Barring incident, and it would need to be a majorly shocking incident, Sunday's stage to Trieste will be the usual procession with photo opportunities of the jersey winners clinking prosecco glasses. There is nothing to suggest that this stage will end in anything other than a sprint, but they anything can, and has happened in this Giro..
Switch off the phone, forget the gardening, try to get rid of the wives/partners/kids for the afternoon (unless you have a kid as bonkers about cycling as mine..). This is the big one. There have been some great stages in the Giro, but this one should cap the lot with it's monumental finish. 10km at 12% average, with max slopes of 22%. It's going to be epic.
This should be a fascinating stage. A flat start for 7.5kms just about gets the riders warmed up for what lies ahead - a brutal race against the clock for 19kms uphill. Is it the day we see Uran fight back? Will Quintana put even more time in to everyone? Almost every place in the top 10 is still up for grabs. Bring it on!
Back in to the mountains again and depsite the fact some riders will have one eye on the tough mountain TT the next day, there will be no hiding and no quarter given on another very hard day of climbing. Three tough climbs lie in wait again with the final climb a real leg-breaker averaging 7.9% over 15.9kms.
This is the last chance of an 'easy' day before the final stage in Trieste as the weary peloton are given a chance to recover a little after the battle of the day before over the Stelvio and Val Martello. It's a medium distance stage though of 208kms and with a twisting rolling profile we are sure to still see plenty of action.
The previous two rest days have been followed by nice easy stages. Not so this one. The riders will be welcomed back on their bikes with a short but brutal day in the saddle. It may only be 139kms but they cross three monster Cat 1 climbs, including the Cima Coppi of the Stelvio on the way to Val Martello Martelltal.
A nice leisurely jaunt east along the Po valley past Milan, Monza and Bergamo is rudely interrupted with a brutal finish up to the 'Pantani Climb' of this year's race, the 1st Cat ascent up to the Plan di Montecampione. The stage is in memory of Pantani's win in 1998, the year he won the overlall and completed the Giro-Tour double.
No rest for the wicked. Well not today anyway, the rest day is Monday. Some may well have had a rest day though yesterday judging by the times of some who rolled around through the vineyards yesterday. For some it was under strict team instructions to save themselves for what's to come, for others it was fatigue starting to catch up after a breathless opening two weeks of this race.
This stage will do well to live up to the sensational day in 1999 when Pantani chased down and passed Laurent Jalabert on the Oropa. GC men will have to make a move today in order to start to peg back some time on Uran and it's all to play for in terms of top 10 placings still for many.
Stage 13, on a Friday - Unlucky for some!? Let's hope we don't see the same sort of finish as in the last stage when Tyler Farrar once again hit the tarmac, taking most of the peloton out of the sprint. I think Tyler needs a new pair of transition lenses.. The finish of this stage is bound to be frantic with an intermediate sprint coming with just 13kms to go!
A short, flat day for the sprinters, the last chance for them until the final stage in Milan. After the sprinters teams screwed up on stage 10, they will be desperate to make amends and set up their fast men for a charge to the finish line in Jesolo. It's the first time that the Giro has visited Montecchio Maggiore, but the 5th time Jesolo hosts a stage finish.
Last weekend we may have seen what some considered to be the first tests of the Giro with the climbs to Montecopiolo and Sestolo, but to me, this is the real first test where we could see a real re-shuffle in the top 10 and we could see a big shake up in the bettting once it's over.
This should have been the longest stage of the race at 249kms, but it was beaten for that honour by stage 6 when they had to add 10kms to it because of a landslide. It's still a long, hard stage ahead of the riders, and coming the day before the crucial TT on stage 12 it could be a day for a breakaway winner.
Rest day over, it's a nice easy introduction back to the race on Tuesday. A relatively short stage at 173kms also happens to be a realtively easy stage with the vast majority of the route through the flat roads of the Po Valley. A little lump to get over with less than 5kms to go shouldn't cause any problems and a sprint awaits.
This could be an extremely competitive stage as it comes the day after some riders have lost time on the climb to Montecopiolo and some may have been saving themselves for a long range attack on a day more suited to a breakaway winner. Add in the fact it's a rest day the day after and we could be in for a Sunday afternoon treat.
Things are getting serious now. You know it's going to be a hard days climbing when you are riding on a stage dedicated to Marco Pantani. These are his roads. These are his climbs. Like him or loathe him you can't deny he was exciting to watch at the time and it will be interesting to see if anyone can light up this stage like he could.
This is a tough lumpy little stage that is harder than it appears on paper. It starts with a climb straight out of the start gate and rolls up and down all day on the route north west between Frosinone and Foligno. There is a little lump to get over 40kms from the finish, but it is likely to end with all the GC men together.
Up the west coast we go then, leaving Sassano and skirting along the Tirreno sea for a while, passing north of Napoli towards the finish in Montecassino. It is a generally flat stage with a sting in the tail - the last 8km kick up at an average gradient of 5.1% with 10% slopes at the bottom just as they hit the climb.
The first real test then for the main GC riders as they hit the first uphill finish of the many uphill finishes they will hit over the rest of the tour. A not so long distance of 203kms should not be too much of a problem, but the last 80kms or so will see riders stretch their climbing legs for the first time.
Back on Italian soil then for stage 4 and it's a nice easy one that they have lined up for the riders after their transfer back from Ireland. A miniscule distance of only 112kms should be covered in around 2 1/2 hours. And it's almost dead flat. A perfect opportunity for Kittel to make it three in a row?
Well after a wet and cold stage in Northern Ireland, Marcel Kittel delivered the goods for me with a convincing win in the sprint. Coming from a long way back in the last 300m, he easily powered past Bouhanni and the rest to take the win. Nizzolo got up to take the 3rd spot on the podium just denying us our Viviani bet.
After a dramatic opening day which saw Daniel Martin's race over with less than 20kms done, Orica-Greenedge justified favouritism, but only just! OPQS pulled off a storming ride to finish just 5" back with BMC just another 2" back in 3rd. Losers on the day were Quintana who lost 55" and worse again was Joaquim Rodriguez who lost 1'33".
Not only is there an unusual jersey for the leader of the race, a bright pink one, but there are also slightly unusual colours for the winners of the Mountains and Sprinters jerseys in the Giro. The leader of the sprints competition wears red, the leader of the King of the Mountains a deep blue jersey. At least the young riders stays white...
Here we go then! The Giro turns green as it kicks off proceedings in Belfast with the drama and speed of a Team Time Trial. This is where we will find out who will wear the Maglia Rosa on the first road stage to Dublin, and most likely on the first stage proper in Italy on Tuesday.
Two years ago Ryder Hesjedal sprung a 50/1 surprise when he beat Joaquim Rodriguez by the tiny margin of just 16 seconds. In third place was another surprise in Thomas de Gendt who pulled off a performance he has never come close to repeating since. Is there a dark horse lurking out there that could pull off a performance like that this year?
The race may be without reigning champion Vincenzo Nibali, who's concentrating on the Tour de France and it may be without Tour de France Champion Chris Froome, but it does still have a fantastic line-up of cycling superstars when it starts in Belfast on Friday the 9th May. The favourites list is dominated by climbers though and it's easy to see why.
The first grand Tour of the year. The first chance we have to really see what sort of form Nairo Quintana, the favourite is in. The first time the Giro has started in Ireland and the first time that there will be three Irishmen starting a Grand Tour since the heady days of 1992 when Roche, Kelly and Earley competed in the Tour de France. There's a lot to look forward to, with a challenging and exciting course.
