Tag: Giro d’Italia 2015

By David Hunter Torino – Milano 178km At last we are heading to Milan! The race draws to a close, with a processional stage and a sprint finish, in Milan.

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…

By David Hunter Forli – Imola 153km Another short, but very demanding day for the riders. They had an official rest day on Monday and an unofficial one today, so time to get the legs going again. We have 5 climbs in the opening 70km of the stage, a very tough start.

By David Hunter Civitanova Marche – Forli 200km It’s the day after a rest day, and the organisers have been kind. The race mainly sticks to one, big highway and we’ll see plenty of nice shots of the coastline. This is a pretty stage, that should erupt inside the final 10km. Certainly one for not watching…

By David Hunter Benevento – San Giorgio del Sannio 215km It’s the day before the rest day and after some very difficult stages, it can’t come fast enough. The stage screams breakaway, but we don’t always get what we expect, particularly in this race! The stage features three classified climbs:-

By David Hunter Fiuggi – Campitello Matese 186km It’s the weekend, so that means we head to the mountains. The riders are faced with the first proper mountaintop finish. This is going to be a real test. It’s another day of very little flat road, although we do only have two categorised climbs:- Forca d’Acero –…

By David Hunter Grosseto – Fiuggi 264km This is the longest stage of the 2015 Giro and it’s a monster. Immediately, you can’t help but draw comparisons with Milan – Sanremo. The length is close enough but the profile is not as demanding, as there is no Cipressa or Poggio. This is a nice ride in…

By David Hunter Montecatini Terme – Castiglione Della Pescaia 183km It seems like an eternity has passed since the sprint on stage 2, or certainly that’s what the sprinters are thinking. Well, time for the sprinters to return to the party.

By David Hunter La Spezia – Abetone 152km After another crazy day, the peloton will be hoping for some kind of normality. The stage is short and quite easy. It doesn’t lend itself to the crazy riding of the last couple of days. The opening climb is 10km at 5%. With the long climb at the…

By David Hunter Chiavari – La Spezia 150km After a very demanding day, there is no rest for the riders, as we continue in the “medium mountains.” Yet again, we hardly have a single kilometre of flat, making it very hard to control. Orica got their tactics spot on in stage 3, putting Clarke and Chaves…