A sprint stage with a criterium-style finish as the race laps the seaside resort of Bibione. If watching a grand tour from your sofa or desk is tiring today is the televisual equivalent of a rest day, a chance to relax before the crucial mountain stages which start tomorrow.
Today’s stage of the Giro features the sharp climb of the Forcella Mostaccin near the finish. The climb gets the attention because of the race yet the small town of Maser which lies at the foot of the hill is arguably more interesting because it’s central to the sport. This town and the area around it is host to Pinarello, Sidi, Campagnolo, Selle Italia and more, while Segafredo coffee and Oakley sunglasses all have connections to this small part of Italy. More than ever they’re crucial to the Italian economy.
A long flat stage until the finish when everything changes. After 200km of procession across the plains of the Po valley the finish features a tough climb, a twisty descent and then plenty of ups and downs, just enough to spoil the day for the sprinters.
How was your rest day? The Giro resumes with a hilly and draining 219km stage, probably one for the breakaway specialists.
The Giro needs a rest after a busy opening week with many stages that have seen the script ripped up. Climbers went backwards on mountaintop finishes and took time in time trials. It’s been a week of skirmishing with riders battling for seconds. The race is heading to the Alps this week and the promise of real battles among the top riders. So far so good.
A decisive stage and a chance to turn the race upside down or at least invert the hierarchy before the race heads into the high mountains. The route celebrates the Chianti vineyards, branded these days with the Chianti Classico label and a black rooster.
Once upon a time the cities of Siena and Florence decided to stop fighting each other and draw up borders and hit on a novel idea: at dawn when a cockerel crowed for the first time in each city a band of horsemen would gallop out of the city gates towards their rival city. The point where they met their opponents would be the frontier between the two city states. Siena picked a white rooster and cosseted the cockerel. Florence opted for a mangy black one and kept him hungry. On the appointed day the white bird rose to announce dawn but long before he’d deigned to announce the day, his black rival had stirred and sent the Florentine soldiers on their way so they took more terrain and won and the legend lives on every wine bottle now with the black rooster brand. The moral of the story? Style is all well and good but being faster gives you the win. Does this foretell a win for the gangly but effective Ilnur Zakarin? Or perhaps now that Tom Dumoulin is back in black he’s going to win?
A stage only the Giro can do. A ride up the Tiber valley, central to the myth of Rome before the Alpe de Poti and its steep gravel road and then a wild descent to the finish in the medieval city of Arezzo. Roman history, a medieval city and gravel roads that evoke cycling’s early days, the Giro as a time machine. In more practical terms this is the first proper test of climbing in the Giro, a chance to measure Vincenzo Nibali, Tom Dumoulin and the rest.
If you have to ration your Giro viewing this weekend then this stage is the one to watch given tomorrow’s time trial is important but unlikely to be as exciting.
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A day for the sprinters with a familiar finish in Foligno, last used in 2014 when Nacer Bouhanni won the stage, profiting from the absence of other big name sprinters to collect several stages and a giant contract at Cofidis soon after. Today’s sprinters will settle for merely the stage win.
The first summit finish of the race. This is promising yet the point of the stage is to see the contenders clash without picking a winner.