Caleb Ewan will be present at the start of the Giro d'Italia for his first time. The Australian rider is currently at the Tour de Yorkshire to improve his shape for the first three-week race of the season.

"I just go there this afternoon so the first time I saw the profile was just then when I had a look through the book", the 21-year-old said at the conference before the first stage according to SBS. He is not focused on the general classification. "To be honest I don’t think I’ll be able to,” Ewan said of winning the race. “Even if I win the first two stages and have a decent lead, Sky are still going to absolutely smash the field apart and when they decide to do that I’ve got no hope of staying with them."

He already has three victories in 2016 (two in the Tour Down Under and one in Herald Sun Tour). "The start of the season was so hectic for me … so it was good to have a bit of a break and train up again. I’ve got plenty of racing in my legs already this year so it was good to have a break and come back up for the Giro."

He has not raced for almost six weeks. But he showed in stage 1 that he is in good shape with a second place in bunch sprint, just behind Dylan Groenewegen (Lotto NL Jumbo).