Who can beat Jonathan Milan? Analysing the sprinters of the Giro d'Italia
Italian racer headlines sprint line-up, but Kaden Groves and Dylan Groenewegen are among the other top challengers
Most attention in the build-up to this year's Giro d'Italia has been focussed on the top GC riders at the race, with Jonas Vingegaard leading the way in the battle for the overall victory.
Beyond the Dane, racing the Giro for the first time, lie a host of other maglia rosa hopefuls, including Giulio Pellizzari, Egan Bernal, and Adam Yates.
But the three weeks of racing in Bulgaria and Italy will provide opportunities for riders behind the GC men. For a start, the Giro d'Italia route features a week's worth of sprint stages with sprinter-friendly finishes in Sofia, Naples, Milan, and Rome filling out the parcours.
Stages 1, 3, 4, 6, 12, 15, and 21 should all feature a battle between the fastmen at the finish. So who will be battling for those stages and the maglia ciclamino?
Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek)
2026 results
- AlUla Tour – two wins, points jersey
- UAE Tour – three wins, points jersey
- TIrreno-Adriatico – one win
With six Grand Tour stage victories and three points jerseys on his palmarès (four and two of those at the Giro), Jonathan Milan stands head and shoulders above the other sprint contenders at this year's Giro d'Italia.
Three years ago, the Italian broke through with a stage win in San Salvo and four second places en route to a dominant maglia ciclamino win. A year later, he won three of seven sprints in Italy and finished second in the other four.
Last summer, he did much the same at the Tour as two wins and two second places delivered him the famous green jersey. He started this season similarly at the AlUla Tour and UAE Tour, and looks heavy favourite to repeat that this month.
Lidl-Trek are targeting the Giro GC with Derek Gee-West and Giulio Ciccone, too. However, they still have room to provide Milan with the best lead-out in the race with Simone Consonni, Max Walscheid, and Tim Torn Teutenberg among the riders at his disposal.
If all goes to plan, Milan will reach Rome with the opening pink jersey, a handful more stage wins, and another points jersey to his name.
Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep)
2026 results
- Volta ao Algarve – two wins, points jersey
- Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana – second
22-year-old Paul Magnier returns to the Giro d'Italia after making his Grand Tour debut here last May. Last time out, the young French talent picked up a third place in Naples and scored two other top-10 finishes.
He finished last season in flying form, albeit at a lower level, picking up 18 wins from June onwards, including a dominant run of 13 wins from 17 race days across the Tour of Slovakia, CRO Race, and Tour of Guangxi.
Magnier is seeking to step up to the next level in 2026, even if he lines up as the seventh-youngest rider on the start list in Nessebar.
He won't have Soudal-QuickStep's 'A Team' around him in Italy, but he should be their main chance at a result with the experienced Jasper Stuyven among the riders on hand to help.
Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet Rose Rockets)
2026 results
- Clàssica Comunitat Valenciana – win
- Bredene Koksijde Classic – win
- GP Monseré – win
- Ronde Van Brugge – win
- Clásica de Almería - third
Dylan Groenewegen was one of several big names added to the Unibet Rose Rockets squad over the winter, joining the likes of Wout Poels, Victor Lafay, and Clément Venturini on the incoming list.
So far, the Dutchman has been by far the most successful of the additions, and is quite easily the best transfer in the team's young history. He's picked up four of their five wins in 2026, including their first-ever WorldTour triumph at the Ronde Van Brugge.
He'll lead a versatile lineup for the French-registered squad at their Grand Tour debut in Italy and once again looks their best bet for a good result.
The 32-year-old has 81 pro wins on his palmarès, a total that includes six Tour de France stages, so he has the experience and know-how to win at this level. Beating Milan will be a major challenge, but he could well win another stage on his return to the Giro after five years.
Arnaud De Lie (Lotto-Intermarché)
2026 results
- Famenne Ardenne Classic – win
- Tirreno-Adriatico – one second place
- In Flanders Fields – fourth
Belgian hopeful Arnaud De Lie has endured an up-and-down past year or so, with illness and injury dogging him at various points. He'll head to his Giro debut in good spirits off the back of a win last weekend at the hilly Famenne Ardenne Classic, though.
The 24-year-old hasn't yet risen to the superstardom he threatened following a string of breakthrough rides during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. However, he has nonetheless racked up some big results on his palmarès, including the GP Québec, Bretagne Classic, and Renewi Tour.
Those career highlights suggest his strengths lie in the hillier races, and that's true, but he still has the speed to compete in flat finishes. Two starts at the Tour de France have seen him pick up nine top-five finishes, though he hasn't yet sped to that one big sprint win.
That might come this month, though the pure speed of Milan will be tough to overcome. A day like stage 2, with its Classics-friendly profile, might see De Lie excel where pure sprinters are dropped.
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Premier Tech)
2026 results
- Volta ao Algarve – one seventh place
With 10 Grand Tour stage wins – plus two Vuelta points jerseys – spread across all three Grand Tours, Kaden Groves is arguably the most successful sprinter in the Giro sprint line-up this year.
