Tim Merlier hopes to continue his sprinting success at the 2024 Giro d'Italia and will head to the high country with his family shortly after the cobbled Classics to gain momentum for the six or seven sprint opportunities expected in the Corsa Rosa.

Merlier will lead Soudal-Quick Step in Italy with Julien Alaphilippe and Mauri Vansevenin, while American Luke Lamperti, who impressed in his season debut and classic campaign, will be part of the Belgian team.

Mellier has already won seven sprints in 2024, including one in Scheldeprij where he defeated Jasper Philipsen and Dylan Groenewegen. Although Merlier was not entered in the 2023 Grand Tour, he saved Soudal-Quickstep's early season after a poor showing in the Classics and Lemko Evenpoel's broken collarbone in Ituria-Basque.

Tadej Pogacar is expected to dominate the overall and the maglia rosa race, but there will be close races and rivalries in the sprint finishes. The Giro d'Italia kicks off on Saturday, May 4 in Turin. Sprint opportunities will come in the first week as the race heads south to Tuscany.

The entry list for the Giro d'Italia includes Jonathan Millan (Lidl Trek), Olaf Kooi (Visma Lease-a-Bike), Fabio Jacobsen (Dsm-Filmenig Post NL), Caleb Yuan (Jayco Alura), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and other sprinters, Alberto Dainese (Tudor), Kayden Groves (Alpecin Deceuninck), Biniam Girmay (Intermarche Wanty), Sam Welsford (Beulah Hansgrohe), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Juan Sebastian Morano (UAE Team Emirates).

The only big-name sprinters missing from the Giro d'Italia are Mark Cavendish (Astana Kazakstan), Groenewegen, and Philipsen. Cavendish will compete in the Tour de Hongri in early May, while Groenewegen and Philipsen are focused on the Tour de France.

Mellier beat most of the big-name sprinters in the UAE Tour and is happy to see the Giro d'Italia peloton filled with sprinters and their lead trains.

"The more sprinters there are, the more teams will be looking to sprint. You also understand a little bit more when you form a grupetto in the mountains," Mellier told Nieuwsblad in a long interview, emphasizing the contrasting logic of sprinters in the Grand Tour.

Merlier spoke from Mount Teide, where he and his partner Cameron Vandenbrouck and their young son had just finished their pre-Giro training. He is training with Lidl Trek's Edward Theuns, and they are mixing low-altitude sprints and rides to the Hotel El Parador, high up on the Tenerife volcano.

Merlier won a stage at the 2021 Giro d'Italia. He also won a stage at the Tour de France that season, bringing his total to 41 victories. He expects more victories in the 2024 Corsa Rosa.

"I'm going for my first stage win. But I'll concentrate on the sprint wins. But I'll concentrate on the sprint itself."

The Giro d'Italia will again start in Piemonte, as it did in 2021 when Mellier won the second stage in Novara.

"There are more possibilities than in 2021, but also more things to survive," explained Mellier, referring to the late climbs that are often included before sprint finishes.

"There are two stages, and in the final you have to survive two two-kilometer climbs of four to five percent. Usually that's not a problem for me, but it's not an easy finish either.

"I won three WorldTour events with Scheldeprijs and Nokele Coase. I am very happy with my spring, even though I had a crash in Paris-Roubaix and had to retire. I was up there in the spring and I want to be up there in the Giro."