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Published on Tuesday, 05 May 2015 21:13

Giro d'Italia 2015 Preview

9th May to 31st May, 3486km

The shadow boxing is over, this is the real deal now. We've had the Classics, Tirreno-Adriatico, Catalunya, Pais-Vasco, Trentino and Romandie and they've all served up clues and pointers for this first Grand Tour of the year. Some may not have been 100% tuned up yet, will some have peaked too soon?

But we'll soon find out who the contenders and the pretenders are as this race starts with a testing first five days. At 3,486kms, the 2015 Giro d'Italia is just 36.1kms longer than last year's edition which started in Belfast. When the route was announced in Milan in October it was widely regarded as a very balanced and fair route, with something for everyone. It has 1 long Individual Time Trial, 1 Team Time Trial, 7 sprinter-friendly stages, 5 'medium mountain' stages, 3 'medium mountain stages with summit finish' and 4 high mountain stages with summit finishes. 

This gives the mountain goats something to look forward to, especially after stage 14, it gives the puncheurs like Gilbert plenty of opportunities and the sprinters like Matthews, Greipel and Nizzolo something to look forward to too. It could well be though that the 59km individual Time Trial on stage 14 could hold the key to this Giro, it suits Richie Porte far more than Contador, it just depends how much he manages to take out of Bertie ahead of the mountains. 

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 Quintana win in 2014, Nibali make his mark in 2013, Hesjedal in 2012 and Scarponi in 2011 (after Contador was stripped of his title).

This can be a brilliant, brutal race. A race that is steeped in history and tradition - this is the 98th running of the Giro, which was first run in 1909 but skipped a few years because of the 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 replicate the Tour de France with an Italian version. He saw 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 been 8 stages, but the 127 riders that started faced an incredible 2448Kms in just those eight stages, an average of 306kms per stage! No wonder only 49 riders finished it! This year's race is of course very different with 21 stages stretched over 3 weeks, covering 3,486kms, or an average stage distance of a paltry 166.1kms in comparison! 

The Route

I said above that this 'can be' a brutal race. Well, for several years when Zomegnan was in charge it was pretty brutal with some very hard stages and savage steep climbs. Since Acquarone has taken over though it has been getting easier and this year's race looks like being one of the easiest in quite a while.

The route this year will favour the climbers, as is almost always the case with the Giro, but maybe not as much as in recent years, with the summit finishes being far easier than usual. The harder climbs like the Mortirolo come in the middle of the stages rather than at the finishes.The long 59km ITT on stage 14 is sure to play a huge part in the outcome, there could be huge gaps after this stage. And if that wasn't hard enough, the TT is followed the next day with a Sunday afternoon TV treat with the summit finish up to the Madonna di Campiglio. It could all come down to stages 19 and 20 though, with first the 236km stage to Cervinia, with 3 hard climbs inside the last 86kms, and then the brutal stage to Sestriere on Saturday, which features the climb to Colle Dele Finestre, which will see them climb the final 9kms or so on unpaved, gravel roads.  

The opening TT looks perfect for Orica-GreenEdge to take their second TTT in two years in the Giro, they come here with their A-Team for the team time trials and could hold the yellow jersey for a few days if Michael Matthews can deliver the goods on some of the lumpy opening stages. Along the way there are plenty of interesting stages - stage 5, 8,9, 11 - there are lots of opportunties here to make or lose time on challenging roads fit for the punchy types. 

There are also plenty of opportunities for the sprinters, with stages 13 and 21 as flat a profile as you are likely to see in professional cycling. 

Contenders and Favourites

The analysis of the main favourites, the outsiders, jersey betting, team classification are now live - you will be able to access these once you have subscribed for my Giro d'Italia preview membership. With the Full Membership you will also get my daily previews and tips every evening.

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