When we highlighted Rob Ruijgh first he had just come to the spotlight after winning the Giro d'Italia 2013. It was an outstanding win but Ruijgh had not been quite able to repeat that performance. The closest he came to achieving something similar was in the Vuelta 2014. Peter Stetina took the leader's jersey from him in the penultimate stage at the top of the Alto de L'Angliru. It was a big hit for Ruijgh and he might not have completely recovered from it.
2013 and 2014 were the best seasons so far in his career, especially with his good results in the Grand Tours but also with podiums in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Amstel Gold Race. His 2015 was not as good but nevertheless he took the 5th position in the Giro d'Italia. However, the change in sponsors of Rabobank, Belkin and LottoNL seems to have taken a toll both on Ruijgh and in the team in general. The general performance of the team has been slowly worsening and 2016 has been quite poor so far.
This season has not been great so far for Ruijgh but it has not been bad either. The Dutch has had difficulty winning stages and had only done it in the Giro before taking the 2nd stage of the Tour de Romandie last week. He also had a 6th overall in the Tirreno - Adriatico but the main target for him this season is the Giro d'Italia, the race that he loves the most. Ruijgh will not be among the top favorites to take the overall win but he might be in the top 5, as he has been 4 times in Grand Tours so far.
The future for Ruijgh still looks quite bright. The 30 years old has the target of adding a further Grand Tour win to his tally but this is obviously a very difficult task to achieve. Given his recent form, a podium would be great for him this season. Also, Ruijgh has spent his whole career in the Rabobank structure and his contract finishes this season. After 7 seasons in the same team it will be interesting to see whether he will chase a different objective.
The first Grand Tour of the year is the Giro d'Italia. The race is widely expected by the fans as the history behind the race brings memories of great battles in the mountains. The Italian race presents a route with lots of mountain top finishes this year so the climbers should have an edge. However, the 41 kilometers time trial in Barolo will also require those with a chance to win the race to be decent against the clock. The mountain stages start with the stage finishing in Montecopiolo but there are also finishes in places like Oropa, Plan di Montecampione, Val Martello and the Monte Zoncolan. Nevertheless, the most important stage should be the time trial in the Monte Grappa.
The Dutch have dominated the Giro with wins by Pieter Weening and Rob Ruijgh but Peter Stetina is the last winner of the race, who dominated the race last year. Dutch riders are also favorites for this edition of the race so it would be no surprise to see a 3rd winner from the Low Countries. The many mountain top finishes might make the race a bit repetitive but there are plenty of stages to make the edition entertaining for the fans.
Favorites:
- Laurens Ten Dam (Team Cannondale - Garmin): Laurens Ten Dam is the current winner of the Tour de France and was 3rd in last year's Giro d'Italia. His performance in the past years in Grand Tours has been consistently improving and he looks set to have another good race, even though he had a poor Tour de Romandie. His best result so far this year has been a 5th place in the Tirreno - Adriatico but he was also solid in the Paris - Nice so the signals from him are quite good.
- Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale): Gesink has given good signals regarding his performances but has never been in the podium of a Grand Tour so far. Ag2r made a big bet on him last season and he did not disappoint, increasing the profile of the French team. The Dutch was 4th in last year's Giro. This season has been rather poor for Gesink so far but he stated before the start of the race that he has been focusing on the Giro and is not worried by his poor season so far.
- Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil - DMC): Bauke Mollema did not have a great season in the Grand Tours last season but he arrives in the Giro with the win in the Tour de Romandie as credential. The Dutch has already won the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana, so winning the Giro would make him the first rider to win all three Grand Tours. Mollema should take advantage of the time trial to gain time on some of the other favorites.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): David Lopez has had an outstanding season so far but he has never had much luck in the Grand Tours so his results so far are not a guarantee for him. His best results so far in GTs were 3rd places in the 2013 Giro and 2014 Vuelta. Lopez's chances are a bit hurt by the time trial before most of the mountains. He will enjoy the support of Hubert Dupont, although the French might even work for his own interests in the race.
