starts next Friday the 4th of May. in Israel of all places. anyone know why?
some big names in this.
Pinot the great French hope is coming into the race having won the tour of the alps a couple of weeks back.
Yates and Chaves look good in their team. be great to see Yates (this one is simon by the way) getting the Maglia Rosa. Aru's doing it for the locals and Dumoulin who's coming back to defend his title.
and of course there's Froome who is going for the hat trick of wining all three major races in succession. only two other riders have managed it. Hinault got three and the great Merckx did 4 in a row. the verdict for his on going asthma case will be given after the Giro and before the Tour de France so i guess even if he wins the Giro he might not get a chance to equal Marckx's record as he might be banned. not entirely sure what the most likely outcome is for the case. no doubt the French want him banned for the tour de france.
still it looks set to be a cracker of a race, (as the giro normally is) looking forward to it.
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Never watched the full race before - is it being shown on Eurosport?
It's nothing new, it has started in Northern Ireland in recent years amongst other places, it brings tourism, interest to the area and lets the country show off its landmarks etc, Le tour does it as well.
Israel has made a concerted effort in recent years to increase its tourism advertising (they regularly advertise on Eurosport) and industry so it's no surprise they have paid a huge amount for the start of the Giro (can't remember the exact amount but its alot).
I'm not to pleased with the decision to start in Israel as it politicise's the Giro unnecessarily, as well appearing to brush Israel's treatment of Palestinians under the carpet.
This article which I agree largely with summarises it well - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/24/israel-giro-ditalia-race-conflict-2018-start-cycling
Yes it will be on Eurosport @Addickted and @CAFCLuke or you can probably stream it on tiz cycling or steep hill.
I'll go with Dumoulin to defend the title. Froome has too much distraction in his life and hasn't looked great in his races this year so far, Aru can't keep it together for more than two weeks without falling apart of making a stupid error, Chaves hasn't had the racing he needs and Lopez has potential, but is too inexperienced
For dark horses, I'd go with Simon Yates and Michael Woods. Yates looks better with every stage race he rides and Woods was brilliant at LBL last weekend
Don’t write off Froome, he wasn’t far off last week in the Tour of the Alps.
the individual time trial has started in Jerusalem. Froome crashed on a trial run this morning but apparently is fine.
as to be expected all of the press conference for sky was taken up by questions aimed at Braisleford and Froome about his anti-doping case.
He's up for this one, that's for sure.
Froome unfortunate with the recon crash but I think he can still make it up provided the crash hasn’t hurt him too badly.
Dumoulin did look good, but can he keep it up? He’s a strong rider.
for the Italians Aru was a disappointment but that Pozzovivo looks in good shape. Still, it's early days.
Roll on the move to Sicily.
Could have won it and so gain extra bonus points in the GC yet gave it to his team mate who'd given his all in the breakaway
Regardless means that Yates is now Race Leader
great ride from both Chaves and Yates. the way both pulled away from the groups they were with looks very promising. when Yates was looking around at the others waving them on to give it a go and then just leaves them all for dust was excellent. also a nice touch to make sure Chaves won the stage as he had been part of the breakaway.
There is actually a rumour that both brothers may go for the Tour.