"The toughest race in the world's most beautiful place” – organised by RCS Sport / La Gazzetta dello Sport – starts tomorrow with a spectacular Team Time Trial along the Riviera dei Fiori cycle path from San Lorenzo a Mare to Sanremo, and ends on Sunday 31 May in Milan during Expo 2015.
 
22 teams of nine riders will contest the race's 3,486km along a route that presents formidable challenges from the very start.

A STORY WITH MANY POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
The favourites for the overall General Classification include: Spain's Alberto Contador, Australia's Richie Porte, the Colombian Rigoberto Urán, the Italians Fabio Aru and Domenico Pozzovivo and the Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck.
 
The stage hunters, sprinters and finisseurs – those with the speed and power to attack alone in the closing kilometres and hold off the chase – include many of international cycling's most prestigious names: the Belgians Tom Boonen (riding his first Giro) and Philippe Gilbert; the Australians Simon Gerrans, Michael Matthews (winner at Montecassino in 2014 and Maglia Rosa for six days), Michael Rogers (winner of two stages last year, including the mighty Zoncolan) and Australian champion Heinrich Haussler; the Spaniards Jon Izagirre, Beñat Intxausti, Juan José Lobato, Mikel Landa and Mikel Nieve; the Colombians Carlos Betancur and Darwin Atapuma; the Czech riders Roman Kreuziger and Leopold König; Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel; the Russian champion Aleksandr Porsev; the Germans André Greipel and Simon Geschke; the Dutchman Maarten Tjallingii; the Slovenians Grega Bole and Luka Mezgec (winner of last year's final stage in Trieste) and the Italians Domenico Pozzovivo, Giovanni Visconti, Luca Paolini, Diego Ulissi, Fabio Felline, Oscar Gatto, Elia Viviani, Sasha Modolo, Alessandro Petacchi, Giacomo Nizzolo, Matteo Pelucchi and Enrico Battaglin (winner at Oropa in 2014).
 
Four previous Giro d'Italia winners will start the race: Damiano Cunego (2004), Ivan Basso (2006 and 2010), Alberto Contador (2008) and Ryder Hesjedal (2012).