The first summit finish of the Giro and a giant of a climb awaits, Mount Etna with 18km at 7%. Yes it’s a volcano but today it is all about the road and the race.
Giro d’Italia
Giro d’Italia Stage 3 Preview
A sprint stage as the race heads for Cagliari and the ferry port to Sicily but the sailing could start on the roads because a strong wind is forecast which could make things nervous.
Pozzato
Over the coming weeks this blog will be taking a closer look at Italian cycling and cycling in Italy. To start, a quick piece on Filippo Pozzato. Why? Because he seems to be a media darling despite few results these days and a controversial past. His profile is bigger than his palmarès and here’s a suggestion why…
Giro d’Italia Stage 2 Preview
Day 2 and the mountains already. The race climbs to 1,000 metres above sea level. These are gentle climbs though and we’ll see which of the sprinters want to fight for the stage. The big factor could be the wind which is forecast to pick up for the finish.
Giro Stage 1 Preview
The race begins. Ahead is scenic stage with the coveted maglia rosa waiting at the finish line for the day’s winner.
Who Will Win The Giro?
Nairo Quintana is the obvious pick. The depth of field is better than ever so whatever Quintana may do the next three weeks look promising given so many other candidates want to win or stand on the podium in Milan. Here’s a look at the contenders for the maglia rosa.
The Giro’s Best Descender Prize
As tweeted earlier today the Giro d’Italia rulebook includes a novelty for 2017: the best descender prize. Some on social media thought it was a joke but it’s black and white in the race rulebook. Here’s a quick explainer on the prize and some thoughts on it too.
Update: the competition and prize has been dropped by RCS. The descents will still be timed and the data made public.
Giro iCal
The Giro d’Italia starts in ten days’ time and just as there’s a season-long calendar of all the major men’s and women’s races to download, here’s the stage by stage Giro ical for your phone or diary ahead of the grande partenza in Sardinia.
The calendar keeps proving surprisingly popular for each grand tour. It lists each stage along with the distance plus a stellar rating to indicate the strategic importance or likely entertainment.
The Giro d’Italia Contenders
With the cobbled classics done, time for the Ardennes? Yes and plenty more. With just over three weeks to the Giro it’s a good time to take a quick look at the contenders and pretenders for the race and see where they are, especially given the news that Fabio Aru is out with a knee injury.
Shrinking Audiences and Unintended Consequences
Looking forward to the Giro? You must be, once glance at the start list and you feel like the astronaut David Bowman in the Arthur C Clarke novel “2001 A Space Odyssey” as you exclaim “my god, it’s full of stars“.
If you’re Dutch it’s even better as Steven Kruijswijk is back for revenge with Tom Dumoulin, Wilco Kelderman and Bauke Mollema all in the mix too. So far so good but broadcast deals mean the race will no longer be shown on the main public channels because the rights have been bought by Eurosport. This may pose problems for some teams and their sponsors as it means a shrinking audience.