O'Connor, Ackermann and Vendrame - Team Jayco AlUla go all-in for Giro d'Italia success pursuit
Cycling
Team Jayco AlUla have confirmed their lineup for the upcoming Giro d'Italia, in which they have high ambitions. The team has their GC leader Ben O'Connor at the start as part of a thinned down climber field; whilst at the same time the team has riders who can chase breakaway wins and sprints throughout the 21 days.
In the lead will be the Australia, fourth place back in 2024 at the Corsa Rosa. “This year will be my fifth Giro d’Italia, and I must say I always return with great pleasure," Ben O'Connor said in a press release. Aside from a Tour de France stage win last summer, the 30-year old has struggled to achieve the consistency he's had in the past, but enters the Giro nevertheless as a GC contender after finishing 13th at the Volta a Catalunya and 8th and the recent Tour of the Alps.
"The Giro is a race I’m very fond of, also because it was the first Grand Tour of my career and where I won my first Grand Tour stage in 2020. I also really like Italy; it’s a colourful place with plenty to see along the road from south to north. This year’s route is very balanced, with some key stages in the Alps and the one at the Blockhaus that are very important to focus on, and several tricky stages, such as those in the Marche and Liguria.”
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A team capable of winning in all terrains
“I’m very satisfied with the team we’ll have at the Giro d’Italia because it’s complete and capable of having a chance at winning every stage," team DS Steve Cummings added. "Ben will be our man for the GC, and all his preparation has been geared towards the three weeks of racing that await us".
For the bunch sprints the team will back up Pascal Ackermann, who is still looking to get his first win since joining the team last winter. Andrea Vendrame can target the hillier sprint stages and breakaways, having had a tremendous spring with several strong results including a sixth place at Milano-Sanremo.
The lineup is guided for breakaways almost exclusively, with O'Connor not having much support in the mountains. Koen Bouwman, Felix Engelhardt, Christopher Juul-Jensen and Robert Donaldson are present whilst Alan Hatherly makes his Grand Tour debut this May.
"Along with him, riders like Andrea, Felix, Alan, and Koen are really good on punchy terrain. Pascal will be in charge of sprinting, supported in this by Bob’s [Donaldson, ed.) lead out and positioning, while Chris will be our director in the race. The 2026 route suits very well a balanced team like ours and I imagine a relatively tight GC until the third week, when the Alps will decide who will be the final winner.”
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Team Jayco AlUla for Giro d'Italia 2026
| Riders |
| Ben O'Connor |
| Pascal Ackermann |
| Andrea Vendrame |
| Koen Bouwman |
| Robert Donaldson |
| Felix Engelhardt |
| Alan Hatherly |
| Christopher Juul-Jensen |
🇮🇹 #GirodItalia
— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) May 1, 2026
What stories will we write at the Giro d’Italia 2026? ✒️
Introducing our roster for La Corsa Rosa, starting in Bulgaria 🇧🇬
🇦🇺 Ben O’Connor
🇩🇪 Pascal Ackermann
🇮🇹 Andrea Vendrame
🇳🇱 Koen Bouwman
🇬🇧 Bob Donaldson
🇩🇪 Felix Engelhardt
🇿🇦 Alan Hatherly
🇩🇰 Chris… pic.twitter.com/fxY4JydF1v

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- A great route aswell. Col D'Arcy is a toughie
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - Let Torito have a shot at it
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - A great route, much more exciting than the Tour de France. Monte Livata is an interesting one, because they experimented with it at the 2026 Baby Giro, and it was fantastic. 4 km at 10%, then 10 km at 6.5% made for a great spectacle. The stage 16 is horrible
Rafionain-Glas03-11-2026 - I remember when Mark went through that. He was really experiencing lows and thought about quiting many times. It took him a long time to recover. I, like many others were overjoyed when he came back. I hope Lafay has been tested. I wish him the best.Paggss03-11-2026
- That sucks for him. I've always wondered what guys like him do after retiring from cycling - go back to uni? He's still a very young manCrashjames03-11-2026
- Good Point, I wonder if he's been testedmhfrvz03-11-2026
- A busy boy!Lozza03-11-2026
- I hope 2027 is his year.mij03-11-2026
- why does he have to? many GT riders from Froome to Contador to Indurain didn't do them.mij03-11-2026
- I think Jonas would have lost the TDF by 4+ minutes (at the least) and might not have even been in the top 3. Too much talent in the younger riders to say anyone not named Pogačar would have been top 3md197503-11-2026
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