"Of course Tadej Pogacar can be beaten" insist optimistic INEOS Grenadiers ahead of 2024 Giro d'Italia

Ahead of the 2024 Giro d'Italia, most are assuming the Maglia Rosa already almost certain to be won by overwhelming pre-race favourite Tadej Pogacar. INEOS Grenadiers, who became the first team to officially unveil their lineup the other day however, insist the Slovenian can be beaten.

"Of course he can be beaten,” the team's sports director, Steve Cummings tells GCN. "It’s happened before. I think it’s his race to lose, that’s how I see it. It’s very difficult to beat him but it’s about consistency, putting him under pressure, putting his team under pressure, keep asking the questions, keep knocking on the door and doing the basic things right. Normally if he does everything right then it’s difficult to imagine anyone beating him but this is cycling and we’ve seen this year, and in other years, that anything can happen. There’s no point in going and believing that you can’t beat him."

For the INEOS Grenadiers, last year's Giro d'Italia runner-up, Geraint Thomas will lead the charge. “Geraint’s been in cycling long enough to know that anything is possible and there’s no point in not believing you can’t win. What would you start for?" Cummings says. "Of course, you’re realistic and you know that Pogacar is the favourite at every race he goes to. He’s a bit of a freak but he’s still beatable and it’s a long race. Anything can happen, so we’re looking forward to it, and seeing our riders left off the hook and being aggressive. We’re really going to race. It’s going to be cool."

“There’s no getting away from it, Tadej is the favourite, but we’re going to give our absolute best and see where that takes us. With Geraint, he has that experience and that track record. More often than not he comes up with the goods. But it’s about more than just Geraint, it’s about the team and how we race. We’re going to go for it," concludes Cummings. "We don’t have the responsibility to control the race so that means we can go for stages and things like that. That’s good because it will help put their team under pressure. We have a lot of riders in our team that we’re looking forward to seeing in action. I remember Filippo Ganna in the year that Egan Bernal won, and he made the difference on the gravel stage. It’s stuff like that, and these things can happen. You can be perfect, perfect, perfect and then have just one bad day in the last week and lose everything. We’ve seen that so many times in the Giro before with attention to detail and planning."