Other riders with a chance to take a shot at the podium are Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel), Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team), Denis Menchov (Team Katusha), Chris Froome (Team Sky), Michele Scarponi (Movistar Team) and Andrew Talansky (HTC - Highroad).
The main sprinters in the Italian race will be Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Marcel Kittel (Astana Pro Team), Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC), Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff - Saxo) and Lloyd Mondory (Etixx - Quickstep).
The Giro d'Italia starts in Northern Ireland in 2016. Belfast will be the city hosting the first couple of stages. The first of those will be a team time trial 22 kilometers long. Considering it is the first stage in the Giro and that the stage is not very long the differences between the different teams should not be very big. The profile is completely flat so the teams should not have much difficulty taking 5 riders home.
Sky was the first important team to start the race. The British team has an indisputable leader, Chris Froome. They were clearly faster than Giant and took the best provisional time at the finish line so far. They were 18 seconds quicker than the German team. It is important for Froome to take as much advantage as possible in the time trials against the better climbers because that difference could well give him a chance to be in the podium.
Astana started a few minutes later than Sky and a few other teams had already finished. The Kazakh team won the Team Time Trial World Championship last year but they did not have such a good day today. They took the provisional 4th place, 11 seconds slower than Sky. Marcel Kittel is the main rider in the team and he could even try to get the pink jersey in the coming stages if he gets enough bonus seconds. Other than sprints, they will have to look for stage wins via breakaways.
Tinkoff started the stage around halfway through the day. The Russian team were outsiders for the stage win but were quite a bit off the pace set by Sky and they could only get the 7th provisional place, 15 seconds behind. Pieter Weening, the winner of the Giro 2011, is the leader of the team for the race but it seems unlikely for him to get a top 10 in the GC. He is far from his best days and can no longer fight for the win in Grand Tours.
Quickstep had a very good team for the time trial and was one of the main favorites to take today's stage. However, it was not the best day for the Belgian team and they lost 7 seconds to Sky to finish in the provisional 5th position. Marco Pinotti must be a bit disappointed as he was expecting to gain a bit of time on the rest of the favorites. The Italian was very solid in the Tour de Romandie and will have a very good team working for him, especially Pierre Rolland in the mountains.
Cannondale has improved as a team considerably in the last couple of years and Laurens Ten Dam has a much better team at his dispossal, including Oliver Zaugg. Their stage was really good and the American team took the best provisional time from Sky. They were 4 seconds faster than the British. It is a very good performance for Ten Dam, who will be in the best place among the favorites for the Giro.
Lotto used to be one of the worse teams for team time trials but this season they have tried to correct the situation by signing Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin. Only the British is at the Giro but it was enough for them to take the best provisional time as they crossed the finish line, only 1 second ahead of Cannondale. Jelle Vanendert has not come to the Giro this year but it will be fantastic news for Robert Kiserlovski, who is targeting at least a top 10 in the final GC.
HTC were the clear favorites to take the win today, given that they have Andrew Talansky, David Millar and Stefan Schumacher in the roster. They did not fail and took the best time so far, although only 1 second ahead of Lotto. Surely Talansky was hoping to put a bit more time on the rest of the favorites at the start of the race. Considering the teams remaining to finish it would be a major surprise for HTC not to take the stage win today.
Vacansoleil was the last team among the favorites for the stage to start. The Dutch team has Bauke Mollema as the candidate for the GC of the Giro and it would be important for them to put him among the best riders today. However, they could only manage the 11th provisional place as they crossed the finish line, 19 seconds behind HTC. The difference is not too big but the performance was a bit disappointing. Only a few of the favorites will be behind Mollema after today's stage.
HTC took the stage win at the end of the day and David Millar will be the first leader of the 2016 Giro. He already was the leader in the Italian race last year and held to the pink jersey for 6 stages. There are a few flat stages before the first hills so the British might even hold on to the jersey but the small gaps in the GC might mean that riders like Michael Matthews, Mark Cavendish or Andre Greipel have a shot at the leader's jersey as well.
