Giro d'Italia 2017 rumours - Il Centesimo

[Eshnar]

Stage 1 Alghero - Olbia

Stage 2 Olbia - Tortoli'

Stage 3 Tortoli' - Cagliari

So, no TT. All three are road stages.

 

[Miburo]

Well that ain't a good start, at least no TTT? That would be amazing

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Well that ain't a good start, at least no TTT? That would be amazing

Still (MUCH) better than in 2016.

I don't think its bad, but obviously could be a lot better. The climb on stage 1 seems reasonably hard.

 

[staubsauger]

Looks like it ain't no tt rich Giro to massively favor Fabio Aru.

Bardet & Landa to fight it out then. :lol:

 

[GP Blanco]

Quite diverse stages. First seens for the tougher sprinters or is that little climb not too hard. A medium mountain stage and a real sprint stage.

 

[deneb]

Re:

Looks like it ain't no tt rich Giro to massively favor Fabio Aru.

Bardet & Landa to fight it out then. :lol:

 

[barmaher]

That is an incredibly underwhelming way to start the 100th Giro.

 

[luckyboy]

Yeah that is quite underwhelming. You could do much more interesting things in the East than that stage 2

 

[Gigs_98]

I was on holidays in Alghero this summer, therefore I find the start quite cool

I have to agree that it's definitely not a perfect way to start a giro (way better than last year or 2014 though) but I think it's decent. The first stage is IMO the best way to start a gt if you don't make an ITT. No dull sprint stage for guys like Kittel but a fight between different sorts of riders for the first pink jersey.
However the 2nd stage is in my opinion horrible. I generally like the idea of a medium mountain stage but the profile for that climb is really just false flat. I understand that they didn't already want to make a gc relevant stage on the 2nd day but this is still a bit underwhelming.
Stage 3 is unfortunately boring, but I think thats reasonable. Guys like Kittel also need a reason to participate and a few stages like this are okay. At least it's not on a weekend.

 

[Eshnar]

At least it's not on a weekend.

The Giro starts on Friday, so as a matter of fact, yes it is.

 

[dgodave]

Re:

Yeah that is quite underwhelming. You could do much more interesting things in the East than that stage 2

Yeah.
Lame.
There should be at least 4 MTFs in the first three stages.

 

[Gigs_98]

At least it's not on a weekend.

The Giro starts on Friday, so as a matter of fact, yes it is.

God damnit :lol:

 

[Alexandre B.]

Sardegna 2017 strangely resembles Corsica 2013.

 

[staubsauger]

I highly doubt Kittel is gonna be at the Giro anyway. Since he messed up his Tour preparation this year when he hit his absolute peak shape at the Giro rather than the Tour. Same goes for Greipel who's certainly gonna be on a low-level at the Giro like in 2015. As Cofidis ain't likely to get a Giro wildcard I expect Gaviria to be the major sprint force in next year's race. Actually he could very well go for the pink jersey on stage 1 as well as for the stage win in stage 3. And he'd stay in the race until the very end in order to win the red jersey. So Etixx's certainly gonna give him a decent train to work for him. He's a great prospect after all and he's ready to rumble next spring.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

I highly doubt Kittel is gonna be at the Giro anyway. Since he messed up his Tour preparation this year when he hit his absolute peak shape at the Giro rather than the Tour. Same goes for Greipel who's certainly gonna be on a low-level at the Giro like in 2015. As Cofidis ain't likely to get a Giro wildcard I expect Gaviria to be the major sprint force in next year's race. Actually he could very well go for the pink jersey on stage 1 as well as for the stage win in stage 3. And he'd stay in the race until the very end in order to win the red jersey. So Etixx's certainly gonna give him a decent train to work for him. He's a great prospect after all and he's ready to rumble next spring.

The advantage for Gaviria is that he isn't the best sprinter of his team. Etixx doesn't need him for the Tour so they will probably let him ride the whole giro while Kittel will go to the tdf.

