2018 Giro d'Italia, stage 2: Haifa - Tel Aviv 167 km

[RedheadDane]

Dammit! Starting race threads is easy when someone else does all the work for you!

STAGE 2: Haifa – Tel Aviv 167 km

Technical Overview:
The second stage starts from Haifa and at first heads north, until the town of Acres, where the first intermediate sprint takes place. There, the peloton will make a short loop to get back south, passing also though the hills, with the first categorized climb of this edition, Zikhron Ya'Aqov (GPM4, 2.6 at 5.3%). Once past that, the race goes back to the coast to stay. The second intermediate sprint in Caesarea opens a long coastal section of around 60 km, all the way to Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel, the one that is internationally recognized, that is.

Final km

The Climbs:
Zikhron Ya'Aqov (GPM4, 2.6 at 5.3%)
Short and easy.

What to Expect:
Hopefully wind. Otherwise, mass sprint.

Tel Aviv

 

[Red Rick]

2 words.




Weather forecast?

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

2 words.




Weather forecast?

Wind will come from the west, so there will be crosswinds. However with 20 kph the wind isn't very strong. Don't know if that's enough for echelons. One problem I see is that most of the stage takes place on highways which aren't very exposed so although the majority of the stage goes southwards there won't be constant crosswinds.

 

[Red Rick]

Also, flat Giro stage outside of Italy

Where the hell is Marcel Kittel?

 

[Sestriere]

Re:

Also, flat Giro stage outside of Italy

Where the hell is Marcel Kittel?

Didn't reach Frankfurt yet after being distanced with 90 to go.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

2 words.




Weather forecast?

Wind will come from the west, so there will be crosswinds. However with 20 kph the wind isn't very strong. Don't know if that's enough for echelons. One problem I see is that most of the stage takes place on highways which aren't very exposed so although the majority of the stage goes southwards there won't be constant crosswinds.

No way 20 is hard enough of a wind....

 

[DNP-Old]

Any idea how sharp those last two turns are?

 

[Lequack]

Hm by the profile I thought this was Tour de France already.

 

[Laplaz]

Let's hope there aren't crashes, that's the only important thing of this stage. Viviani ftw!

 

[movingtarget]

Betancur for the win in a break with Froome...........

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Given that the race is unfolding in Asia, I'm going to say that the master of Asian races, Jakub Mareczko, will take his maiden GT stage win.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Given that the race is unfolding in Asia, I'm going to say that the master of Asian races, Jakub Mareczko, will take his maiden GT stage win.

Thought Egypt was Africa, lol.

Looks like a pretty useless stage

 

[Poursuivant]

Booo

Get this race out of Israel asap

 

[Jancouver]

Why am I expecting all riders (minus Ben Hermams) from the Cycling Academy team to be in the break?

... and the break will take it!

 

[EroicaStradeBianche]

Re:

Given that the race is unfolding in Asia, I'm going to say that the master of Asian races, Jakub Mareczko, will take his maiden GT stage win.

Watch out for another asian specialist: Mr. Langkawi

 

[Velolover2]

Viviani will win this unless he crashes.

 

[Robert5091]

3 bonus seconds up for grabs after 22 km - ICA to be in the break - QS to win. Dawg to recover until Etna.

 

[search]

Re:

3 bonus seconds up for grabs after 22 km - ICA to be in the break - QS to win. Dawg to recover until Etna.

nope, there are no bonus seconds at the first sprint

 

[rghysens]

Re:

Hm by the profile I thought this was Tour de France already.

Way too hilly for a flat TdF stage.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Sam Bennett will win this one.

 

[Cance > TheRest]

Re: Re:

Given that the race is unfolding in Asia, I'm going to say that the master of Asian races, Jakub Mareczko, will take his maiden GT stage win.

Thought Egypt was Africa, lol.

Looks like a pretty useless stage

Don't be pedantic. Only 4 of his 35 pro wins are from outside Asia

 

[Leinster]

Re:

Sam Bennett will win this one.

The final 800m is a straight up drag race.

Bennett has the advantage in power over Viviani, who I think would benefit from a twistier final km. Quickstep's leadout work ruined Bennett's Giro last year, but Sabatini->Viviani < Richeze->Gaviria. But Viviani has the form, which none of the other sprinters in the race have really shown this year.

Benett should have drawn a big circle around this one when the route was released. He's not going to get many better opportunities in his career for a GT stage win.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Viviani most likely
Other main candidates are Bennett, D. Van Poppel and Mareczko

Not a lot of good sprinters here.. rest is Guardini, Bonifazio, Drucker, Sbaragli, Modolo, B.Planckaert, B. van Poppel...meager

 

[Salvarani]

Chances of wind?

 

[Sestriere]

Ryan Gibbons will (realistically not) win this bike race. Will have to fight for his own, but he has beaten the Asia-specialist in Asian soil before.