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- Published on Sunday, 30 April 2017 18:13
Giro d'Italia 2017
Alghero to Milan, 3615.4km
5th May to 28th May
The 100th Edition of the Giro d’Italia starts on Friday the 5th May in Sardinia, where the race takes in three stages, before hopping to Sicily after a rest day for two more stages, including the first summit finish of the race to Mt Etna, and a stage that finishes in Messina, Vincenzo Nibali’s home town..
Once they hit the mainland the race organisers tried to hit every region of Italy, which of course was impossible, they had to omit four regions. The race finishes in Milan though, in a nod to where the race finished in the first edition in 1909, and of course the home of RCS, the owners of the Giro. The race literally traverses the whole country though, from toe to top, in a challenging and interesting course that should do justice to a celebration of 100 editions of the great race.
The race includes two climbs of the Stelvio and two time trials, one a long 39km test on stage 10 in the wine region of Sagrantino, the second is 28kms long and is the final act in the race. With 67kms of time trialling in total in the race, it is 30kms more than is in this year’s Tour de France, so riders will need to make sure they’ve put in the hours in the wind tunnels..!
The race also pays tribute to two Italian cycling legends with stages that start in Ponte a Ema and Castellania, where Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi hail from respectively. The Castellania stage should be a cracker as it short at 131kms, but goes vertical in the last 12kms to the summit finish at Oropa.
The last six stages are going to be brutal and will be crucial to the outcome of the race – starting with stage 16’s 227km monster that first goes over the Mortirolo, then the Stelvio then back over the Stelvio from the Umbrail Pass on the Swiss side. Stage 17 doesn’t look too bad on paper, but it climbs from the flag drop and after two early climbs it is also uphill for more or less all of the last 90kms.
Stage 18 vies with stage 16 for title of ‘Queen Stage’ – it may be 90kms shorter at just 137kms, but it is a beast – five climbs in total, including the Pordoi, Valporola and the summit finish to Ortisei/St Ulrich. Stage 19 sees another summit finish to Piancavallo, which averages 7.3% over 15.4kms. Stage 20 may not look too bad, but after the brutality of the previous days, there is the possibility of someone cracking and blowing their chances over the 14km climb of the Foza. And then it’s the final TT – if the race is close, the TT will decide it. It’s up to the climbers to distance themselves from the time triallists and fight it out amongst themselves.
History, Tradition, Legend
This is a legendary race, a race littered with superstar names like Bartali, Coppi, Grimondi, Merckx, Hinault, Roche, Fignon, Bugno, Indurain, Pantani. More recently we have had Alberto Contador win it in style in 2015, Quintana in 2014, Nibali in 2013 and Hesjedal motored to victory in 2012.
This is a race steeped in history - it's the 100th running of the Giro, which was first run in 1909 (skipped a few years because of the World Wars). The race was first suggested by the editor of La Gazetta Della Sport to his cycling editor and the owner, as he wanted to create an Italian replica of the Tour de France, seeing it as a way to promote and increase sales of the newspaper. They were up for it, but the problem was lack of funds. It resulted in a scramble around Italy to raise donations, but they managed to raise enough to fund the operating costs, even securing 3000 Lira from their rival newspaper Corriere.
The first race may only have had eight stages, but the 127 riders that started faced an incredible 2,448Kms in just those eight stages, an average of 306kms per stage! It's a miracle that 49 riders managed to finish it! This year's race is of course very different with 21 stages stretched over 3 weeks, covering 3,615kms, or an average stage distance of a paltry 171kms in comparison!
Contenders and Favourites
As you’d expect, it’s a quality field that lines up for the 100th edition of the race, but not as good maybe as the centenary race deserves. Not only do we not have Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Richie Porte or Alejandro Valverde, but Fabio Aru’s training crash and the tragic death of Michele Scarponi sees the race short of many of the world’s GC superstars.
Having said that though, we do have the biggest draw in Italian cycling here in Vincenzo Nibali, they practically ensured he’d commit to starting by including a stage in his home town of Messina. But he isn’t the biggest favourite for the race though, that of course is former winner Nairo Quintana, who is just 11/10 to land the first part of his attempt at the elusive Giro/Tour double.
We may not have Froome, but it means that Geraint Thomas gets his first chance to lead Team Sky in a grand Tour, something he has devoted his whole season to date to so far. He skipped the spring Classics but looked ready for the Giro with his victory in the Tour of the Alps. 5th in the ToTA was his team-mate Mikel Landa and he offers Sky a very viable second candidate for a tilt at the title.
Thibaut Pinot could be a genuine contender here too given his strong showing in the Tour of the Alps (2nd overall, a stage win and two 2nds, a 3rd and a 5th place) and his 3rd in Tirreno-Adriatico, a top 6 is definitely a possibility.
We also have Steven Kruijswijk who could have and should have won the race last year but for his disastrous crash on stage 19 as well as the perpetual good, but not good enough Bauke Mollema who should both be good enough for a top ten finish. Adam Yates is the sole Yates here after Simon has switched focus to the TDF, Ilnur Zakarin is Katusha’s main man and Tejay Van Garderen, Pierre Rolland, Sergey Firsanov, Darwin Atapuma and Domenico Pozzovivo will all be fighting for the top ten places too.
It is sure to be a great start to the Grand Tour trilogy, Quintana and Nibali will have a great battle, and there are lots of guys sitting behind who could give them a run for their money should they have an off-day or two.
And there should be a good battle for the sprinters jersey too, with André Greipel, Fernando Gaviria, Caleb Ewan, Sam Bennett, Giacomo Nizzolo, Sacha Modolo, Jakub Marezcko, Nicola Ruffoni and Kristian Sbaragile all here to do battle.
My full preview of the main GC contenders chances, the Points Jersey betting, KOM betting and more, along with a daily preview of each stage will be available to subscribers, the cost of subscription is £30, or just over £1.50 a day. Overall previews will be ready a day or two before the Giro starts, daily previews will be available around 10.30pm every night before each stage.
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