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

I highly doubt Kittel is gonna be at the Giro anyway. Since he messed up his Tour preparation this year when he hit his absolute peak shape at the Giro rather than the Tour. Same goes for Greipel who's certainly gonna be on a low-level at the Giro like in 2015. As Cofidis ain't likely to get a Giro wildcard I expect Gaviria to be the major sprint force in next year's race. Actually he could very well go for the pink jersey on stage 1 as well as for the stage win in stage 3. And he'd stay in the race until the very end in order to win the red jersey. So Etixx's certainly gonna give him a decent train to work for him. He's a great prospect after all and he's ready to rumble next spring.

The advantage for Gaviria is that he isn't the best sprinter of his team. Etixx doesn't need him for the Tour so they will probably let him ride the whole giro while Kittel will go to the tdf.

Yes, exactly. Against Modolo, Nizzolo, Viviani and a weak Greipel (or Hofland) he should be the favorite in the sprints. At least on paper!

 

[Brullnux]

The first stage could be properly windy. The area around Santa Teresa Di Gallura is famed for its winds, coming in from Corsica. Echelons are possible.

 

[yaco]

Need to see more of the parcours but this could be the GT Ewan rides in 2017.

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

The first stage could be properly windy. The area around Santa Teresa Di Gallura is famed for its winds, coming in from Corsica. Echelons are possible.

The West Coast would probably be even better when it comes to Echelons but yeah, the wind have a huge impact on stage 1.
Edit: apparently the final climb on stage 1 is 5km long, with 3km at 8%.

 

[barmaher]

Here is the profile of the last climb* on stage 2.

http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Passo-Genna-Silana&qryMountainID=18179

* Well more or less, they actually join the climb linked above after 4km. However, the 2km before the point they join the climb in the link seems to be around 8% or so.

All in all, it is not a good climb, and won't be very selective.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

The first stage could be properly windy. The area around Santa Teresa Di Gallura is famed for its winds, coming in from Corsica. Echelons are possible.

The West Coast would probably be even better when it comes to Echelons but yeah, the wind have a huge impact on stage 1.
Edit: apparently the final climb on stage 1 is 5km long, with 3km at 8%.

2 km at 8%, barely.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

The first stage could be properly windy. The area around Santa Teresa Di Gallura is famed for its winds, coming in from Corsica. Echelons are possible.

The West Coast would probably be even better when it comes to Echelons but yeah, the wind have a huge impact on stage 1.
Edit: apparently the final climb on stage 1 is 5km long, with 3km at 8%.

2 km at 8%, barely.

Ok, so La Gazzetta is just hyping the climb a bit.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

The first stage could be properly windy. The area around Santa Teresa Di Gallura is famed for its winds, coming in from Corsica. Echelons are possible.

The West Coast would probably be even better when it comes to Echelons but yeah, the wind have a huge impact on stage 1.
Edit: apparently the final climb on stage 1 is 5km long, with 3km at 8%.

2 km at 8%, barely.

Ok, so La Gazzetta is just hyping the climb a bit.

3 at 8% is 240m, which is already impossible since the climb tops at 216. Additionally, they mention there's an easier part of the climb(which is true), so more than hyping I think they just don't know how math works.

 

[Eshnar]

So, recapping a bit.

We have 3 stages in Sardinia, none of which is a TT, making me think there's a very good chance the last stage will be a ITT (Venice?).

After the first transfer they'll go to Sicily. 1 stage I would say, but 2 is also possible. One of them will finish in Messina almost surely.

They'll go north, climb the Terminillo on stage 8 or 9. After the first weekend, one or two stages on the Appennines.

After those, I have no clue. Stage 15 should finish in Bergamo, and stage 16 should finish on the Stelvio. That's pretty much it. Before and after that, I've heard so many rumours I can't do it anymore In the west, Oropa seems to be 99% in, and there are rumours about 1 or even 2 stages in the Aosta valley. The candidates would be Cervinia (or thereabouts) and Courmayeur (this would be a wet dream of mine). On the east, Piancavallo and Pordoi are also basically sure, but there could be an additional mountain stages. I've heard about Valgardena, Tre Cime and even Kronplatz, although I would ignore the latter. About TTs, there have been rumours about ITT in Franciacorta and in Piemonte. As for the finish, some people say Rome, some say Milan, some say Venice.

So yeah, *** this ***.

 

[Netserk]

It doesn't even have 2km @ 8%

Most detailed profile I could make of it:

So first (hardest) part of it is 1.9km @ 6.85%