The 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia gets underway on Friday and it promises to be a fantastic centenary for the famous race.

Seven Australians have been confirmed in the starting line-up for 21 tough stages that cover 16 of the 20 regions of Italy – opening with a 206km blast across Sardinia.

The route passes through Messina on stage 6, the home town of reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali who is again one of the favourites for overall victory.

 

He is likely to be challenged hard by Colombia’s Nairo Quintana, the only other former winner taking part in this year’s race, while Thibaut Pinot and Geraint Thomas are also set to be in contention.

In terms of key days, stage 4 features an iconic ride up Mount Etna, but the race could be blown wide open on the ascent of Blockhaus on stage 9, which is 14% in sections and consistently 10% after the lower climbs.

Big moves in the standings could also come at the start of the final week on stage 16 which includes three category-1 climbs (Passo del Mortirolo, Passo dello Stelvio and Umbrailpass), while just two days later the brutal stage 18 packs in 4,000m of uphill action in just 137km.

The most interesting Australian performance in the race could well come from Rohan Dennis who is being quietly touted as a potential Grand Tour challenger.

The 26-year-old time trial specialist finished second overall in this season’s Tirreno–Adriatico race – just 25 seconds behind Nairo Quintana in the final standings.

 

Dennis is likely to lose time in the biggest mountain stages of the Giro, but his climbing displays have been improving in recent years and his TT speed means he’s still more than capable of a solid top-10 finish – if not even better.

BMC also have Tejay van Garderen to push hard for the maglia rosa, but there are big question marks about his standing as the team leader following a couple of years of disappointing results in the biggest races.

Sydneysider Caleb Ewan will go stage hunting for Orica-Scott on the sprint-friendly stages, but he faces a big battle with superstar Andre Greipel as well as home favourite Giacomo Nizzolo who is going for his third straight points classification title.

Unfortunately for Australian cycling fans, SBS have lost the rights to show the Giro d’Italia after race organiser RCS Sport decided that only pay-TV channels could screen the action.

That means you’ll need access to EurosportTV to get your fix as the first Grand Tour of the season gets underway. Live coverage of each stage starts at 9.15pm AEST, following a one-hour highlights package of the previous day’s events.

There is also a 7am-9am show to recap each stage a few hours after it has finished in Italy.