Thanks to a sprint bordering on perfection, Mark Cavendish has overtaken Eddy Merckx in the ranking of multiple stage winners at the Tour
He will remove the veil last, but he promises to be as beautiful as ever. The 108th edition of the Giro will be shown to the rest of the world only next Mondayafter problems related to the departure in Albania forced RCS to postpone the presentation by a couple of months. But a Roma, next January 13th, it will still be a real spectacle, also because after having already announced the first three stages in Albania there is a lot of curiosity to understand what the pink race will be able to offer, which will be without the last winner Tadej Pogacar (and the injured person Remco Evenepoel), but which otherwise will really have nothing to envy of any other race.
Visma is betting hard on the Giro: Kooij is also back
The last one to have given his availability to be part of the pink caravan was Wout Van Aertnow engaged (with profit) in the winter cyclocross campaign. Among other things the Visma Lease a Bikesurprisingly left without victories in the grand tours last season (after the sensational hat-trick in 2023: Giro a Roglic, Tour a Vingegaard and Vuelta a Kuss), in order to immediately break the fast he decided to put down the heavy artillery: the presence of Vingegaard is taken for granted, and in the last hours (after Van Aert) fromWhen they made it known that too Olav Kooy, among the strongest sprinters around, he is ready to return to the streets of the Giro (another decidedly intriguing challenge awaits with Jonathan Milan).
Presence also ensured by Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso e Primoz Roglic, but many other protagonists are ready to collect RCS’s invitation, which will clearly happen once the official route of the first grand tour of the season is revealed.
Rumors: grand finale with Mortirolo and Colle del Finestre
The three stages in Albania are destined to already produce important shocks, among the 14 kilometer time trial and two hamlets for a total of 5,500 meters of altitude difference. The mountains, the real ones, are waiting in Abruzzo, with the rise of Tagliacozzo who could already make a selection at the end of the first week, which will end (this is already known) with a sort of mini White Roads, departing from Gubbio and arrive in Siena in Piazza del Campo (Sunday 18 May) after numerous dirt roads.
The second week could be opened by one 30 kilometer individual time trialthen space for the Apennine mountains with the San Pellegrino in Alpe which could provide other twists in the pink jersey key. The Mount Berico could welcome the group with an intermediate hill finish before the week’s grand finale on the Monte Grappa (still unofficial). The third and final week will see the Dolomite stage cross the San Barbara Passwhile it is certain that in the last stages there will be both the Mortirolo (from the side of Monno) that the Colle delle Finestre, Cima Coppi of this edition.
Source: sport.virgilio.it
