By David Hunter Gravellona Toce – Cervinia 236km For me, this is the hardest stage in the race. After 18 stages, good weather, bad weather, crazy tactics, wheelgate, short stages, long stages, brutal climbs and crashes galore we reach the Queen stage. At 236km, this stage is long and packs a real punch. The last 85km…

By David Hunter Melide – Verbania 170km A bit of a strange stage. The opening 120km is very easy, but the Monte Ologno, awaits the riders. This is another difficult climb, with steep gradients.

By David Hunter Tirano – Lugano 134km In such a mountain heavy week, this stage is a dream for the peloton. It’s only 134km and doesn’t feature much climbing. The cat 3 climb is 7.4km at 6.5% and comes at the start of the race. If the climb was near the end of the stage, it…

By David Hunter Pinzolo – Aprica 174km After a rest day, this is the last thing the riders want to see. Another relatively short stage, with zero kilometres of flat and five categorised climbs. The weather isn’t going to be kind either, with rain in the morning and showers at the end of the stage. This…

By David Hunter Marostica – Madonna di Campiglio 165km After 2 weeks and 14 stages, time for the first “real” stage. That might be unfair on what we’ve seen already, but the GC battle starts and maybe finishes here. We have another short stage but very, very difficult. The climbing starts from the beginning of the…

By David Hunter Treviso – Valdobbiadene 59.4km I’ll start with the weather report….rain and lots of it! This is not what the GC riders wanted to hear. This stage is hugely important to the overall standings and the wet weather is going to increase the difficulty, considerably. There are plenty of corners and we are bound…

By David Hunter Montecchio Maggiore – Jesolo 147km One of the shortest and certainly the most boring looking profile, of the whole race. A very easy day for the peloton, as the GC riders begin to focus on the ITT. Beware though, we usually get crashes on days like this. This stage is all about the…

By David Hunter Imola – Vicenza 190km After another crazy day, the riders will be looking forward to the relative calm of this stage, well maybe the opening 130km. Do not underestimate the closing 60km of this stage, it’s very difficult. Yet again, the organisers have done us proud and dropped in a stage, where we…