

• Sven Erik Bystrom
• David Gaudu
• Remy Rochas
• Lorenzo Germani
• Enzo Paleni
• Clement Davy
• Kevin Geniets
• Quentin Pacher

Ineos Grenadiers

• Egan Bernal
• Thymen Arensman
• Jonathan Castroviejo
• Lucas Hamilton
• Brandon Rivera (DNS stage 14)
• Kim Heiduk
• Joshua Tarling (DNF stage 16)
• Ben Turner

Intermarche-Wanty

• Francesco Busatto
• Kevin Colleoni
• Louis Meintjes
• Simone Petilli
• Dion Smith (DNF stage six)
• Gerben Thijssen
• Taco van der Hoorn
• Gijs Van Hoecke

Israel-Premier Tech

• Derek Gee
• Corbin Strong
• Hugo Houle
• Jakob Fuglsang
• Jan Hirt (DNS stage seven)
• Marco Frigo
• Nick Schultz
• Simon Clarke

Lidl-Trek

• Giulio Ciccone (DNS stage 15)
• Daan Hoole
• Patrick Konrad
• Soren Kragh Andersen (DNS stage five)
• Jacopo Mosca
• Mads Pedersen
• Mathias Vacek
• Carlos Verona

Movistar

• Einer Rubio
• Nairo Quintana
• Jefferson Cepeda
• Jon Barrenetxea
• Davide Formolo
• Orluis Aular
• Albert Torres
• Lorenzo Milesi

Q36.5 Pro Cycling

• Xabier Mikel Azparren
• Mark Donovan
• Damien Howson
• Emils Liepins
• Matteo Moschetti
• Tom Pidcock
• Milan Vader
• Nick Zukowsky (DNF stage four)

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe

• Primoz Roglic (DNF stage 16)
• Giovanni Aleotti
• Nico Denz
• Jai Hindley (DNF stage six)
• Dani Martinez
• Gianni Moscon
• Giulio Pellizzari

Soudal Quick-Step

• Mikel Landa (DNF stage one)
• Mattia Cattaneo
• Josef Cerny
• Gianmarco Garofoli
• Ethan Hayter
• James Knox
• Luke Lamperti
• Paul Magnier (DNS stage 16)

Jayco AlUla

• Koen Bouwman (DNS stage nine)
• Davide De Pretto
• Paul Double
• Felix Engelhardt
• Chris Harper
• Michael Hepburn
• Lucas Plapp (DNF stage 17)
• Filippo Zana

Picnic PostNL

• Romain Bardet
• Alex Edmondson
• Chris Hamilton
• Gjis Leemreize
• Niklas Markl
• Max Poole
• Casper van Uden
• Bram Welten (DNF stage seven)

Polti VisitMalta

• Alessandro Tonelli
• Davide Piganzoli
• Giovanni Lonardi
• Mirco Maestri
• Andrea Pietrobon
• Fran Munoz
• Mattia Bais
• Davide Bais

Visma-Lease a Bike

• Wout van Aert
• Edoardo Affini
• Dylan van Baarle
• Wilco Kelderman
• Olav Kooij
• Steven Kruijswijk
• Bart Lemmen
• Simon Yates

Tudor Pro Cycling

• Marco Brenner
• Michael Storer
• Alexander Krieger
• Florian Stork
• Larry Warbasse
• Rick Pluimers
• Maikel Zijlaard
• Yannis Voisard

UAE Team Emirates-XRG

• Juan Ayuso
• Igor Arrieta
• Filippo Aroncini
• Isaac del Toro
• Rafal Majka
• Brandon McNulty
• Jay Vine (DNF stage 17)
• Adam Yates

VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane

• Filippo Fiorelli
• Luca Covili
• Filippo Magli
• Martin Marcellusi
• Alessandro Pinarello (DNS stage six)
• Alessio Martinelli (DNF stage 16)
• Manuele Tarozzi
• Enrico Zanoncello

XDS Astana

• Nicola Conci
• Lorenzo Fortunato
• Max Kanter
• Fausto Masnada
• Anton Kuzmin
• Wout Poels
• Christian Scaroni
• Diego Ulissi