JACKY DURAND PREVIEWS THE GIRO D'ITALIA 2021

On the favourites for the 2021 Giro:

"Egan Bernal is a big favourite in a big team. Even if he has already won the Tour de France, I think that physically he is more suited for a Giro d'Italia than a Tour de France. Since he won the Tour de France, he is looking for a new victory and when you look at his results at the beginning of the season, his preparation, his team, Egan Bernal is for me the big favourite."

On João Almeida's Giro in 2020:

He is a rider who progresses year after year. For his first Grand Tour, last year at the Giro d'Italia, he was a revelation. In the Giro d'Italia, there are always revelations, young riders who grow. The only question around the Portuguese rider is who will be the leader of his team in the Giro because he will have Remco Evenepoel at his side. There are a lot of questions around the young Belgian but I think that there will be a chair for two: two leaders and everything will be decided on the first mountain stages. Indeed, João Almeida is progressing year after year but from there to win the Giro d'Italia, I think there is a big step, between winning in the first five and winning a Grand Tour, it is maybe a little bit early but there are always surprises in the Giro d'Italia so why not. In any case, he is one of the big outsiders."

On what it takes to win a Grand Tour stage or solo breakaway:

"The hardest thing is not to make a big breakaway. The hardest thing is not to be afraid of the next day: when you are in a one-day race, you can make a big breakaway, you think that the next day you won't race and you can recover. When you are in a one-day race, you can make a big breakaway, you think that the next day you won't race and you can recover. That's the difficulty. A lot of riders count their pedal strokes, always in fear of the next day, and that's why some don't dare or they dare but at 4-5 days from the finish, when they are close to the final."

On comparing cyclists today to his own style of riding:

"Even if everything seems to be more locked up today than in the past, there are still riders who try. For me, the greatest solo rider is Thomas De Gendt, the Belgian rider of the Lotto Soudal team. You even get the impression that the more breakaways he makes, the better he gets. Even if he has already finished in the first 5 of a Grand Tour, his objective is not that, it is to win the stages. And he has the advantage of being able to win on all terrains: he can win in a big breakaway on the flat, on the middle mountains or even on the high mountains. I think that he is THE solo rider of the 2010s."

On wearing the yellow jersey v winning a Tour de France stage:

"Winning a stage: when it's a stage where you raise your arms, there's a little bit of adrenaline. The Yellow Jersey is above all a kid's dream to wear the Yellow Jersey one day. But there isn't that moment, those 15 or 20 seconds of indescribable sensations. So I would say it's more winning a stage, even if wearing the leader's jersey on a few stages of a Grand Tour is obviously a great memory, but crossing the line as a winner in a Tour de France is all the same more intense."