Giro d'Italia: Michael Matthews, Stefan Küng and others to watch

Much of the build-up to the Giro d’Italia has focused on the contenders for overall victory, but there is far more to the season’s first grand tour than just the race for the pink jersey.

Other riders will be looking to make their name over the next three weeks, and here we pick out five to keep an eye on…

Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge)

The Australian is one of the strongest sprinters in the field and will be keen to repeat his performance at last year’s Giro, when he won one stage and held the pink jersey for six days. His Orica-GreenEdge team will be targeting victory on stage one’s team time trial and with stages two, three and four all set to finish in some sort of sprint, more time in the maglia rosa is a definite possibility for the 24-year-old.

Stefan Küng (BMC Racing)

The 21-year-old first-year professional is one of the sport's rising stars and goes into the Giro - his debut grand tour - having claimed a hugely impressive solo victory at the Tour de Romandie earlier this month, so he has excellent form. He also finished second in the time trial at the Three Days of De Panne last month – being beaten only by Sir Bradley Wiggins – and while he probably won’t win the stage 14 time trial at the Giro, don’t be surprised to see him continue to build on his burgeoning reputation.

Johan Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge)

The 25-year-old is one of the many pure Colombian climbers prominent in cycling at the moment and is likely to be hunting stage wins at the Giro. He doesn’t have the all-round capability to challenge for overall honours, but he could well be in the mix on the summit finishes and may also try his luck in breakaways. He won solo on mountain stages of the Tour of California and Tour de Suisse last season.

Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida)

The Italian won two stages of last year’s Giro but all gloss was taken off those victories when he tested positive for Salbutamol, which is used to treat asthma, later in the race. It turned out Ulissi had declared use of an inhaler and anti-doping authorities concluded that he had not taken the drug with the intention of improving his performance, but he was still given a ninth-month ban. Now once again free to race and back at the Giro, Ulissi will no doubt be highly motivated to repeat his 2014 wins and prove his performances last year were credible.

Sebastian Henao (Team Sky)

Another exciting Colombian climber, 21-year-old Henao produced a breakthrough performance at the 2014 Giro by finishing 22nd overall and he is back with hopes of improving on that result this year. His main job will be to support team leader Richie Porte in the mountains, but he is also targeting the best young rider’s white jersey, so expect to see plenty of him.