Giro d’Italia: Stage 2 Preview

The team time trial is the first fight between overall contenders in this year’s Giro d’Italia. Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins will be eager to get an advantage early on, but Astana and Vincenzo Nibali showed in Giro del Trentino that they won’t lose much time. Losing 1 sec per kilometer (as it was in Trentino) is definitely acceptable for Astana and I wouldn’t be surprised if they even do better than that.

It’s a short team time trial of only 17.4 km but it does have some nasty parts, especially towards the end. The last climb kicks up with 7% in the beginning and the final descent is very technical with many turns and a short tunnel heading into the last kilometer. It’s essential to know the course well in order to win this stage and that is also why I don’t pick GreenEdge as my favorite. On paper, the Australian team bring the best time trial squad but for they haven’t had time to train on the course. Had it been a typical flat time trial, they probably would have won anyway but with this undulating route and technical descents, I doubt they will set the best time.

The way I see it, Team Sky should be strong enough to win this team time trial. They won in Trentino without an important rider like Rigoberto Uran and even though the competition is stronger here, they still have a great team. Especially Wiggins and Cataldo will be able to pull hard and knowing Wiggins has to gain as much time as possible in these disciplines, they should be properly motivated too.

Garmin with Ryder Hesjedal are another strong contender for this stage. They won the team time trial last year but are now without Alex Rasmussen and Sebastien Rosseler who did a lot of work back then. Their replacements - David Millar and Thomas Dekker - should be able to do just as well though and a stage Top3 without Garmin will be a big surprise.

My personal joker for this stage is Blanco. People seem to forget about the Dutch team when talking about the contenders for the TTT, but I have a feeling they will surprise and maybe even make Top3. Robert Gesink aims for the overall podium and in order to achieve that, he has to do well against the clock. Gesink has already shown to be strong in the time trials and together with specialists like Clement, Kelderman and Bobridge, Blanco have a very good team for this stage.

I would also like to mention Team Saxo-Tinkoff. They took 3^rd place in team time trial last year and bring an even stronger team this time. Manuele Boaro and Mads Christensen have been showing outstanding shape the last weeks and together with Daniele Bennati, they should be able to put in another good performance. The Danish team hope to put Rafal Majka in the Top15 overall and it would be a great confidence boost for the whole team if they do well in this stage.

Favorite: Team Sky

Top3 pick: Garmin

Joker: Blanco

I promised you something extra for the Giro previews and here it is. In collaboration with GNC, you’ll find a short video preview of each stage of the race. Here is Stage 2:

For live coverage of the stage check out steephill.tv

Tirreno-Adriatico: Stage 1 Preview

This is the same stage that opened the race last year. It’s only 16,9 km but most of the route is alongside the sea and the wind and the rain could easily be a factor. The weather forecast isn’t very promising but let’s hope all teams get the same conditions - wet or not.

The intermediate time after 7,9 km is right before the more technical part of the route, meaning the fastest team here won’t necessarily win the stage. The teams have been training on the route for a couple of days already and every team with ambitions of winning this stage will know every part of the route down to the smallest detail.

Last year GreenEdge killed the competition and distanced number two (Radioshack) with 17 seconds. This year we have at least three teams with a good chance of winning and naturally GreenEdge are among them again. The Australian team have specialists like Tuft, Mouris, Lancaster and Impey plus riders like Langeveld and Goss who are good in this discipline too. GreenEdge have been training on the course for the past four days and seem to be the big favorite. Still there are two teams with a chance of beating them.

BMC and Omega Pharma-Quickstep both bring very strong teams for this stage. Originally Tony Martin was set to ride Paris-Nice, but in the end he decided to do Tirreno in order to help out the team in this stage and try his luck in the final time trial. Together with Martin, Quickstep have guys like Kwiatkowski, Stybar, Terpstra, Steegmans and Cavendish for the team time trial and they should be able to clock in a top3 time Wednesday afternoon.

