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Published on Monday, 03 May 2021 18:13

Giro d'Italia 2021

Torino to Milan, 3,480km

8th to 30th May

The 104th Edition of the Giro d’Italia starts Saturday the 8th May in Turin and covers 3,480kms of a wide and varied route, book-ended by time-trials and featuring lots of gruelling climbs and challenging stages along the way. 

Who can forget the memorable 2020 Giro, ran in exceptional circumstances in October, with its suprise winner Tao Gaoghan Hart hanging on from the Sunweb duo of Jai Hindley and Wilco Kelderman in a very strange race with so many abandons.

A lot of the pre-race favourites fell by the wayside, with Geraint Thomas crashing out on stage 3, which was further than Miguel Angel Lopez got, when he crashed on the opening TT and suffered a nasty cut near an artery. Alexander Vlasov pulled out on stage 2 with stomach problems, Steven Kruijswijk was gone by stage 10 after testing positive for coronovirus on the rest day. 

Jacob Fuglsang was fancied by many but he never really got going and finished a disappointing 6th. Vincenzo Nibali was very consistent throughout, moving in to 6th place on stage 3, 5th on stage 5 and staying there until stage 15 before slipping to 7th by the end. 

As for Tao - what a bonkers race he had - 126th in the opening TT, 2'04" behind his Ineos team-mate Ganna, he climbed to 24th after the Etna stage 3, 11th after the hilly TT on stage 14 and moved up to 4th after winning stage 15 to Piancavallo. I'm sure if you'd had asked him pre-race what his ambitions in the race were, just winning a stage was probably the height of his ambitions. 

Joao Almeida had held the lead since the 3rd stage, until stage 18 when he finally cracked and lost almost 5 minutes, with Wilco Kelderman taking over, leading by just 12" from his team-mate Jai Hindley and 15" to TGH. When Kelderman fell away on the penultimate stage and Tao took his second stage win, there was now NO TIME GAP between the top two in the GC, and astonishing result after three weeks of racing.

They are both pretty average at TTs, but Tao was just a little bit less average than Jai and took the final Maglia Rosa by 39" in the end, the 12th tightest final gap in Giro history. Ganna won the final TT and with it his 4th stage of the race and Ineos' 6th, Arnaud Demare took 3 stage wins and the points jersey, with Ruben Guerreiro winning the KOM jersey in a canter having taken it on stage 9.

TGH also snatched the young riders jersey from HIndley on the last stage, and for the record, Ineos Grenadiers won the team competition by over 22 minutes from DQS. 

Giro 2021 Route

The route of the 2021 Giro has been described as having been 'made for Bernal' with so little TT kilometres, in fact at just 38.9kms, it's one of the lowest amounts of TT kilometres in a GT in years. But if you look at the other favourites, you'd say that Simon Yates, Mikel Landa, Jai Hindley, Marc Soler and Alexander Vlasov are all pretty pleased with the lack of TT kilometres. 

The route stays mainly in the north of Italy, skirting down along the Adriatic coast to start with, then cutting across the Apennines, up in to the Dolomites and finally the Alps.. with a few flat stages along the Po valley thrown in too. The first week has a number of tricky stages, and as we saw last year, you really can't let your guard down in the first week of the Giro.

The first 'week' is also 10 stages long before the rest day, so there will be some very sore legs heading in to the second week. The second part of the race sees them take on Monte Zoncolan, a trip in to Slovenia for a tricky stage and Cortina d'Ampezzo. 

The final 'week' only consists of five stages, but three of them are brutal mountain stages and one is the final TT, so there's no let up, all the way to Milan. 

Grande Partenza

The race starts with a short 8.6km TT around the streets of Turin, where we should see Pippo Canna and Remi Cavagna renew their rivalry after their battle in the Tour de Romandie last week, but can Evenepoel kick off his first Grand Tour with a bang? The GC men will be looking to get off the mark with a decent time and not be on the back-foot from the first stage. Stage 2 will be one for the few sprinters that have come here, maybe a chance to see how fit Dylan Groenewegen is after his long hiatus. 

Stage 3 could be one for the sprinters, but it's a really tricky stage, with 4 lumps to get over in the last 80kms or so, we might see the break make it all the way or the likes of Sagan win it from a reduced bunch sprint. Stage 4 sees the first serious climbing of the race, with the pull up to Sestola, almost 10% for over 4kms will show us who of the GC men are hot and who are not. 

Stage 5 is a flat and boring sprint stage, Stage 6 is a tough one, the first summit finish of the race, but also possibly one the breakaway guys will have pencilled in on their roadbooks. The final climb is a long 15kms ascent at 6%, although it does get steeper in the last 8kms or so, making it another big early test for the GC guys. KOM hunters will be out in force on this stage too. 

Stage 7 is another for the sprinters, or possibly the breakaway given the lumpy middle section, depending on the strength of the break, they could make it all the way. Stage 8 also looks perfect for a breakaway, with a lumpy start, the big climb of the Bocca Della Selva and the uphill finish that averages 6.7% for 3.5kms. If the break doesn't make it we could see a good battle amongst the punchy GC guys for the win. 

