Almost a rest day. Certainly fans and grand tour contenders alike can stand down from full alert and watch a sprint finish.
Geo-Location vs. Guerilla Racing
When a breakaway goes clear in a major race like the Giro it can take a long time to identify the riders involved. It’s a problem for TV viewers and teams alike. Viewers can see something is happening but without knowing who is involved and teams have to know what’s going on for tactical reasons.
The technology exists to solve this and it’s coming to the peloton. We saw it already with the IAM Cycling team trialling a geo-location system in the Tour de Romandie where rider location could be tracked in real time. Is this good?
Giro Stage 5 Preview
The first uphill finish of the Giro. The climb to Abetone isn’t normally that selective but the way Tinkoff-Saxo and Astana are riding at the moment we could well see a GC showdown.
Roads to Ride: Abetone
The first summit finish of the 2015 Giro d’Italia, the road up Monte Gomito to Abetone is something to look forward to but also a worry. It’s harder than the profile suggests and coming at the end of Stage 5 it could reveal who will win the race outright. Fanciful? Not really, it’s happened before.
But enough fretting about the future, it’s been a classic climb and the launchpad for Fausto Coppi’s first Giro win. But most of time the Passo dell’Abetone is a regular destination for thousands of cyclists in central Italy keen to test their form on a long climb.
Giro Stage 4 Preview
Yesterday’s stage had the action concentrated mid-stage, today’s finish includes a very difficult climb near the finish.
Giro Stage 3 Preview
A sprint finish? Probably but with a good chance half the field struggles to stay in contact on the hilly parts.
Giro Stage 2 Preview
The race begins its anti-clockwise lap of Italy with a 177km jaunt along the coast to Genova, much of it retracing part of the Milan-Sanremo route in reverse. A sprint finish looks likely.
Giro Stage 1 Preview
Italy’s most famous finale in Sanremo is the starting point for the Giro with a 17.6km team time trial. As well as the race to win the stage and take the race lead there’s also the battle not to surrender too much time to rivals.
Team Victory Rankings
With the Giro starting tomorrow a quick chance to check the lie of the land across all teams with the victory rankings. After the busy month of April we’re now one third of the way through the season as measured by race days.
The Giro’s Sprinters and Stage Winners
Covering the contenders for the Giro is like trying to preview the dessert course of a meal because the GC riders will be serving up their specialities late in the race, biding their time until the final week and the race’s final sweep across the Alps. Before then many will animate the race so here’s a look at some of the names likely to liven up the race in the coming weeks.