Racing

Giro d’Italia 2015: the contenders – form guide

Which of the maglia rosa contenders are in the best form?

Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep)

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) won the Giro d'Italia in 2014 but won't defend his title (Pic: Sirotti)
Tinkoff-Saxo's Alberto Contador is the pre-race favourite (Pic: Sirotti)
Richie Porte continued his superb start to the season at the Giro del Trentino (Pic: Sirotti)
Fabio Aru announced himself with victory on the Montecampione last year (pic: Sirotti)
Rigoberto Uran will join Pierre Rolland in spear-heading Cannondale-Garmin's new GC line-up (Pic: Sirotti)
Domenico Pozzovivo has been in good form, but needs to turn top-five finishes into podiums (Pic: Sirotti)
Damiano Caruso proved his Grand Tour pedigree last year, but BMC Racing's top-five target may be a bit too ambitious (Pic: Sirotti)
Ryder Hesjedal celebrates his 2012 triumph on the podium (pic: Sirotti)

Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-QuickStep)

Runner-up at the Giro d’Italia for the last two seasons, Etixx-QuickStep’s Rigoberto Uran should be a serious contender again this season after a solid start to the campaign.

Crowned Colombian time trial champion in February – to prove once again he is a seriously under-rated time triallist – Uran has since performed well in all of his WorldTour outings this season, claiming top five overall finishes at Tirreno-Adriatico, the Volta ao Catalunya and the Tour de Romandie.

Uran wore the maglia rosa for four days at last year’s Giro before countryman Nairo Quintana overhauled his lead on Val Martello. The previous year, Uran finished second for Team Sky despite starting the race in support of Sir Bradley Wiggins.

His strong performance in last year’s race came despite a slow start to life at Etixx-QuickStep and so it can only be encouraging that he has hit the ground running this time out.

Etixx-QuickStep squad: URAN, Tom Boonen, Maxime Bouet, Gianni Meersman, David de la Cruz, Iljo Keisse, Fabio Sabatini, Pieter Serry, Petr Vakoc.

Form guide

Best Giro d’Italia finish: Second (2013, 2014)
Season highlights: Tirreno-Adriatico – third; Volta a Catalunya – fifth, Tour de Romandie – fifth
UCI WorldTour ranking: Tenth