Giro d'Italia 2017 rumours - Il Centesimo

[portugal11]

Re:

He will do il giro!!!

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

He will do il giro!!!

Ain't gonna hit the top 3 normally ...

 

[Ataraxus]

Re: Re:

He will do il giro!!!

That post has little (or no) relevance with Contador doing the Giro in 2017.

 

[Rollthedice]

I highly doubt Contador will do the Giro. It's a reminder for Oleg, the best result of Bertie for Tinkov.

 

[Eshnar]

The Etna is in. Still unclear if it'll be mtf or descent finish. The mayor of Nicolosi just confirmed on Facebook that the Giro will return both there and on the Etna itself.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

The Etna is in. Still unclear if it'll be mtf or descent finish. The mayor of Nicolosi just confirmed on Facebook that the Giro will return both there and on the Etna itself.

Still in.. has it been for a while?! I haven't heard that. Thats good news, at least.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

The Etna is in. Still unclear if it'll be mtf or descent finish. The mayor of Nicolosi just confirmed on Facebook that the Giro will return both there and on the Etna itself.

Still in.. has it been for a while?! I haven't heard that. Thats good news, at least.

I didn't say "Still in", it was speculation.

 

[jens_attacks]

Great news. I hope squalo attacks.

 

[Eshnar]

So... some elaboration on that.
Most of the Sicilian rumours point at odd dates... they say 10th and 11th May for the Messina and Etna stage, but this would imply they are stage 5 and 6. I really don't think it is possible, since the rest of week 1 is pretty much fixed. There is no room for 3 stages in Sicily, so I'm certain those are stage 4 and 5. As for the order between them, it is a whole different matter. If the Etna is a MTF it will 100% go on stage 4 (and the side will be the one from Nicolosi, the same as 2011), since the transfer from there to the mainland would be a nightmare. If the finish is in Catania, all options are possible, and the side of the Etna would most likely be the one from Zafferana (the hardest). Also, Milazzo and Messina are very close to each other, so it would not surprise me if that turns out to be an ITT.

 

[mikii4567]

Or, knowing RCS' love of them, a TTT...
Dream:
4: Milazzo-Messina (ca. 40km ITT)
5: Messina-Catania (via Citelli from Linguaglossa and Sapienza from Zafferana)

What a combo that would be! A rolling but 'short' ITT followed by double Etna, including a descent into Catania... action guaranteed with ca. 45km to go.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Or, knowing RCS' love of them, a TTT...

unlikely, as rumours say next year's Tirreno will drop the starting TTT because there will be none in the Giro.

 

[railxmig]

Re:

Or, knowing RCS' love of them, a TTT...
Dream:
4: Milazzo-Messina (ca. 40km ITT)
5: Messina-Catania (via Citelli from Linguaglossa and Sapienza from Zafferana)

What a combo that would be! A rolling but 'short' ITT followed by double Etna, including a descent into Catania... action guaranteed with ca. 45km to go.

I didn't know ca. 40km ITT is 'short'. Even if in quotation marks, this is still a quite longish one. This is not Indurain's 90's TdF (or the forbidden one, as some folks seem to like to refer as) when a 50km ITT was considered short

Still, for last couple of years Giro loves to have one, but quite long and complicated ITT in the 2nd week (what's Tortona status for now?) so i predict there won't be any? But my predictions have a long and rich history of not being good...

I'm quite happy to maybe see Etna yet again. The scenery is one of the best in Italy. If i would ever be "rich and famous" (which will never happen) i would definitely visit this volcano.

 

[Eshnar]

Re: Re:

Still, for last couple of years Giro loves to have one, but quite long and complicated ITT in the 2nd week (what's Tortona status for now?) so i predict there won't be any? But my predictions have a long and rich history of not being good...

Tortona will be road stage, the ITT should be Foligno - Montefalco, stage 10.

Apparently the mayor of Cefalu' announced they will have a stage start. That can only be stage 4, which I assume is the one finishing in Messina.

 

[Eshnar]

Oh, nvm.
http://gds.it/2016/10/11/ciclismo-i...italia-partenze-da-cefalu-e-da-pedara_575607/

It is MTF on the Etna.

stage 4 Cefalu' - Etna
stage 5 Pedara - Messina.


1 Alghero - Olbia *****
2 Olbia - Tormoli' *****
3 Tormoli' - Cagliari *****
rest
4 Cefalu' - Etna ****
5 Pedara - Messina ****
6 ??? - Terme Luigiane ***
7 Terme Luigiane?Sapri? - Alberobello ****
8 Molfetta - Peschici ****
9 Somewhere in Molise - Terminillo OR Gran Sasso (Campo Imperatore) ***
rest
10 Foligno - Montefalco ITT ***
11 Gualdo Tadino - Bagno di Romagna ****
12 Forli' - Reggio Emilia ****
13 Reggio Emilia? - Tortona ****
14 Castellania - Oropa ****
15 Andorno - Bergamo ****
rest
16 Rovetta - Bormio ****
17 Tirano - Canazei ****
18 Moena - Ortisei ****
19 Selva di Valgardena - Piancavallo ****
20 Pordenone - Asiago ****
21 Venezia ITT? ***

 

[Nirvana]

Starting from Cefalù they could make a proper mountain stage using Nebrodi before Etna, good news.

