"I will go to the Giro and try to get a good ranking," says Kamna, who has always and exclusively gone for stage wins in his previous Grand Tours: "I don't necessarily plan to finish in the top three or five. But I want to get my hat in the ring and show myself in the fight for the overall classification."

Kamna: Tour of the Alps as final encouragement

Reason to hope for a good result was provided by the preparation, where Kämna won a mountain stage at the Tour of the Alps out of a top group with favourites for the overall classification.

"It's a different job to go into a race as captain and try to get a good ranking in the overall classification, or to try to break away and go for stage wins," Kamna said.

At the Tour of the Alps he ended up sixth overall:"I don't change my training 100% from one year to the next now. What I've really tried to do is to build up the season in a structured way and then get consistency into it. That's the most important thing for me right now."

Giro dItalia 2023: Starting signal on Saturday

On Saturday, Kämna and his team Bora-Hansgrohe, whose sponsor has just extended their contract until 2027, will start with a time-trial at the Tour of Italy. Then German cycling fans will get a first impression of Kamna's actual form.

Flashscore will be at the Giro dItalia 2023 every day. In the run-up we have analysed all the favourites and presented the five most exciting stages to you in detail.