Old Trafford’s Theatre of Dreams may be beckoning Sir Jim Ratcliffe as he closes on acquiring Manchester United, but in Italy the Eternal City is awaiting his Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, who start the 106th Giro d’Italia on Saturday.
Ratcliffe’s charges have not won the Tour de France since 2019 but its Italian counterpart, the Giro, has been a happier hunting ground, with wins by the Londoner Tao Geoghegan Hart in 2020 and the Colombian star Egan Bernal the following year.