The 2015 Giro d’Italia will take place from May 9 – 31. With fewer summit finishes and time trial stages it offers a varied route with the best saved for last.
Here’s a look at the route, the early contenders and some more thoughts.
The Moment The Race Was Won: Il Lombardia
Il Lombardia is one of the world’s longest bike races but the new course, much like the old course, concentrates the action on the final climb just minutes before the finish. The race sped through the citadel of Bergamo Alta where a select group of nine formed but it wasn’t until the final 500 metres that Dan Martin put in a late attack, quickly distancing his rivals.
Il Lombardia Preview
The route changes but the race stays the same. Sunday’s Il Lombardia race features a series of climbs with autumnal scenery in one of Europe’s cycling heartlands where some of the best riders will compete with the likes of Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador, Philippe Gilbert and Michał Kwiatkowski in action.
Thanks to Prendas Ciclismo
All sponsors get a note of thanks and it’s time to show some gratitude to Prendas Ciclismo for their support over the last month and more. Their ad has been here during September and they’ll be visible again soon on this site as sellers of the INRNG cap, more info on this below.
The British bike shop specialise in clothing and have a range of stock including vintage and retro items. If you haven’t dealt with them before, you’ll find Mick and Andy very helpful and personable. I’d offer more praise but when they sponsored the blog last year a flood of comments from satisfied customers said it better.
Astana’s Tale of Two Brothers
If you fell into a coma six years ago and came around yesterday it would seem as if nothing had changed. Manolo Saiz was appointed as a team preparador and hours later one of his old riders, whom the Italian federation tried but failed to ban, won Milano-Torino. Amid the wreckage left by Saiz, Alexandr Vinokourov created the Astana team and yesterday the UCI slipped out another PDF with Kazakh rider Maxim Iglinskiy named for a positive A-test for EPO.
Monday Shorts
Team Sky announced five signings and the unanimous opinion seems to be there’ll all strong riders, to the point where picking nine for the Tour de France will keep some list-makers busy over the winter. Injuries and other incidents will hit the best laid plans, just ask Richie Porte who’s Giro bid went bad before the race started. With Nicolas Roche and Leopold König the team is buying in riders to work as helpers who could be leaders on other World Tour squads… and this is exactly what big teams do.
König’s case is perhaps the most interesting. Seen as a climber he finished seventh overall in the Tour de France via fifth place in the final time trial, his second highest placing in the race so he’s much more complete than a pure climber.
Who’s Leaving Sky / Alonso Update / Bardet’s 4 year deal / All change at FDJ? / Ferrand-Prévot’s ambitions / Contract Deadline Day / Milan-Turin / Jean-Paul Gaulthier inspured by Del Tongo team
2015 Pro Cycling iCal Calendar
Pro cycling’s off season fast approaching arriving but if the racing stops the planning doesn’t. Whether you’re plotting a victorious classics campaign or a trip to Europe you need to know when the pro races are.
Here’s the 2015 pro cycling calendar with the final races of 2014 added so you can use it straight away. You’ll soon find the races appear. In addition you can subscribe or download an iCal file to import the same calendar into your organiser, phone and computer diary.
Kwiatkowski Makes a Name for Himself
Who is Michał Kwiatkowski? Ask Google and the answer might confuse. There’s a Canadian ice hockey player and for many in France “Michal” is a singer who featured in Star Academy, a popular TV series.
The Moment The Race Was Won: World Championships
Michał Kwiatkowski drops the last of a four man group on the final climb of the Mirador above Ponferrada. He’d slipped the bunch on the descent with risky move, both for his safety on wet roads but tactically as there were four riders to get in his way up ahead. He seemed to take a breather before accelerating again and now solo he was never caught again. This was the moment the race was won.
World Championships Road Race Preview
The most open contest in years? With a course that’s hard to define it’s up to the riders to determine their approach to the race and we should get a tense finale with sprinters and grand tour riders clashing.
Here’s the preview for Sunday’s race with the contenders and pretenders plus the TV schedule, weather and more.