Ben O'Connor is ready to challenge for the first podium finish of his Grand Tour career at the Giro d'Italia amid the overwhelming feeling among the field for the 107th edition that the top step is reserved for only one man.
Not, of course, that Australia's top GC hope, among its nine participants, is about to quite concede the 2024 title yet to the imperious Tadej Pogacar before the event begins in Turin this Saturday.
But such has been the Slovenian's Merkcx-like form this season that the bookmakers in Britain have installed Pogacar, the double Tour de France winner, as as 3-10 odds-on shot to emerge victorious in his first Giro.