Tim Rex on the Giro start list — but Visma's final squad still has questions to answer

Next week the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d'Italia, gets underway on the shores of the Black Sea. Who will line up alongside Jonas Vingegaard in the yellow and black of Visma | Lease a Bike is largely settled — but there could yet be some movement in the original squad, partly with an eye on the Tour de France.

In Rex's place, Edoardo Affini had originally been on the list — and he could well be about to make his appearance at... the Tour de France. The Italian made his value clear again this spring at crucial moments, such as the crosswind stage at Paris-Nice and in the positioning for the Molenberg at the Tour of Flanders, for team leaders Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert.

The spot left vacant by Simon Yates for the three-week race through France is still open. Initially it looked set to go to either Wilco Kelderman or Ben Tulett, with the latter pencilled in at the team presentation in early January. But Tulett is sticking to his original plan for the coming months.