I have a feeling this will somehow not be as lopsided as expected. Pogacar will be holding back and will pick and choose which moves to respond to. There will be days he loses time and I don’t think gaining 5 min in 2 stages is a given.
Honestly we don't know if he won't gain 5 minutes in the first two stages alone. Solo for the first, aggressive ride for the second. Makes clear who the the boss is and he then actually can pick and choose whom to follow.
I am not saying it's going to happen, but it's not impossible either.
The only hope is Lipowitz somehow being a Vingegaard,
But on a more positive note:
The Giro could be very interesting outside the winner, as the star list below Pogacar looks pretty similar in level. So maybe it's going to be a very exiting fight for the podium.
I chose O'Connor in the poll because I didn't want to pick Thomas and he's actually been on good form recently.
Also I believe we'll have 2 or 3 total surprises in the Top 10 because how many riders competing for this are there even? Can't be much more than 15 taking a look at the start list. I probably don't know a few who can and want to compete, but I had a hard time counting 10 I believe in.