Last year the breakaways were going away and staying away but this year it’s been harder for a move to stick. This might change today.
Giro d’Italia Stage 11 Preview
A big day for the sprinters with an arrival in Reggio… and perhaps a departure from the race for some of them ahead of the all the Alpine stages to come.
UCI World Tour Promotion and Relegation Weekly
There’s significangt news on both the promotion and relegation fronts this week. We have a promotion story to chew on today as Alpecin-Fenix have finally confirmed they want to be promoted to the World Tour for 2023-2025. Meanwhile on the relegation side Israel-PremierTech continue their slump, falling to 20th place.
Giro d’Italia Stage 10 Preview
A tricky second half of the stage and the chance for a rematch between Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay, but if they watch each other too much someone else will win the day.
Giro d’Italia Stage 9 Preview
A big day in the mountains, some riders are saying this is the hardest stage of the Giro. We’ll see, two things are certain: a big shake-up of the GC contenders and if you read on you’ll know more about the Blockhaus climb.
Roads to Ride: Blockhaus
Think of a mountain range used by the Giro and the Alps surely come to mind. The Apennines are the poorer cousins and all the more interesting for it. This central ridge, the spine of Italy, includes many good climbs and the Blockhaus is one of the hardest on Italy, not just in the Apennines but as challenging as anything in the Alps. The stats are comparable to Mont Ventoux, the reality is even more of a challenge.
This post was first put online in 2017 ahead of the Giro’s visit, it’s been updated for the 2022 return.
Giro d’Italia Stage 8 Preview
A circuit race outside Naples with two short climbs and plenty of tricky roads, they’re narrow and twisty and a contrast to yesterday’s near wilderness.
Giro d’Italia Stage 7 Preview
A big day in the Apennines on roads where the Giro seldom ventures. This is a day many will have marked for the breakaway while the GC contenders will hope to avoid any traps.
Who Can Replace Nibali?
As friends on the Bidon podcast remarked in their Giro preview show, the Giro is on course for the longest ever streak without an Italian winner, the last time the race had a home winner was Vincenzo Nibali in 2016. He’s just announced he’s retiring and it’d be nice to be able to list several candidates rising up the ranks who could replace him but that’s not easy… still let’s have a go.
Giro d’Italia Stage 6 Preview
A trip up the coast and a likely sprint finish, a blogger’s rest day with a route so obvious there’s more to say about citrus fruits than the coastal course.