A straightforward stage in every sense, look at the map and Stage 5 hardly features a corner for hours. The start will involve a small ceremony to celebrate Ferrari, as in Enzo Ferrari the man behind the famous motorcars. The finish loops past the training roads of Marco Pantani but today should be a tribute to the sprinters.
Ramūnas Navardauskas is not yet a familiar name in the sport but I suspect he’ll become a lot more recognisable now he’s taken the lead in the Giro. He’s 24 years old and rides for Garmin-Barracuda and if you haven’t spotted his name in the results so far, that’s because he’s been an invaluable helper for others on his team.
Here’s a look at his past and a guide to pronouncing his name.
Today sees a 33.2km team time trial in and around Verona. The city was used for the finish of the 2010 Giro d’Italia and now it hosts the restart of the race in Italy. But it could finish off the hopes of a few candidates for the overall as the distance is significant. Weak teams can pay a heavy price and the slight mountain climbers will struggle to hold the wheels.
The UCI Pro Tour started in 2005 as a way of categorising the top teams in pro cycling and has since become the World Tour. Since this designation became many teams have enjoyed success and failure but we must go back to 2005 for the longest losing streak when Saunier Duval didn’t win a race of any kind until 19 May with Leonardo Piepoli taking a stage in the Tour of Catalonia.
But French squad Ag2r La Mondiale now surpass the second longest losing streak set by Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2005, when they didn’t win a race until 8 May. With no stage in the Giro and Europcar’s Matteo Pelucchi winning the final stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk, Ag2r now beat the Basque team to take second spot in the losing streak status race and now need to win a race in the next 10 days to avoid setting the “record” currently held by Saunier Duval.
Cyclo Cross 2011/2012 Photo Book by Bálint Hamvas
With the Giro taking a rest today and 2011 cyclo-cross world champion Zdeněk Štybar winning Stage 4 of the Four Days of Dunkirk yesterday, it’s almost as if road cycling is on hold for a moment. The ideal time to look at a book on cyclo-cross.
Today’s Giro Stage 3 was a bunch sprint and the story of the day is that Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocatelli) switched across the road and taking out Mark Cavendish and Taylor Phinney amongst others. A series of screengrab photos helps tell the tale.
First we see Ferrari on Tyler Farrar’s wheel. To the right of the image Mark Cavendish is accelerating away from the two fluo yellow Farnese Vini riders after himself drifting right in order to start his sprint.
A short note to observe the contract position of Vincenzo Nibali. The rider known as “The Shark of Messina” has a contract with his Liquigas team that expires at the end of the year and he and his agent are busy trying to get the best deal by looking at other teams.
Today’s stage starts with a moment of remembrance for Wouter Weylandt who lost his life during Stage 3 last year.
The last day in Denmark, today’s stage is a circuit race with the start and finish in in Horsens. Riders start and do a 100km loop, then another 45km loop, then they return to Horsens to face three finishing laps of 15km in and around the city.
For the daily previews I’ve included the stage profile diagrams to illustrate the day’s racing. But Stage 1 is better depicted by the aerial map of the course, especially since the course is quite flat. Riders start at the green point on the map above. The route looks like the path out of a maze.
It’s hard to pick a clear favourite for the Giro d’Italia. There’s no obvious star name. Instead there are several contenders on a similar level and then a collection of outsiders, mainly mountain specialists who could also shine. To make forecasting even harder many of those taking part have not had the best run of results recently which makes it tougher to judge their form.
But if these reasons make predicting the outcome even harder, all the better. The uncertainty should make for a more open race where riders could be battling to win seconds, as opposed to Alberto Contador’s victory lap of Italy in 2011.