By David Hunter

We are back in Italy for the 40th edition of this fantastic race. It sticks to a traditional route, opening with a TTT, and then three days in the mountains. No mountaintop finish is a decision I’m not happy with, but I’m sure the organisers know what they are doing!

Stage 1

The race begins with an easy route for the TTT. With only a handful of corners, this is a day for the powerful riders of each team. At just 12.1km, the differences will be small.

Stage 2

A beast of a day! Nearly 220km of uphill racing, taking us to the foot of the climb. It is 4km at 7%, but the last kilometre is over 10%. The climb isn’t long enough to create big gaps between the main contenders, but it does present a good chance to take the race lead.

Stage 3

The Queen stage features two cat 1 climbs. The first one is 11km at 7%, the second is 19km at 6%, with the final 3km at around the 9% mark. These climbs are proper mountains, starting at nearly sea level and rising to over 1000metres. The final climb crests with 10km to go and a fast descent takes us to the finish line. It will give a few riders a chance of coming back together, but it does look like a good day for Nibali.

Stage 4

Up and down all day long! Great news for the breakaway hunters but they’ll need to be able to climb well. The final climb is 6km at 9.6%, although it does crest with 35km to go. It means that the GC shouldn’t change, allowing freedom for the break.

Contenders

With three World Tour teams present, the focus will all be on them. Sky and Astana look ready to do battle, both teams are full of talent. A little behind them is AG2R, but they do have two brilliant options in Bardet and Pozzovivo. This race can be hard for riders to judge, as most arrive from a long period at altitude.

Team Sky – They will look to support Mikel Landa, who performed well in Pais Vasco. The other riders should help them achieve a good TTT result, allowing them to compete with Astana.

Astana – Nibali has looked good in 2016. He won in Oman and still finished 6th in Tirreno, despite the cancellation of the mountaintop finish. He is here with his trusted teammates: Scarponi, Fuglsang, Capecchi, Agnoli and Kangert. They have the strongest team and Nibali looks like the strongest rider. He’s won this race before, in 2008 and 2013. The last win was important, setting him up for his Giro win a month later. Expect to see a strong Nibali.

AG2R – Bardet has had a good season so far: 2nd in Oman, 9th in Paris-Nice and 6th in Catalunya. His form should be a little behind Landa and Nibali, as he is riding the Tour de France, not the Giro. That should mean Pozzovivo will be the team leader, another rider who has won this race. His 2016 has been disappointing, but his goal is the Giro, so I expect to see him on form. Both riders will be supported by Peraud, a good rider to have in the mountains.

As they are the only WT teams, expect to see a couple of riders from each squad in the top 10. Looking through the rest of the riders, Hugh Carthy, sticks out! The big man from Preston was 9th in Catalunya, allowing the world to see what he is capable of. If he has the same form, I see a top 5 result a possibility for him.

Bora have a host of riders who could make the top 10: Konrad, Nerz, Buchmann and Mendes. I have always liked Dominic Nerz, from back in his BMC days. He is a talented climber, hopefully he has a good week and steps forward as team leader.

Pellizotti, Torres, Bongiorno, Pirazzi, Cunego, Firsanov, Canty and Ramos are other riders who will be hoping to challenge for stage glory and a good spot on GC.

Prediction Time

So close to LBL and the Giro, I expect to see Nibali in amazing form. His team look very strong and he should take a comprehensive victory. Not sure how he’ll fit three of those trophies in his house!

David Hunter

Follow us on @CiclismoInter

Join us on facebook: Ciclismo Internacional

Copyright © 2016 Ciclismo Internacional. All Rights Reserved

Share :

Tweet

WhatsApp

Email



Like this: Like Loading...