Stage 9 is a cracker of a stage, seven climbs in all, including two lengthy Cat 2s and the final pull up to Campo Felice and the gravel track that's a ski slope in the winter. Another the break guys will be looking forward to, but also we could see some GC action too with the Ovindoli Cat 2 climb topping out just 20kms from the finish, some guys might have breakaway riders waiting to try to launch them on to the final climb with a lead. 

Stage 10 should be one for the sprinters that can get over the Cat 4 lump 40kms from the finish. Stage 11 is a beast - 2,500m of climbing and 4 sectors of gravel roads covering over 35kms of the final 70kms and a pull to the line at 12%.. should be a classic. And finally a rest day... 

The Second Week

Stage 12 kicks off week two with a bang, better have those legs ready to go again. 212kms, up and down all day with two Cat 2s, two Cat 3s and numerous other hills along the way. The break should make it again, but watch for late attacks from the GC men on the 3.3km sector of the final climb that averages 8.9%, especially the bit that hits 12% for a kilometre, there's just 10kms to go from the top. 

Stage 13 is a flat line sprinter's day, stage 14 couldn't be more different with the ascent to the mighty Zoncolan at the end of the day, 13kms at 8.9%, but far more importantly, the final 3kms at almost 13%.. It's a leg-breaker finish and it could start to put the GC in proper order now, there could be big time gaps on this one. 

Stage 15 is an interesting one, taking a trip in to Slovenia for a circuit race with a tough climbing section in it that should see some furious racing, a battle between a strong break and the GC men. Stage 16 is a GC day I think, one that the strong teams can control and sustain a high tempo on, with three Cat 1s and a HC climb of the Pordoi Pass, the Cima Coppi prize for the highest point in the race. They'll need to watch out for the snow and the cold though, being so high in the Alps. Second rest day is on Tuesday the 25th.  

The Third Week

The final week of racing kicks off on the Wednesday with stage 17, where they spend most of the day descending and on flat roads but they hit two huge climbs inside the last 54kms, including the Sega di Ala, which they are using for the first time and which features gradients of over 9.4%. Stage 18 should be a sprinters last hurrah, that is if they can hang on over the stingers late in the stage.

Stage 19 should be a GC day, one of the final battles for real time. The final climb to Alpe di Mera is another new climb, finishing in the car park of a ski station after a very challenging final climb that hovers around the 10% marker all the way up the final 10kms. Stage 20 is yet another beast, with the monster climb to the San Bernardino Pass (23.7kms at 6.2%), the Splugenpass (9kms at 7.3%) and the Alpe Motta (7.3kms at 7.7%) all in the last 90kms. 

The race finishes with the 30km TT around Milan, will we see the race leader's jersey change hands on the final stage again this year? 

History, Tradition, Legend

We had more drama in 2019, with another outsider Richard Carapaz taking the race by the scruff of the neck early on and riding brilliantly to hold off all challenges. Will we see similar drama this year to add to the drama we've seen over the last two years?

This is a race littered with superstar names like Bartali, Coppi, Grimondi, Merckx, Hinault, Roche, Fignon, Bugno, Indurain, Pantani..In 2017 we had Tom Dumoulin fight off everything that was thrown at him, including a bout of the shits on stage 16. Vincenzo Nibali took his second Giro in 2016, Alberto Contador won 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 104th running of the Giro, which was first run in 1909 (skipped a few years because of the World Wars). 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 3,480kms, or an average stage distance of a paltry 166kms in comparison!

Contenders and Favourites

Egan Bernal has been favourite for the race more or less since the route was announced and they confirmed he was taking part. He's been on the drift a little bit in recent days, with support coming for Simon Yates, who has of course had a good season to date, winning the Tour of The Alps in fine style and finishing 9th in Catalunya and 10th in Tirreno, where he was just riding himself in to the season. Vuelta winner in 2018, he's one of three riders who have won a Grand Tour, the other two being Nibali and Bernal. 

Bernal has a super-powerful team here with him of course, but what's his form like? How is his back, is it fully recovered? He was not in the same league as Pogacar and WVA at Tirreno, shipping 55" in the TT to WVA and 31" to Almeida over just 10kms, there is almost 40kms of TTs in this Giro.. He was super in Strade Bianche, obviously ridden with stage 11 in mind, and looked good in Provence but his team-mate Sosa stole a stage win and with it the overall too. We'll soon find out how he is, but he is looking a weak favourite at the moment. 

The big enigma is Remco Evenpoel, who is vying for favouritism with the top two, despite history being very much against him and he just returning after a career-threatening injury. Added to these there are a gaggle of stars vying to be this year's 'surprise' winner, with Hugh Carthy, Alexander Vlasov, Emannuel Buchmann, Mikel Landa, Pavel Sivakov, Dani Martinez, Joao Almeida, Pelle Bilbao, Jai Hindley, Romain Bardet and George Bennett all not without chances too. Vincenzo Nibali is going to be riding with an injured hand, not sure how that's going to work out for him.

The sprinters competition should be interesting, with Peter Sagan no longer the short price certainty he used to be for points competitions in Grand Tours, with Nizzolo, Merlier, Groenewegen and the likes of Almeida, Yates and Evenepoel also possibles. The KOM competition is the usual lottery, but I've some thoughts on that too in my subscription previews. 

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 £35, which is less than £1.50 a preview. Overall previews will be ready a day or two before the Giro starts, daily previews will be available before 9.30pm every night before each stage.

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