Jacob Fuglsang's current form places him in the top class of overall contenders for the Giro d'Italia, but his track record over the three weeks of racing serves as an important reminder: in 14 Grand Tour appearances, his only top 10 finish was seventh overall at the 2013 Tour de France only once.

Of course, it is true that Fuglsang has regularly come under pressure from other riders during his career. For example, in the 2016 Giro, he finished 12th overall while helping Vincenzo Nibali win the overall.

Since then, however, Fuglsang has no longer been tied to a team job, and his experience as Astana's team leader at the Tour has also been an unfortunate star: in 2018, he finished 12th;

in 2017, he finished 12th overall, while in 2018, he finished 12th overall.

This season, he opted to miss the Tour altogether, instead building his campaign around the challenge of the Maglia Rosa, a decision made long before the coronavirus pandemic reorganized the cycling calendar.

"I hope this will be a great opportunity," Fuglsang said in a video conference on the eve of the Grande Partenza. I've tried the Tour de France for the last few years, but I've always had crashes, and at least in the last few years I haven't been able to get any big results in GC. Hopefully this year everything will fall into place."

Fuglsang, a road pro since late 2008, is in the richest stretch of form of his career in his mid-30s, starting with two wins at the Criterium du Dauphiné in 2017.

He won last season's Liège-Bastogne-Liège and took another monument at Il Lombardia in August. Fuglsang dismissed the notion that such outside expectations are a burden.

"I think my condition this year allows me to have such high expectations," Fuglsang said. 'I hope I don't disappoint, but if I don't reach my goals, the person who will be most disappointed will be myself.' I don't really think about what people outside the team or the media think."

"I hope the Grand Tour lives up to expectations and I want to put my bad luck behind me. Like Richie Porte in the Tour. He's always had bad luck, but this year he's on the podium with a great result."

"I hope that we can live up to expectations and put our bad luck behind us.

In August, Fuglsang teamed up with Alexandre Vlasov at Il Lombardia and the Giro delle Miglia, with the Russian helping him to victory in the former and returning the favor four days later in San Luca. This double act will be on display again in the Giro. Vlasov won the under-23 Giro two years ago, but this will be his Grand Tour debut. If this youngster is being looked at as an outsider, it is, like Fuglsang, more due to his current condition than his past achievements.

"You never know what will happen in two weeks and how your body will react. If he's still in good shape, he could win the white jersey. If Jacob is in good shape, we will all help him."

Since Coppi and Bartali in 1940, the history of the Giro has been dotted with young debutants who overtook the leader within three weeks, but Fuglsang insisted he had no problem living with Vlasov.

"We are teammates. If you look at the season so far, we have raced together very well. Vlasov helped me in Lombardia and I helped him in Emilia. In Tirreno, both of us may not have been 100%, but he still took the white jersey. I don't think there will be any problems."

Astana's Giro lineup was changed later in the day when Yuriy Natalov and Vadim Plonsky withdrew after contact with teammate Zandos Bizhitov, who tested positive for COVID-19.

Rodrigo Contreras and Jonas Gregard Willsley, who substituted for Fuglsang at last weekend's Imola World Championships, were used.

"Despite the risk of a coronavirus outbreak and the risk of bad weather in the high mountains in late October, we are confident that the Giro will be completed in its entirety.

"I'm not 100% right now and hope conditions improve during the race. With the weather, the high mountains, and the coronavirus, you never know what will happen.

"You never know what will happen. But looking at the number of coronaviruses in Italy compared to France, for example, I think we can do the whole three weeks."

Fuglsang and Vlasov participated in a video conference Friday afternoon along with Miguel Angel Lopez, who added the Giro to his program after falling from third to sixth overall in the final weekend of the Tour de France.

The Colombian brushed off suggestions that he was sent to the Giro against his will and noted that his reported departure from Astana at the end of the season was not a foregone conclusion.

"I wasn't supposed to ride the Giro, but I was in good shape after the Tour, so the team decided to bring me here to help the two of us," Lopez said. 'I don't know yet if I will leave the team or not.'