Last year’s king of the mountains, but Lorenzo Fortunato skips this year’s Giro d’Italia

His name was on the provisional start list of the Giro d'Italia for a long time, but Lorenzo Fortunato will not be participating in his home race this year. The 29-year-old climber revealed this in an interview with SpazioCiclismo. "Unfortunately, the Giro is not on the schedule for me this year."

"It will be the first time in five years that I will not take part," continues the rider from XDS Astana. "I have already raced the Catalonia and Basque Country tours, and after the Tour de Romandie I will take a week’s rest, after which I will line up at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes," Fortunato outlines.

For cycling fans, this is certainly a disappointment, as Fortunato is always a crowd-pleaser in the mountains with his relentless attacking style. Last year he was one of the key protagonists. The Italian attacked constantly for three weeks, amassed a huge number of climbing points along the way, and secured the blue mountains jersey.

Still plenty of breakaway specialists
Looking at the provisional start list for the upcoming Giro d'Italia, we see that XDS Astana – Fortunato’s team – will still rely on several attackers and stage hunters. Eight-time stage winner Diego Ulissi is likely to participate, alongside Christian Scaroni (last year’s stage winner), Thomas Guillermo Silva, Harold Martín López, and Alberto Bettiol.

With Matteo Malucelli and Davide Ballerini, the team also has two fast men in their ranks. From a Belgian perspective, attention will be on the performances of Arjen Livyns.