The first Grand Tour of the season is around the corner. ICL's very own Eurosport has taken its time to provide the fans with a preview about all the assets to watch.

The Past
The Giro di'Italia offers no less than 4 different winners. Whilst the Vuelta and also the Tour de France have had a tendency to close finishes, it is of particulare note that none of the past GT wins was by less than 4 minutes. Last year's Giro was a true freak of nature in this regard, with TVG putting in over 10 minutes into Rigoberto Uran.


Although there is no previous winner present, we have four podium finishers in the line-up. Nairo Quintana finished twice on the podium in previous years, Rafal Majka was third in 2015, and Rigoberto Uran and Thomas De Gendt were runner-ups last year. Whilst Nairito and Majka have strong chances to be on the podium this year again, it isn't very likely for either Uran nor De Gendt.

There is no easy week for the riders in this year's Giro, as we begin in Rovinji with a 15 km long Team Time Trial. With three decisive hilly stages, there is little room for cold legs after the opening team time trial. VisitUkraine, SAP and Suntory field some of the stronger team time trial lineups, so don't be surprised to see König or Boasson Hagen in the pink throughout the first week. For all lovers of outsiders, Polestar may come up with a surprise and pull one on the PT teams.

The initial sprint stages in the first week are probably too early for the breakaway and offer solid territory for the german triumvirate of World Champion Greipel, Marcel Kittel and Paris-Roubaix winner John Degenkolb. Given how Viviani, Cimolai and even Nizzolo are considered just second tier to this behemoths of sprinting, it won't be a big surprise if home country stays without a stage win throughout the first week. At least with stage finishes in Trieste, Bologna and Venezia, we can be sure that massive waves of tifosi will cheer for Aru and Co. early on.

The first battles on stage 6 and 7 should be highly entertaining, as the top GT riders are also amongst the best puncheurs. Whilst we don't expect too large gaps, it is the traditional place where you may lose minutes due to crashes or punctures. An eye out for Davide Villela, recently 5th at Amstel Gold Race and stage winner in Pais Vasco. He is a man who can take the hill tops fast enough to top it off. The Viale della Vittoria - finish climb on stage 7 - will surely have large name tags of Aru and Villela on the road.

No fancy time trials in the second week, instead we get the first taste of heavy mountain top finishes. With three to four chances for the sprinters however, this is a traditional second week of a well-designed Grand Tour. The german sprinters are sure to dominate, however the lack in recovery may have an effect on some of the second tier sprinters. John Degenkolb is the man to watch. With high recovery and a faible for the hills, these stages may be vital ground for him to snatch the points jersey from one of the heavier sprinters.

Whilst stage 11 sees some grueling percentages towards end of the long climb, it is clear that stage 9 holds all sorts of hidden traps & places to launch fireworks. On the way from Bormi to Colcio, the riders take on no less than 7 distintive climbs. Mos t notably, Passo del Vivioni as the stages third climb, and the Passo San Marco as the final one. Perhaps too early in a Grand Tour, the riders will be unwilling to risk all too much. However given the opporunitiy, we are sure that some GT riders will take the chance to put minutes into their rivals. With his particular strong team, Nairo Quintana will be the man to watch. Grupo Argos has the numbers to drill it over the mountain passesand isolate each of their rivals. One thing is for sure, with or without attacks there will be tired legs after this 264 kilometer long menace of a stage. So we may as well remember that Majka, Aru and even Bardet have stamina advantage on Nairito.

Stage 14 sets the stage for the third week. By now we should know who are our prime contenders for the maglia rosa, and if not, we know it afterwards. Offering a downhill after the Passo Rolle, the finish may well suit Aru, one of the finer descenders in the bunch.

By third week, it may still be close but given the previous years, we are inclined to stay that already the gaps of minutes have opened up. To gain back minutes on your rivals (or put more into them), however there is no better chance than the beautiful and infamous Sella Ronda on stage 15. The stage begins up the Passo Sella, continues over the all the surrounding Ronda, and heads to the Tri Cime di Lavaredo. If we are 'lucky', we might get even snow that day. Again a stage with a long distance of 220 kilometers, we expect that stamina and recovery will play a vital role.

Whilst stage 16 to Fossano has breakaway written all over it, stage 17 to Lanzo Torinese may be of keen interest to anybody who loves short and cracky mountain raids. Traditionally a perfect stage to make daring moves due to its short length and short climbs and thus perfect for an all-out approach, we hope that some riders dare to risk it and take back time here.

After a flat stage with a late hill (hello Degenkolb!), we head up Colma di Sarmeno in a 34 long mountain time trial. Quintana, Aru, Bardet. Those are likely the three names to make up the podium that day, give or take some daily form. Wit his strong TT skills, Majka may come closer than some expect though.

Before we reach Milano for the final stage and showdown between the Germans and Italians, we have the grande finale on no other climb than the road up to Bormio 2000. Before that the riders will feel the pain of three weeks, as they take on this year's Cima Coppi, the Passo Gavia. Both recovery and stamina will play a vital issue on this stage, all the protection of the past three weeks from the team will be felt by the GC contenders, as they take on this 230 kilometer long stage. This will effectively decide the race, at least we hope so.

Riders to watch

	Quintana
	Bardet, Aru
	Majka, Pinot, Boswell, Dombrowski, Konrad
	Chamorro, De Gendt, Uran Uran, Rolland, Intxausti
	Fernandez, Verona, Chevrier, Anacona, Polanc, Kiserlovski, König, Kangert, Wellens

Given the past accomplishments of Grupo Argos' two times Tour winner Nairo Quintana, he is the clear favourite for this race. Superior recovery and team strength as well as a large amount of experience when it comes to winning Grand Tours, ranks him as the sole 5 star favourite in this race, by our estimation. With Uran, Nieve, Polanc and Sarmiento, he has four key players who are making up the numbers & strength and should be a force to dictate the mountains on their pace.

