Ineos have the stronger team but Tadej Pogačar is unbeatable at the Giro d'Italia, says Matt White

Even though Ineos Grenadiers are sending a better team to the Giro d’Italia than UAE Team Emirates, they have little to no chance of beating Tadej Pogačar, according to sports director Matt White. 

Pogačar will lead the line for UAE Team Emirates on his debut in the Giro d'Italia and will be supported by a team that is set to include Rafa Majka and Mikkel Bjerg.

Ineos Grenadiers are sending last year’s runner-up Geraint Thomas, fellow top-10 finisher Thymen Arensman and the likes of Filippo Ganna, Tobias Foss, and Magnus Sheffield. However, Jayco-AlUla’s Matt White believes that even with the depth and range at Ineos’ disposal they will be unable to unsettle Pogačar over the three-week race.

"He’s not beatable. I don’t believe he is. It’s the best sprint field that the Giro has ever seen but it’s a pretty weak Giro for the GC," White told GCN.

"Honestly, I can’t see anyone beating Pogačar and I wouldn’t be surprised if he went after the Giro d’Italia leader’s jersey on day one or two because his team won’t have to ride on the front for the first week, and then he’ll squeeze whenever he needs to and take time."

• Giro d’Italia 2024: Essential race preview

Race organisers RCS have tailor-made the Giro d’Italia route to suit Pogačar, with two individual time trials and a tough but not devastatingly difficult final week that could leave the Slovenian relatively fresh for his Tour de France assault in July.

White thinks that the glut of sprint teams at the race will mean that UAE Team Emirates will have assistance from several squads that want to keep things together in the first half of the race and that Pogačar’s squad can also appease other teams by allowing non-threatening breaks to skip clear in the mountains.

"He’ll win the first TT because it’s too hilly for Ganna and put time into the other GC riders on stage 7 and then he’ll just do what he needs to," White said.

"If they’re smart there they’ll give stages away to the breaks, they’ll let the sprint teams cover six to eight stages and I think that’s why they’ve taken an okay team, rather than their best team. I just don't think that he needs it.

Read more: Analysing Ineos Grenadiers’ 2024 Giro d’Italia team

"Ineos have a better and more rounded team but that doesn’t really matter, because how do you beat him? No one in that race can outclimb him and no one in the race can beat him in the two time trials. It’s 70km of time trialling, so there would have to be some massive mess-up for them to take time on him," the Australian added.

All isn’t lost. Luck, bad weather, bad legs and bad tactics can all feature in the Giro d’Italia, and the race is littered with contenders who have arrived on the start line with lofty ambitions and later fallen by the wayside.

“It does only take illness or a crash to change things but does anyone see the other rivals challenging Pogačar? Not on any given Sunday really,” White concluded.

For everything you need to know about the 2024 Giro d'Italia, from the history of the race to this year's route and start list, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.