If the fight for the pink jersey does play out as expected at the Giro d’Italia with Tadej Pogačar dominating the overall competition from start to finish, one of the key storylines to focus on could be who wins the best young rider’s white jersey.
Pogačar’s eligibility to win Grand Tour white jerseys expired when he turned 25 in September after he became almost synonymous with the classification, winning it at each of the Grand Tours he has started in his career.
He was the Tour de France’s best young rider for four years running and did it by over five minutes on each occasion. His domination of the classification was so strong that stage 2 of this year's Tour de France will actually be the first day at the Tour a rider not named Pogačar has led the youth classification since stage 12 of the 2020 edition.
Now looking to become the next maglia bianca winner will be a whole host of young talent including, Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla).
Uijtdebroeks leads Visma's GC hopes and was eighth overall at his Grand Tour debut in last year's Vuelta while Plapp has made a strong step up in 2024, taking sixth at Paris-Nice after a stint in the yellow jersey.
Last year’s white jersey winner João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) isn’t present in 2024 but the runner-up was Arensman. He worked well to help Geraint Thomas finish in second overall, while also maintaining his own overall position to take sixth on GC.
Among the last four winners of the youth classification have been two overall winners at the Giro, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Egan Bernal, showing just how much earlier GC riders are getting in shape to contest the biggest races.
The three riders mentioned above won’t strictly be chasing white but will all be aiming for the top five, podium or higher at the Giro across the three weeks, with Arensman again preparing to play a key support role for Thomas’ overall hopes.
They of course won’t be alone in their challenge as Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) looks to be the first Italian to win the maglia bianca since Fabio Aru managed the feat in 2015.
He showed strong legs at the Tour of the Alps to finish third overall behind former best young rider at the Giro, Juanpe López (lidl-Trek), who won the classification in 2022.
Alongside him will be two other up-and-coming Italians who showed their great form in the five-day Alpine race, Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Davide Piganzoli (Team Polti Kometa).
The pair both finished in the top 10 at the Tour of the Alps and finished second and third overall respectively at last year’s Tour de l’Avenir behind Isaac del Torro (UAE Team Emirates), showing themselves to be top youth talents.
Also emerging as a new option to possibly claim the jersey is top German talent Florian Lipowitz (Bora-Hansgrohe), who announced himself to the WorldTour at last week's Tour de Romandie.
The 23-year-old finished third overall just nine seconds off overall winner Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and showed just what he was capable of in the mountains. He'll make up part of a Bora squad riding for Dani Martínez but could be a real threat on GC and for the white jersey if given the freedom.
The maglia bianca, a symbol of the future to come, is now a constant at the Giro d’Italia since it was reintroduced in 2007 and won by Andy Schleck, who went on to win the Tour de France three years later. Other top riders who have won the maglia bianca include Richie Porte in 2010 and Rigoberto Uran in 2012.
Half of the last 12 winners of the white jersey have been Colombian with Nairo Quintana, Miguel Ángel López and Carlos Betancur also claiming the prize in the 2010s just as Bernal and Uran did.
It's the newest of the four jerseys on offer at the Giro after being originally introduced in 1969 for just neo-pros, before developing into an armband for two seasons in the early 1970s and then into the jersey as we know it today in 1976. In 2024 it will have a sponsor in the form of food retailer Eataly.
“The jersey for the best young rider is white, just like the sum of all colours,” reads the jersey information in the Giro roadbook. “It holds all hopes and dreams. It is, at once, a prize and a wish. A blank page for a new, exciting chapter to be written.”
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