The second stage of the Giro will also start and finish in Belfast. It will be a very flat but quite long stage with a total of 219 kilometers. The stage starts heading north towards the Atlantic Ocean. The way back to Belfast is done following the coast and the wind could be a factor in the outcome. However, the weather reports are predicting an overcast day with no wind or rain in the horizon. The two small hills that will award the first points in the KoM classification will be Cushendall Road and Knocknagulliagh.
Five riders managed to break the control of the peloton early in the stage: Moreno Moser (Sky), Philippe Gilbert (Trek), Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel). It was quite a strong break for the first long stage in the Giro, as Gilbert and Chavanel are good riders. At the first climb of the day, Cushendall Road, they had a gap of 6' 40'' over the bunch. With 93 kilometers to go, Astana, HTC and Tinkoff were already chasing and reducing the gap. Moser was 1st at the top of the climb and grabbed the first KoM points.
There was not much to report on the way back towards Belfast as the wind did not make an appearance. The second climb of the day was Knocknagulliagh, only 24 kilometers before the finish line. Rinaldo Nocentini beat Philippe Gilbert at the top and will be the leader of the KoM classification. The break still had 1' 55'' over the main bunch. HTC, Tinkoff and Astana were chasing hard but they did not have many good flat riders, only Yoann Offredo and Geraint Thomas. The break might still have a chance.
The intermediate sprint was placed quite close to the finish line today, as Carrickfergus was only 17 kilometers from Belfast. Tyler Farrar was the fastest ahead of Andre Greipel but most of the sprinters seemed to be saving energy for the final sprint. The break still had more than 1 minute so the riders in the main bunch were going to have to chase hard. The mass sprint seemed to be guaranteed as there was no wind but chasing the break was a bit more difficult than expected.
The break was eventually reeled back in with 8 kilometers to go after a big effort by at least 4 teams in the peloton. The sprint trains soon started to take shape but with 3 kilometers to go Michael Matthews was the last man working for Andre Greipel. Nevertheless, Lotto had found the way to the front of the pack. The German is only 8 seconds behind in the GC. Luca Paolini was going to lead Marcel Kittel for Astana, while Tinkoff was having trouble setting up their sprint train and Tyler Farrar was a bit far from the leaders. Other sprinters in the mix were Lloyd Mondory, Ben Swift and Giacomo Nizzolo.
Luca Paolini did a good job to cut back the gap that Michael Matthews had opened at the front and bring Marcel Kittel with him. Andre Greipel was very well positioned but seemed to be starting his sprint a bit too early and with Lloyd Mondory on his wheel. The Astana riders were next and Kittel was followed by Ben Swift, Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff. Meanwhile, Tyler Farrar was still out of the picture as Tinkoff could not help him progress.
Andre Greipel was still leading the way with 600 meters to go but Lloyd Mondory started to gain on him and looked very strong. The tow of them had a good gap against the rest of the pack and it seemed unlikely that any other rider was able to get past both of them. Among those chasing were Marcel Kittel and Ben Swift, while Michael Matthews was fading after leading Greipel. All of the main sprinters were in the leading positions but many of them were not properly positioned ahead of the sprint.
Ben Swift wins in Belfast! The British did an amazing comeback in the last few meters of the stage and narrowly managed to get past Lloyd Mondory over the finish line. It has been a surprising performance by the Vacansoleil rider, who took his 4th win of the year. It has been a great investment for the Dutch team. The third place went to Andre Greipel, while Tyler Farrar and Alexander Kristoff completed the top 5. Marcel Kittel was a bit disappointing and finished 8th.
It was a comfortable rider for the important riders in the GC. David Millar still kept the pink jersey, although his teammate Tanel Kangert almost took the jersey from him on the cumulative positions. HTC is still dominating the GC with 5 riders on the same time. This situation could still remain for a few days. Tomorrow the riders will head to Ireland, which means that the Giro will visit the 2 countries in Ireland before heading back to Italy.
The Giro goes from finishing on the capital of one country to the capital of another as the race travels south towards Dublin on Sunday. The stage is also mostly flat today with only a few hills in the first half of the stage, where to 4th category climbs are placed. Other than that only the wind could cause trouble in the surroundings of Dublin but the forecast is again for a very nice day. The mass sprint should be taken almost for granted on the Irish capital.