Two of those victories have come in Italy, with a triumph in Salerno three years ago followed by one in Naples last May. He's hoping to add at least one more in the coming weeks, with that finish in Naples once again among the upcoming stages.
This season, Groves has struggled with a knee injury after a crash at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, but he says he's fully recovered and ready to battle for the win from stage 1 in Bulgaria.
If Alpecin know one thing, it's how to win sprints, even if Groves won't have his team's strongest lead-out train in front of him in Italy. A train featuring the likes of Edward Planckaert, Jensen Plowright, and Johan Price-Pejtersen is one of the strongest on the start list, however.
Tobias Lund Andresen (Decathlon CMA CGM)
2026 results
- Tour Down Under – win, two second places, one third place, points jersey
- Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race – win
- Tirreno-Adriatico – one win
- In Flanders Fields – second
Austrian climber Felix Gall is Decathlon's main man at the Giro as he seeks a possible podium battle on the road to Rome. Danish sprinter Tobias Lund Andresen is the French squad's option on the flat days, however, where he'll be aiming at his first Grand Tour stage victory.
The 23-year-old is racing his third Grand Tour following an appearance at the Giro two years ago and the Tour last summer. His best result at either came in France as he took third place behind Milan in Valence.
Lund Andresen is still progressing as a rider, though, and he beat Milan and De Lie to win a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico two months ago. Add to that a string of top results in Australia to start the year and four top-seven placings across Opening Weekend and the later Flanders Classics, and he looks to be growing into a top rider.
The Giro d'Italia will be another test and another win – his fourth of 2026 – would equal a successful outing.
Best of the rest
Casper van Uden recently broke Picnic PostNL Raisin's 11-month win drought at the Tour of Turkey, so he's carrying some form into the race, and don't forget he won a stage in Lecce last year.
32-year-old Pascal Ackermann (Jayco-AlUla) has three Giro wins to his name, but his best years are behind him. Still, a couple of podiums this season suggest he can still be in the mix.
Grand Tour debutant Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility) has enjoyed a solid spring with a win at the Tour of Oman plus four second places at the UAE Tour and the Pays de la Loire Tour. He'll be keen to prove himself on the biggest stage.
Orluis Aular leads Movistar's sprint charge. The Venezuelan would be the first Giro stage winner from the nation since José Rujano in 2011, but he's an outsider with a third place at the Paris-Nice opener as his top result this season.
NSN Pro Cycling will be looking to the two-pronged attack of Ethan Vernon and Corbin Strong. Vernon looks the best bet in the flat finishes, having picked up wins at the Tour Down Under, Volta a Catalunya, and Pays de la Loire Tour in 2026.
Netcompany Ineos will mostly focus on the GC with Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman this month, but Ben Turner will be in the mix on the flat stages. The Briton isn't a pure sprinter but won a Vuelta stage last year.
Matteo Moschetti (Pinarello-Q36.5) has four podium positions to his name this year, but a third place in Rome last year is his best result from three Giro starts.
Italian duo Matteo Malucelli and Davide Ballerini are the quickest finishers on the XDS-Astana lineup. Malucelli has plenty of wins in Turkey, China, Langkawi and AlUla to his name, and he's racing his first-ever Grand Tour. Ballerini is a more versatile option for more challenging days.
Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-VisitMalta) is racing his fifth Giro d'Italia, but he doesn't possess the top-end speed of others in the sprint lineup. His limit looks to be the top five he scored in Naples last year, or the top three he took in Francavilla al Mare two years ago.
French rider Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ United) makes his first trip to the Giro. He finished fifth in Châteauroux at the Tour last year, and his spring form suggests a similar result is the limit of his ambitions here.
Robin Froidevaux (Tudor) has picked up a handful of top sixes at the Tour of Oman and the UAE Tour. The Swiss racer will likely play a similar role in filling the background of sprint-finish photos at the Giro.
Enrico Zanoncello has four stage top 10s to his name at the past two editions of the Giro. The Bardiani CSF-7 Saber man could add more to that list, but a top result would be a surprise.
Madis Mihkels heads up EF Education-EasyPost's sprint hopes, with the Estonian having scored a handful of top 10s so far in 2026.
Star ratings
★★★★★ – Jonathan Milan
★★★★☆ – Dylan Groenewegen, Kaden Groves, Tobias Lund Andresen
★★★☆☆ – Paul Magnier, Arnaud De Lie
★★☆☆☆ – Ethan Vernon, Casper van Uden
★☆☆☆☆ – Erlend Blikra, Ben Turner, Matteo Malucelli, Pascal Ackermann
Who will challenge Jonas Vingegaard at this year's Giro d'Italia? Subscribe to Cyclingnews for unlimited access to our coverage of the Corsa Rosa. Enjoy unrivalled reporting from our team of journalists on the ground, including breaking news, analysis, and more, from every stage as it happens, plus access to the Cyclingnews app to follow the action on the go! Find out more.
Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor, later being hired full-time. Her favourite races include Strade Bianche, the Tour de France Femmes, Paris-Roubaix, and Tro-Bro Léon.
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