Cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar is the man to beat when the Giro d'Italia embarks from Turin on Saturday for a 21-day odyssey across 3,400 kilometres of peaks, plains and along picturesque coastlines.

Riding in his debut Giro, the 25-year-old Slovenian two-time Tour de France winner has the physical tools and ambition to be the first winner of both the Giro and the Tour in a single season since Marco Pantani in 1998.

Pogacar has raced just ten days in 2024, racking up an impressive seven wins.

All the multi-talented UAE Emirates team's efforts will be harnessed to his bid alone, on a course that suits many of his strengths.

"I can't wait to get started," Pogacar said this week about competing in Italy. "I'm feeling fresh and ready to take on my first Giro.

"I love the culture and of course the food. I hope we can make this month a special one."

Welsh veteran Geraint Thomas of Ineos Grenadiers brings deep experience and a support team built to go the distance until the finish in Rome on May 26.

Thomas, the runner-up in 2023, insists Pogacar can be beaten.

"We will take time everywhere we can and pressure him all the way. The spotlight is on him for three long weeks," 37-year-old Thomas said of a race notorious for its plot twists.

Australian climber Ben O'Connor spearheads the in-form French outfit Decathlon-AG2R and will target at least a podium place – and if the race serves up the bad weather that it often does, he can excel.

The race opens with a bang with a finish at a mountaintop sanctuary on stage two, which was added to the route after Pogacar confirmed his presence. It is an open invitation to the swashbuckling showman to go flat out – just how he loves to race.

If he can produce his trademark late kick on stages featuring just the one tough climb, he should grab the overall leader's pink jersey there and take the pressure off.

That would make it a very different race from last year's Tour de France when he failed to take the lead at any point but won anyway.

The peloton swoop south on a photogenic first week through the dramatic port of Genoa and the chic Tuscan town of Lucca before reaching Naples and Pompei in the shadow of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius.

In week two the peloton hug the Adriatic coastline before the third week of what is considered the toughest course in cycling plays out with a relentless series of ascents and descents in the Alps.

Counter-balancing the climbing, two long time-trials totaling 71km add drama guaranteed to shuffle the pack and there are four fully flat stages to please a strong lineup of sprinters.