Suntory's Romain Bardet comes fresh off a great Vuelta a Tachira and two podium finishes from his Ardennes campaign. Unforunately, losing to Nairito in Venezuela should make him wary of the Colombian's strength. Still, with a particular strong team time trial line-up and help in the mountains from Chevrier and Guerin, who really rode himself into this Giro line-up by his great help in Venezuela, he has cards to play against the Colombian nemesis. Last year's Tour performance at 4th behind Nibali, Froome and Quintana, was Bardet's best Grand Tour showing. Focusing his off-season training majorly on making up ground to the big four, Bardet has set his eyes on the maglia rosa, and wants to make sure he ensd up on the podium this time around, preferably on the highest spot.

Homecountry Hero Fabio Aru is here to finally take over the mantle of previous winner Vincenzo Nibali. A plan that was already written last year, when Fabio Aru was the big favourite to win the 100th Giro. However, Aru just came with 5th. However neither team nor rider give up on their goal on winning the Giro. Training harder than ever, Aru looks to be his best ever. His recent win in Trentino has shown that this is the season he wants to balance the score and set things right. With a strong 4-man phalanx of Formolo, Colombo, Pirazzi and Capecchi, the tifosi's choice has the team on his side to cause a huge upset against Grupo Argos and Suntory in a display of pure italian climinb prowess. Plus the tifosi are surely shouting one thing; Forza Aru.

Further names are ranked fairly high are our three stars favourites. Rafal Majka has the burden of saving an entire team from relegation in the name of Santos-Euskadi. A stand-out performance could help a long way in this task. Allianz' Thibaut Pinot has been selected as the team's Grand Tour hope, whilst Barguil is racing an entire Non-GT schedule. Meanwhile, Ian Boswell has been racing in the midst of big names so far and largely holding up, coming 6th in Tachira for example. Similar to this, Patrick Konrad made an impressive showing as 4th in Venezuela and recently podiumed the Giro del Trentino. With his aggressive attitude, Patrick Konrad made well be a prime contender for the KoM jersey. Bunzl's Dombrowski has the task of filling the big shoes of last year's winner TVG. Whilst a repeat of last year's debut GT win is unlikely, Dombrowski has shown time and time again that he is a climber able to match the best on his day and even willing to try his luck from far-out.

Kittel
Greipel, Degenkolb
Nizzolo, Viviani, Howard
Ewan, Tsatevitch, Zabel, Cimolai, Markus
Willwohl, Bauhaus, Boasson Hagen, Felline, Pibernik, Boivin, Kamyshev, Wippert

The self-declared sprinter gods of ICL have brought a might sprinting squad here, led by Kittel. With back-ups by Ewan and recent VDK winner Willwohl, the german powerhouse train is set to dominate the lead-outs throughout the three weeks. World Champion Greipel and Degenkolb have been nothing but sneaky however. The recent show-off at ZLM Tour was largely a fight amongst equals. Thus the fight over the flat stages should be most intruiging.

With Degenkolb's strength in the hills, he is also expected to contest some of the hillier stages on his best days. Although his cobbles campaign has been rather mixed between up's and down's, the German will want to score on as many occassions to secure the points' jersey against the mountain goats.

The home crowd can mostly cheer for Nizzolo of SAP and Viviani of Italo-Ventilair. Both have some support of with them and are far from push-overs. With enough support from the sidelines, they are more than capable of matching the black-red-gold triumvirate of sprints.

The Giro d'Italia has been a feast of heroics in the past 4 years - and a tale of early decisions. It's 2014 edition was effectively decided on the first stage, where Liberty Seguros put over a minute into their competition. Chris Froome and Nibali both decimated their competition largely in the second week and gained huge time on them. And the less is said about the 100th edition and its rather lack in excitement, the better.

For some teams, the Giro d'Italia is a main season goal and the chance to score lots of valuable points. Whilst Grupo Argos is in the fight for the World Tour crown, Suntory will largely stay within Top 10 with a solid performance by Bardet. Certain extra spice to this race is provided by the fact that both Santos and Ceramica need their stars to outperform each other. It is vital to gain momentum in the Pro Tour to turn around the inevitable. Both are in the bottom of the Pro Tour rankings, end of April. Carbon Sports are also hoping for a large inflow of points to keep the margin on Grupo Argos as slim as possible, whilst the teams of Filliers, Allianz, Liberty Seguros, VisitUkraine and Lufthansa want to keep their performances high and not lose ground on their competition by sending largely second to third tier leaders. For the two other italians teams, Italo - Ventilair and Team Alitalia, the Giro has their home GT but their line-ups indicate that they have other priorities this season. Whilst the former is sending a solid squad around Konrad, the latter has hopelessly given up on any positive feedback in this race, sending just Di Gregorio of note.

Hope is that the 101st Giro d'Italia stays without crashes and enough excitement throughout the three weeks. Narrow time gaps make room for engaging tv sessions and wild forum discussions, although we ocassionally love the spirited mountain raid heroics, too. With three to four riders in the close contention for the podiums, the signs look good for a tense battle over three weeks. Of course with 3-4 stages ideal set up for surprise attacks by outsiders, there are numerous possibilites for any rider to make a lasting impression in Italy. As we say that, we also cross our fingers for some surprises along the line by our CT wildcards and PT breakaway artists.

Ollfardh wrote:
Cyclingnews.com has a scoop that all Giro reports will be videos with live commentary from the reporter

jandal7 wrote:

Thought I was in news in February and got really confused