Italian Vincenzo Nibali with special wrap on his left wrist to allow him to compete(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bandage on wrist of Vincenzo Nibali of Trek-Segafredo(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Belgian champion Dries De Bondt of Alpecin-Fenix (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Simon Yates will lead Team BikeExchange(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Dancers take to the sky during the 104th Giro d'Italia team presentation(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Acrobats in the air over the stage(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Dancers performing overhead as the teams take the stage(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Trofeo Senza Fine(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Trofeo Senza Fine(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
The 23 teams competing at the 2021 Giro d'Italia took center stage for a opening ceremony and team presentation in front of the Castello del Valentino in Turin, which will host the Grande Partenza on Saturday, May 8. A former House of Savoy royal residence, the castle is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site and used by a local university.
The Italian Grand Tour returns to its traditional sprint slot with 3,479.9 kilometres across three weeks, ending in Milan on Sunday, May 30. It was just seven months ago that Tao Geoghegan Hart of Ineos Grenadiers captured the GC title on the final day of racing in Milan, taking the maglia rosa from the shoulders of Jai Hindley, now riding for Team DSM.
A mainly virtual audience watched the riders walk through the courtyard of the Parco del Valentino, including favourites Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange), Alexandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) and Hindley with teammate Romain Bardet of Team DSM.
The opening ceremony saw several teams wear new jerseys for the first time - EF Education-Nippo and Israel Start-Up Nation - and celebrated the 90th anniversary for the maglia rosa itself.
There are two time trials to bookend the race on stages 1 and 21, with plenty of mountain stages to challenge the peloton in between, as well as a wild card of the sterrato in Tuscany for stage 11.
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