Skip Madness
New Member
Tomorrow the world's eyes will be glued to the Tour de France, but at the same time in Mantova the biggest women's tour of the year, the Giro d'Italia, will commence.
It is very thin on time-trial kilometers - besides the 1.2 kilometre prologue, there is a 9.3 kilometer test against the clock on Stage 5, and that's the lot.
It is a bit more generous with mountain stages. Stage 4 is a mountaintop finish at the Prato a Calci stop-off at Monte Serra (10.7 km, average 6.6%) after a previous climb up a different side of the mountain (8.4 km, average 7.0%).
Stage 6 is probably the biggest true mountain stage, going over the Passo Sette Termini (11 km, average 6.0%) and the Passo del Cuvignone (10.7 km, average 7.0%) before descending into Laveno Mombello.
The penultimate stage, Stage 7 has the biggest shark's teeth profile. The four climbs themselves are fairly short (2.5 km - 4.5 km), but all have steep sections (some up to 22%) although the average gradients tend to be 6-7%.
There are no British riders in attendance, and Marianne Vos has decided to stay away at the last minute too. But there are still a lot of big names riding, including defending champion Edita Pučinskaitė. The start list can be seen here.
My predictions are:
General Classification
1) Nicole Brändli
2) Edita Pučinskaitė
3) Jolanta Polikevičiūtė
Points - Ina Teutenberg
GPM - Rasa Polikevičiūtė
Young rider - Marta Bastianelli
Will anyone else be following the race?
It is very thin on time-trial kilometers - besides the 1.2 kilometre prologue, there is a 9.3 kilometer test against the clock on Stage 5, and that's the lot.
It is a bit more generous with mountain stages. Stage 4 is a mountaintop finish at the Prato a Calci stop-off at Monte Serra (10.7 km, average 6.6%) after a previous climb up a different side of the mountain (8.4 km, average 7.0%).
Stage 6 is probably the biggest true mountain stage, going over the Passo Sette Termini (11 km, average 6.0%) and the Passo del Cuvignone (10.7 km, average 7.0%) before descending into Laveno Mombello.
The penultimate stage, Stage 7 has the biggest shark's teeth profile. The four climbs themselves are fairly short (2.5 km - 4.5 km), but all have steep sections (some up to 22%) although the average gradients tend to be 6-7%.
There are no British riders in attendance, and Marianne Vos has decided to stay away at the last minute too. But there are still a lot of big names riding, including defending champion Edita Pučinskaitė. The start list can be seen here.
My predictions are:
General Classification
1) Nicole Brändli
2) Edita Pučinskaitė
3) Jolanta Polikevičiūtė
Points - Ina Teutenberg
GPM - Rasa Polikevičiūtė
Young rider - Marta Bastianelli
Will anyone else be following the race?
