The Giro d’Italia starts this Friday in Hungary and ahead lies over three weeks of racing. That much we know, the hard part is rating all the contenders and pretenders for the maglia rosa because so many have question marks about their form, their season so far or their consistency during a grand tour.

Richard Carapaz is the deductive choice in the absence of Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič because when they’ve beaten him he was at last often on their wheel while all the others had been dropped. Yet Carapaz hasn’t had it easy this season and it’s far from certain he can hold it together for three weeks. It makes for an enticing race, any emerging hierarchy we see atop Etna could be altered at the Blockhaus and rewritten again and again in the Alps.

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The Giro’s starting in Hungary and if you just want to enjoy the sport of a bike race riding across the countryside and through a capital city… then skip this post, do not read any further. A preview of the GC contenders should go up later today is available to read instead.

To look more closely at the race is to keep stumbling into Hungarian politics, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán seems to be everywhere.

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With the Giro d’Italia around the corner the last thing on many people’s mind is arithmetic but there are molto points for the GC. However neither Lotto-Soudal nor Israel have any obvious candidates so they’ll have to seek points elsewhere this month.

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Here’s the Giro d’Italia for your diary with all stages listed along with a rating for their likely importance to the race or potential for action.

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Ciao, here’s an overview of all the Giro stages. There’s the stage profile and a short preview for every day, as well as more on TV coverage and the big stages to watch.

If you want this info over the coming weeks it’s also at inrng.com/giro and available via the fixed “Giro d’Italia” link at the top of the page for desktop users or the drop-down menu for mobile browsers.

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It’s always fun to muse over the new names and faces from the cobbled classics with a view to seeing them again in the coming years. Here’s a selection of riders who made a name for themselves…

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Another week, another update and the big story is Lotto-Soudal are firmly in 20th place, facing relegation and now they’re hiring riders mid-season to help.

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The top of La Redoute doesn’t mark the end of the climbing and just when everyone else wanted a breather, Remco Evenepoel attacked with 29km to go and try as they might, nobody could even follow him. He stayed away to take a solo win in the race of his dreams.

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If it’s not over until the fat lady sings, then here’s La Doyenne to chant the end of the spring classics season.

With Tadej Pogačar a late non-starter, there’s contest between Julian Alaphilippe and Wout van Aert and several other contenders.

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Thibaut Pinot won the final stage of the Tour of the Alps, putting the long saga of chronic injuries behind him and ending the even longer winless streak and avenging his frustration at finishing second yesterday. Below is a video clip from L’Equipe TV with studio guest Pierre Carrey offering both a portrait and a tribute, worth sharing… and adding an English translation.

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