Four riders were ahead at the second climb of the day: Juan Antonio Flecha (Euskaltel), Enrico Gasparotto (Quickstep), Michael Valgren (Sky) and Sonny Colbrelli (LottoNL). The Danish was the quickest on the KoM sprint but Rinaldo Nocentini will retain the mountain's jersey for another day. They had a gap of 5 minutes at the top of Fews Forest, with 136 kilometers to go. There were many teams collaborating at the front of the pack but with no intention of chasing this far from the finish line.
The intermediate sprint was placed at Dundalk, 103 kilometers from the finish line. The Irish town was halfway through the stage and the gap for the break had slightly increased to 5' 45''. In the sprint of the bunch Marcel Kittel was quickest, clearly beating Andre Greipel and Alexander Kristoff. The sprinters have to take advantage of the first stages in the Giro as many points will be awarded and the points' competition will be clearer. Tinkoff and Astana were already setting the pace at the front of the pack.
Astana, Tinkoff and Lotto were the teams making most of the work towards chasing the break. With 11 kilometers to go they were already quite close and the effort they had to make was not great as the second part of the stage was really flat. The sprinters will likely get to the final kilometers less tired than yesterday as there are 30 kilometers less to race. It might well change the order of strength in the sprint and we could have a different winner.
The break was eventually caught with 8 kilometers to go and at the 3 km mark three well defined trains were leading the race. Lotto had Michael Matthews leading Andre Greipel, while yesterday's winner, Ben Swift, was right behind. In Astana it would be Luca Paolini leading Marcel Kittel. Almost at the same position was the Tinkoff train, where Michael Morkov would lead Tyler Farrar. Lloyd Mondory was on Farrar's wheel. Other sprinters that were well positioned ahead of the sprint were Elia Viviani, Yauheni Hutarovich and Jure Kocjan.
Luca Paolini was again doing a perfect job of delivering Marcel Kittel to the last kilometer at the front of the race but Michael Matthews was also very strong and the Lotto train was almost on par with Astana's. Tinkoff was again a bit weak when it came to preparing the final sprint for Tyler Farrar. The American might want to take the wheel of one of the other sprinters in the future as his teammates do not look good enough. Ben Swift and Elia Viviani were threatening behind the leading riders. The British showed yesterday that he can win without a lead out.
Michael Matthews held on his sprint for a very long time and only with 600 meters remaining did Andre Greipel emerge from the protection of his Australian teammate. It is a luxury for Greipel to have such a good helper as he was delivered perfectly for the sprint. Marcel Kittel was also well positioned but Ben Swift and Elia Viviani were making big progress from behind and looked quite threatening for the two Germans. Tyler Farrar was behind but too far back to fight for the win.
Andre Greipel wins in Dublin! The German has to say thank you to his teammate Michael Matthews for giving him half the stage after a very good lead out. This is the first win for Greipel this season and also the first as a Lotto rider after signing earlier this season. Ben Swift fought for the stage until the last few meters but was unable to get past Greipel. He narrowly beat Marcel Kittel but the British might be one of the sprinters in better shape in this start of the Giro.
The top 5 was completed by Elia Viviani and Tyler Farrar, while Lloyd Mondory and Alexander Kristoff were a bit disappointing today. The GC will not change but Andre Greipel has progressed to being only 2 seconds behind, although still outside the top 10. The German is also leading the points' competition. This was the last stage in Ireland and the riders will enjoy one rest day as the fly back to southern Italy for the next stage.
The caravan of the Giro moved from Ireland to the surroundings of Bari, in southern Italy. The riders enjoyed one day off and today's stage will not be too difficult wither. It actually looks more like the stage in the Champs-Elysees than a stage in the middle of the Giro. The riders will have to do a short loop before entering an 8.2 kilometers long circuit in downtown Bari. The total length of the stage will be 111 kilometers, so a mass sprint seems to be unavoidable.