Edit: there is also Piano Battaglia just south of Cefalù.

 

[Gigs_98]

The first two weeks look really good but for me the last 4 stages just destroy everything.

 

[Nirvana]

The first two weeks look really good but for me the last 4 stages just destroy everything.

Week two IMHO is bad designed, Oropa could be the only climb of the day because with a start in Castellania in southern Piemonte it's all flat going to north, the Lombardia like stage in the second weekend sunday it's a shame and they cut the passage in Tuscany that could give an Appeninic mountain stage with the Pistoia/Montecatini > Reggio Emilia stage that was early rumored, too easy for a GT second week and very bad balanced if the third week will be the one rumored.

I hope that we could have a very hard stage the Etna day because otherwise the firs proper mountain stage will be the Stelvio one at the beginning of third week.

 

[SafeBet]

Does this confirm they're climbing it from Nicolosi?

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Does this confirm they're climbing it from Nicolosi?

they will.

 

[Nirvana]

Seems that Beppe Conti said that the stage after Peschici will finish on Blockhaus, another good news.
Now we need some change in the second (too light) and third (too hard) weeks.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

Seems that Beppe Conti said that the stage after Peschici will finish on Blockhaus, another good news.
Now we need some change in the second (too light) and third (too hard) weeks.

yes that's what he said, and even though I don't trust him too much,I'm inclined to think the stage will finish in that area at least. He also claimed the final stage will be an itt in Milan.
I would say the second week will stay this weak,and that is probably the reason why the first one became harder than planned

 

[Nirvana]

At this point the first week is the only one with a balanced route with two easy stages in Puglia, two hilly in Messina and Therme Luigiane and two proper mountain with Etna and Blockhaus.

After these changes in the first week i still hope that we could see also some changes in the other two. But in the second week a proper mountain stage seems impossible, the Bagno di Romagna stage could be very hilly but there aren't big climbs in the area, the stages to Reggio Emilia and Tortona could feature some hills but i think will be sprinters stages, Oropa seems to be the only climb of the day and it's pretty easy and you can't consider a mountains stage the Lombardia like one. On the other hand in the third week seems almost impossible a non-mountain stage, the only possibility is the suggested Canazei stage using only the valleys but will be a joke such design.

 

[Gigs_98]

I think the 2nd week isn't that bad. An ITT at the beginning of week 2 is perfect and a very hard medium mountain stage on the following day too. The two po valley stages are ofc a bit annoying but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them turns out to have a very tricky finish like the Asolo stage this year. Then Oropa is a mediocre mtf which has the problem that there may be no climbs before it, and yes that would indeed be lame but at least the last climb should be entertaining and more climbs would at best make the stage harder but wouldn't cause any action from far out since there are too many hard stages left. The Bergamo stage has the problem that there aren't any serious climbs linking directly into the city, but since there is a rest day the following day the stage could still be exciting. Valcava as the final climb would be great.

Anyway the first week looks really good so far. A medium mountain stage in Sardinia with an interesting battle for the pink jersey, A first big mtf already on stage 4, probably a very interesting stage 6 and another hard mtf on stage 9. Moreover, weren't there rumors about sterrato on stage 8? In that case this stage should be good too.

 

[Nirvana]

I read that they won't use Valcava, only the last three climbs of Lombardia (and i think the Bergamo Alta hill), i fear that before we'll have a lot of flat if they start near Biella.
Probably one of the worst second week weekend

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

At this point the first week is the only one with a balanced route with two easy stages in Puglia, two hilly in Messina and Therme Luigiane and two proper mountain with Etna and Blockhaus.

After these changes in the first week i still hope that we could see also some changes in the other two. But in the second week a proper mountain stage seems impossible, the Bagno di Romagna stage could be very hilly but there aren't big climbs in the area, the stages to Reggio Emilia and Tortona could feature some hills but i think will be sprinters stages, Oropa seems to be the only climb of the day and it's pretty easy and you can't consider a mountains stage the Lombardia like one. On the other hand in the third week seems almost impossible a non-mountain stage, the only possibility is the suggested Canazei stage using only the valleys but will be a joke such design.

The stage to Peschici could have sterrato, so it would not be that easy.
Also around Bagno di Romagna there are climbs such as Monte Fumaiolo, Monte Camaldoli, Passo della Calla and Passo dei Mandrioli, that if used would make it the hardest stage of the week, potentially much more dangerous than Oropa and Bergamo.
Canazei will have just valleys. I refuse to think they're gonna put 7 mountain stages in a row.