Same goes for BMC. Unlike GreenEdge and Quickstep, BMC are extra motivated to do well in team time trial in order give Cadel Evans a good start in the GC. The American team were outstanding in the TTT in Tour of Qatar and that was even without Evans, Hushovd and Quinziato. Personally, I think this will be a fight between BMC and GreenEdge but I wouldn’t count out Quickstep.

Team Saxo-Tinkoff and Radioshack will most likely be the last two teams in the Top5 for this stage and on a good day both of them could make Top3 as well. It all depends on the weather conditions.

With five so strong teams, it’s not very easy to pick a joker but since it’s now a tradition to do so, I’ll say Blanco. The Dutch team have started out the season in a great way - already taking 10 wins - and they do bring a good team for the TTT as well. Bauke Mollema is aiming at the overall classification and I wouldn’t be surprised if they start out Tirreno-Adriatico the same way they have started out the season.

Winnerpick: BMC or GreenEdge

Joker: Blanco

The first team start at 14:45 local time and with three minutes intervals we can expect the last team to finish around 16:10. For live stage coverage check out cyclingfans & steephills.

Exclusive Interview - Mauro Gianetti (Manager, Team GEOX)

Bringing one of the strongest teams in many years to the Vuelta, Team GEOX is certainly the team to watch during the next three weeks. To get a better picture of what we can expect, I took a chat with team manager Mauro Gianetti about his view on this year’s race.

Mauro, first of all, how do you feel about your team’s chances in the Vuelta?
Well the team is good. Everybody is ready. We are coming to the Vuelta with Denis [Menchov, edt.] to win the race. He has been working hard and reached a good level so everything is good. We also have Carlos [Sastre, edt.] ready to be a big player. I think it’s very important to have two so experienced riders in the team. It's not very often you get to have two riders with Grand Tours wins on the same team for a race.

Let’s take a look at the 9 riders and what their roles are…
Menchov is our leader. He is ready to win - no doubt about that. He is a great, great rider and has already won the Vuelta twice. He has a very high level and together with Purito and Antón he is one of the rider’s who can win the race. Sastre is coming in a good condition as well. The Vuelta is very important to him so we expect him to be one of the key riders. The same goes for Cobo. He has been having a difficult time, but now is he back again with great motivation. He has class and his job is to work for the team in the hard moments uphill and help Denis. He is a very good rider for our team. Blanco is another very important rider for the team. He can help in any aspect of the race. He is ready to use his experience and big class to help the team on both the flat parts and in the moutains. Same goes for Ardila and Kozonchuk. Their main job is to work for the team. Young Brändle is in the race to learn. He has great potential it will be good for him to stay with Denis and Carlos for as long as possible. He is a man for the future! De la Fuente is a good climber and it’s his job to stay with our leaders. He is very important in the first part of the climbs. Last we have Duarte. We hope he can surprise us. It took him a very long time to get back after his knee injury in the Giro, so we have to wait and see.

All the bookmakers have Team GEOX set as the big, big favorite for the team classification and looking at the riders you easily see why…
That’s true. And it’s very good for the morale as well. It means the riders know that we have a great team and that can help on the mentality. We are firstly here to win the race, but the team classification could be a goal later on as well.

What about the opening team time trial?
Honestly I don’t like this discipline so much. Cycling is an individual sport and with the team time trials a good rider can lose a race just because his team isn’t among the best ones. But since this one is only 14 km, there won’t be very big differences. So it’s okay, it’s a good show.

Looking at the rest of the course, what do you think about this year’s route? The long time trial must be good for Menchov’s chances in the GC?
Sure. The time trial is very important, if you can take 1½ min on your rivals it’s important. But every day is different. This year there are so many mountains and uphill finishes, so riders like Antón and Purito still have a good chance of winning the race compared to last year, where Purito lost it in the time trial.

Who is your own personal favorite for the overall victory?
Nibali. He showed last year that he is capable of winning the race so he must be the big favorite.

Last question. Carlos Sastre ends his contract with the team after this season. Will this be his last Vuelta?
Well, we don’t know yet. We will see how the race goes and then Carlos will have to make a decision...