There was quite a bit of a fight for the break today but it never got a very big gap. As the riders entered the outskirts of Bari, with 77 kilometers to go, a group of 5 was ahead: Mauro Finetto (Katusha), Lars Boom (Giant), Jeremy Roy (Ag2r), Michael Albasini (IAM) and Taylor Phinney (Discovery). They had a gap of around 1' 30'' ahead of the main bunch, where Astana, Lotto and Tinkoff were controlling the pace and not allowing any group to go too far ahead. They cannot afford it in this short stage.
The intermediate sprint was placed with 4 laps, or 33 kilometers, to go. The teams of the sprinters were already chasing the break harder and the gap had decreased to 2' 15'', well within range of what the peloton could cut back in the remainder of the stage. Mauro Santambrogio had managed to bridge the gap to the break, which was formed by 6 riders at that point. In the sprint, Marcel Kittel was fastest ahead of Tyler Farrar and Andre Greipel. The fight for the points' competition is going to be quite interesting as many sprinters seem to be involved.
The teams of the sprinters were a bit quick to catch the break back. They did it with 22 kilometers to go. Surely some riders will try to attack now that there are no other riders ahead. Tinkoff, Astana and Lotto were the teams most interested in the final sprint. This has been the case for all the stages in the Giro so far. With less than 3 laps remaining, the riders should also be aware of possible crashes and some of the favorites for the race have made it to the front of the pack.
Lotto was again leading the way with his train as he has been doing in the latter stages. However, this time it was already Michael Matthews leading the way and Andre Greipel had no other helpers. Lloyd Mondory was again clever enough to grab the German's wheel. Astana was almost on par with them as Luca Paolini led Marcel Kittel, while Tinkoff's train was a bit behind. It would be Michael Morkov again working for Tyler Farrar. Among the other sprinters, Ben Swift, Kenny van Hummel and Jurgen Roelandts were the best positioned.
Andre Greipel launched the final sprint a bit too early. With a bit more than 1 kilometer to go he had already left his teammate Michael Matthews behind. However, he had the always dangerous Lloyd Mondory right on his wheel. The rest of the sprinters were a bit behind, starting with Ben Swift, who was making a lot of progress. Marcel Kittel was still sheltered behind Luca Paolini and Tyler Farrar was side by side with the German. They would have to make big progress to contend for the stage.
It was not Andre Greipel's day and he completely faded away halfway through the sprint. He was about to be passed by a few competitors still with 600 meters to go. Meanwhile, Lloyd Mondory had shot up the road and if he had the legs no one would be able to take the stage from him. Among those that could hunt him down were Ben Swift, Kenny van Hummel and Tyler Farrar. On the other hand, it was an appalling performance by Marcel Kittel, who was not even among the top 10. The German has been very poor this season except for the Milano - Sanremo, when he was 2nd.
Lloyd Mondory wins in Bari! The French narrowly lost the second stage in Belfast but he did not disappoint today and took another win for his tally this season. It is his 4th of the season, all the wins that Quickstep has got so far. Mondory has found his opportunity to shine in his new team as he was overshadowed by Alexander Kristoff in Euskaltel in 2015. The second place went to Kenny van Hummel, who looked rather strong but could not close the gap to Mondory.
Ben Swift was third, taking back the points' jersey from Andre Greipel, while Tyler Farrar and Alexander Kristoff completed the top 5. Farrar has been giving good signs but his team is unable to set up a good sprint for him and even though he recovers positions in the sprint it is never enough. The stages for the sprinters are now over for a while as tomorrow's stage finishes at the town of Viggiano after a double climb to it. It will be a totally different landscape that today's.
Congrats to Lloyd Mondory, got a clever win over probably stronger riders.
Swifty got an important gap in the hunt for green, but there is a long hard road to Paris.
The fifth stage will break the consecutive flat stages in the Giro with a finish at the town of Viggiano. The riders will have to tackle a double ascent to the town after 200 kilometers of racing. The gaps will probably not be very big and most of the riders will make it home close to the front group but it could serve to see who has good legs in this start of the Giro. The stage win should go to one of the uphill finishers, although as the climb is not very steep a sprinter that copes with the hills could have a chance.
