Hugh Carthy: This is a tougher Giro d'Italia than other years

Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost)  has recognised that Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) will be the benchmarks for GC riders like himself in the upcoming Giro d’italia, but warns that in any three-week Tour there’s far more room for uncertainty than in shorter events.

“In a week-long stage race or a Classic a rider can dominate more,” Carthy, down to start the Giro for a sixth time, explained to Wielerflits while en route to second place overall in the recent Tour of the Alps.

“But in a Grand Tour there's more time for things to go wrong. The Giro certainly won't be just a battle for third place [behind Roglič and Evenepoel - Ed.] That said, they will be the reference points for most of the Giro. It is going to be very interesting.”

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Across the three Grand Tours, the 28-year-old has been at his most consistent in the Giro, taking 11th, eighth and ninth, respectively, in his three most recent participations. This time round Carthy and teammate Rigoberto Urán, a former double podium finisher in the Giro, will be sharing GC objectives.

“Everything went according to plan. I also had a good winter before that, so I'm happy how the build-up went,” Carthy told Wielerflits.

“I’m looking forward to it. After the Tour of the Alps I will go home to train: the Giro is already getting close but there is still time to think and rest.”

His second place in the Tour of the Alps behind Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) was just one of several standout results for EF Education-EasyPost, in a race where teammate Jefferson Cepeda took fourth overall and Simon Carr won the last stage: a great way of boosting team morale for May, even if the final EF team Giro roster has yet to be confirmed.

Carthy will likely spend more time studying the route during that last period of rest before battle commences, but having raced the Giro so many times, he knows what the challenges will be and the level of overall difficulty in comparison to other years.

The Briston’s also acquired considerable experience in fighting for GC since he turned pro in 2013, with a third place overall in the 2020 Vuelta a España and victory on the Angliru the highpoint of his Grand Tour achievements so far.

“The Giro route is very tough. Tougher than other years, that's for sure,” he told Wielerflits. “But we don't do climbs we've never seen before.

“I'm starting with the ambition of getting a good general classification results.The first few days you can keep fairly calm, so I will first see how that goes. But I feel no stress, no pressure. That’s a good starting point in itself.”

Carthy will have a former Grand Tour specialist, retired US rider Tejay Van Garderen, behind the steering wheel of the EF team car to help guide him towards a top result.

If you waste too much energy in the first week, you will slowly sink towards the end. That can become a problem,” Van Garderen pointed out to Wielerflits. "As in any Grand Tour, it will be important to be better in the third week than in the first.

“It will certainly be an interesting Giro. We have two big names in Roglič and Evenepoel, but you should certainly not forget the other classification riders. They can certainly do something here.”