"It's an ideal terrain" - Bruyneel on the man who could surprise Primoz Roglic in the Giro

The climbers of the Giro d'Italia 2025 have so far not moved beyond Primoz Roglic's sprint win over Juan Ayuso at the Red Bull kilometer a few days ago. This has triggered some criticism. On The Move, Johan Bruyneel, made it clear that's over: "That's going to change tomorrow (today)."  

The Belgian spoke about the two favorites' chances of winning the first day of the Corsa Rosa and mentioned another name that could win today: Michael Storer.

His colleague on the daily podcast, Spencer Martin, asked him about the abandon of Jai Hindley and how this was going to affect Red Bull's strategy in their plans: "They're not going to be able to be as offensive, Dani Martinez has to show up, Pellizzari has a lot of work to do, he's strong, but Jai Hindley has more pedigree. He's won the Giro, he's been yellow jersey in the Tour, it's a big loss for him, they don't have too many options. Friday's stage is very good for Primoz, to try to take some time and the bonus, he has to take advantage of that. Then the question is if he becomes leader again what are they going to do. In this stage they have to go for it, then we'll see what they do with everything."

"It's a 168-kilometer stage, which is not very long for a mountain stage, which has four climbs and the hardest is the last one, 12 kilometers at 6%, but with two very hard kilometers at the end at 10%," Martin commented on the first mountain day of the Corsa Rosa 2025.

Bruyneel gave him his favorite: "It's not easy to predict if someone from the overall or the breakaway will win, I think it will be fifty-fifty, I would still go with Primoz Roglic, I think it's an ideal climb for him, I don't think he's also the only one in the overall who will go for it, UAE will also have an interest in winning."

Martin believes Ayuso could spring a surprise and Bruyneel, despite his confidence in Roglic, did not deny the Spaniard's chances: "He has a strong team, Ayuso must focus on Primoz and we will see what his team will do on the last climb, if they will set the pace on the last climb, if now - especially with Jai Hindley out - they have the best team, if it's all about Ayuso or they will play with several cards like Brandon McNulty, Isaac del Toro or even Adam Yates. They have a lot of cards to play with."

Out of them two, Bruyneel gives another interesting name to win: "I would think about the option of Michael Storer escaping at the beginning of the final climb, the first kilometers are between 4.5 and 6% and that is an ideal terrain to make a move and you can go alone or with another rider who is not favorite for the overall, it will not be easy, but it seems that Storer is in great shape, he did very well in Alps and in and finished sixth in Matera in a sprint, for a climber to do that means to have very good legs".