The second week of this year’s Giro d’Italia has something for 167 riders still in action, with several opportunities for the breakaway specialists, a time trial, one almost guaranteed sprint, and a vital mountain stage where the GC favourites should face off.
Nine days of action so far have brought the peloton from Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast all the way to Tuscany, where an individual race against the clock starting in Viareggio will immediately resume the fight for the pink jersey.
Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain Victorious) currently has the lead of the Giro d’Italia GC standings after claiming it from the breakaway on a brutal fifth stage to Potenza, and has made it through the two initial tough mountain tests, but keeping it all the way to the final rest day in a week’s time looks unlikely.
Two vital GC days
The cliche of not being able to win the Giro but there being plenty of places to lose it will ring true again throughout the next six stages, and anyone hoping to make a late surge for glory in the third week will need to survive the time trial and, crucially, a grim day of climbing in the Valle d’Aosta.
The stage 10 time trial is 42 kilometres, flat, and mostly without corners along the coastal road, the Tuscan ITT is set to be a big power day, where the specialists such as Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), a seven-time Giro stage winner, will battle out the spoils heading into Massa.
As the only ITT of the 109th edition of Italy’s greatest race, it’s also a massive day for the GC contenders, where heavy favourite Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) is expected to take a big step in his pursuit of the maglia rosa and completing the set of all three Grand Tours.
Eulálio will defend the lead after a stunning first week in his young career, and while he’ll start the day with a 2:24 lead, it’s not a discipline he’s excelled at in the past; he may well keep pink, but that lead will likely be reduced to less than a minute. The same can be said for third-placed Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM), who has already admitted he will lose time.
By the end of the 42km, the whole top 10 could be completely different. Thymen Arensman (Netcompany Ineos) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek)…
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