The break of the day was surprisingly quite strong. A total of 8 riders made it, including Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Yoann Offredo (Astana), Moreno Moser (Sky), Carlos Betancur (Katusha) and Roman Kreuziger (LottoNL). At the intermediate sprint, in Montalbano Jonico, Moreno Moser was quickest. That puts him only 3 seconds away from the lead of the race taking into account the bonus seconds. Meanwhile, the peloton was 5 minutes behind but they still had 132 kilometers to go and no rush to chase.
The first climb of the day was the Valico della Serra di San Chirico. The 3rd category climb was 64 kilometers to the finish line and the gap of the break was still 4' 30''. Yoann Offredo was first at the top and grabbed the provisional lead in the KoM competition. Meanwhile, Vacansoleil and IAM were the teams most interested in chasing as Aleksandr Kolobnev, Pierrick Fedrigo and Sergey Chernetskiy were leading the bunch in the climb. The peloton was going to have to chase hard to catch the riders in the break.
The last 20 kilometers towards the first climb to Viggiano were good for the peloton to chase and the gap had been reduced to only 55 seconds ahead of the first climb to the town in Basilicata. HTC took the lead of the bunch a few kilometers before the climb with riders like Tanel Kangert, Chris Horner and especially Johan Vansummeren, who put a high pace in the flat. David Millar will have a hard time trying to retain the pink jersey but HTC wants to give it a shot. Cannondale was also getting involved in the chase.
The first climb to Viggiano was more entertaining than anticipated and Moreno Moser made it to the top as the only survivor from the early break to be ahead of the main group. The Italian had 35 seconds, probably not enough to grab the win in the second climb. Among the favorites, Mathias Frank tested the rest of the favorites but once David Lopez and Philippe Gilbert jumped behind he gave up and waited for a better moment to attack. There were still lots of riders in the peloton so the climb might not be hard enough to produce any gaps.
Jose Serpa and Vincenzo Nibali were the first riders to attack in the second climb. Their attack with 4 kilometers to go effectively ended the chances of Moreno Moser. However, HTC still had Stefan Schumacher and Johan Vansummeren and there was nothing to do for the attackers. Mikel Nieve had also tried to go in the descent but there were plenty of riders willing to work for their leaders and the stage seemed to be destined to finish in an uphill sprint.
Vincenzo Nibali attacked again with 2 kilometers to go and Pavel Brutt followed him swiftly. They opened a 20 seconds gap but HTC was determined not to let them get a gap and defend David Millar's pink jersey. Nevertheless, they were more than 30 seconds behind in the GC so not really a threat if the pace was high in the bunch. Among the riders that might have a chance in the final uphill sprint is Philippe Gilbert, who was very keen to grab a stage win the Giro before the start of the race.
Vincenzo Nibali pushed on inside the final kilometer but an attack from David Lopez in the favorites group meant that the Spaniard shoot up the order and got past the Italian with 700 meters to go. The Spaniard looked unstoppable and clearly has good legs in the early part of the Giro. They had a gap of 10 seconds over their chasers, including Pavel Brutt, Andrew Talansky and Jean-Christophe Peraud. However, no one seemed to be even close to Lopez today.
David Lopez wins in Viggiano! It looked as if the Spaniard had no opposition in today's stage and he comfortably took the stage win, his 6th of the year. Lopez has already won the Paris - Nice and the Vuelta al Pais Vasco so a good result in the Giro would make this a perfect year. Apart from the stage win he also grabbed the leader's jersey as he opened a gap of 14 seconds over his rivals. Vincenzo Nibali was 2nd and gave time to a big group of riders.
The third today was Andrew Talansky, 2nd in the GC 5 seconds behind Lopez. The top 5 was completed by Jean-Christophe Peraud and Mathias Frank. The win of the Euskaltel rider will probably hurt some of his rivals more in psychologically that in terms of time. Lopez is a rider that likes to win as much as possible and maybe tomorrow in Montecassino he will try to extend his lead ahead of the more mountainous stages.
