Most likely to get a maiden win

Salvatore Puccio, Team Sky

Coming close in the past with top-five finishes at the Giro, Vuelta and Tirreno-adriatico, the Italian rider is locked into once again riding his home Grand Tour, where an opportunity may well arise for him to showcase his talents and break his race-win duck.

Scott Thwaites, Dimension Data

Going into his second year on the Worldtour, Thwaites will be looking to build on his respectable results in the Classics, where he collected a 10th place finish in Strade Bianche and a top-20 finish in Tour of Flanders last year.

Ian Boswell, Katusha-alpecin

Top-10 finishes haven’t been hard to come by for Boswell over the last few years, but the 26-year old American — now free from the shackles of Team Sky — will be keen to secure his first pro win when he lines up for Katusha-alpecin in 2018. The Tour of California could provide this opportunity — he finished fifth overall in the race last year.

Tiesj Benoot, Lotto-soudal

Ever since a fifth place finish at the Tour of Flanders in 2015, Benoot has been seen as the next great Belgian rider. Despite not stepping on the top step of the podium, at just 23 years of age, the Lotto-soudal rider can look to build on a solid set of Grand Tour results that led to a 20th place overall finish in the Tour. Or he could capture a minor Classic.

Koen de Kort, Trek-segafredo

At 35 years old, de Kort may well be assumed to have missed his chance to secure his first pro win in a career sacrificed to domestique duties. Now that Trek-segafredo don’t have a premier GC contender, the affable Dutchman may well get a chance to stretch his legs in the breakaways at the Grand Tours or one-week stage races this year.