- [Daniel] Nibali.
Dumoulin.
Roglič.
Yates.
Jungels.
Lander.
Lopez.
I mean, the Giro's often seen as the poorer cousin
to the beast that is the Tour de France each year,
but I think that this year, it could be
the grand tour of the year.
- Absolutely.
So we are gonna talk through
the must-watch stages,
all the key riders
and give our fateful GCN predictions,
all the while sipping afternoon cappuccinos
at the Amarone Restaurant in Bath.
- True Italian style.
- Oh yeah.
- First up then, let's take a look
at this year's route.
As is the norm for Grand Tours these days,
it takes place over the course
of 21 stages over three weeks.
This year, it totals 3,518 kilometers.
Within that, there are three individual
time trials that total 58.5 kilometers.
We then got eight flat stages,
four intermediate or hilly stages
and then six in the high mountains.
- Yeah, we've a total of seven summit or hilltop finishes.
Now it starts a little bit later than usual,
on Saturday the 11th of May,
with a short but really tough
individual prologue time trial.
- That's around Bologna, isn't it?
There's a real sting in the tail on that one.
The last climb of that time trial
is known as the Colle della Guardia.
That, some of you will know, is the climb
that's used in the Giro dell'Emilia,
an autumn one-day classic each and every year.
It's tough on a road bike, even tougher
perhaps on a time trial bike 'cause it's 2.1 k's
on an average grading of 9.8%.
- Yeah, we say time trial bike,
perhaps they will start on a TT bike
and finish on a road bike,
having done a cheeky little bike change
at the bottom.
One of my least favorite things in pro cycling,
- Yeah.
- But anyway, something for another day.
Right, from that stage, the race then heads south
onto the Mediterranean Coast for two stages,
a little light issue for the sprinters.
The first hilltop finish
is on stage four, the Frascati.
Doesn't look like it's gonna be that tough,
so maybe no major time gaps, but perhaps
a different winner that day.
Then the race heads over to the Adriatic Coast,
before on stage seven, you go up to L'Aquila.
- L'Aquila was the finish venue, wasn't it?
It was made famous back in 2010,
where we had that epic 262 kilometer stage,
which turned the race on it's head.
The conditions are atrocious,
all the big favorites up there on the GC
had a bit of a spat behind
that massive break up the road
and what ended up happening was
Richie Porte went into the pink jersey
as a reasonably unknown rider.
It's certainly etched into my brain
because I was in that stage,
suffering like a good 'un.
The winner took six and a half hours to complete it
and I was about 40 minutes down.
- Really?
Why were you so slow?
- Well, I missed the break,
and I went as fast as I could.
Let me tell you, Si, that race was so hard,
that even Adam Hansen couldn't finish the stage.
- Really?
To be fair, it's etched in my brain
and I was on the sofa, watching it.
- I wish I was.
- Right then, the first half of the race
it's fair to say is relatively unspectacular
in terms of terrain, although that is by Giro standards,
so for most of us, still absolutely bloomin' amazing.
Ah, now the second individual time trial
is gonna be a tough one.
That's 34.8 kilometers long.
You'd think that's where Tom Dumoulin is going
to try and exert his advantage over the pure climbers,
although the terrain is such
that he will probably be relatively happy as well.
- Yeah, more happy than if it was
completely flat, I daresay.
After that, follows the first rest day of the race
and after that, follows a couple of stages
probably earmarked for the sprinters
if they're reasonably flat,
including in fact one visit
to the Supercar capital of the world, Modena.
That, the birthplace the Enzo Ferrari
and it's not too far away from the headquarters
of Maserati, Lamborghini and Pagani
and previously many years ago, Bugatti too.
- After that, things get nasty.
The race enters a frankly eyewatering series
of mountain stages, over some of the most
iconic climbs in Giro history
and the riders won't get any respite right until stage 18.
- Stage 13, that's like a really tough one.
- Yep.
- That stage goes from Pinerolo to Ceresole Reale.
There's a summit finish at Lago Serrù,
over 2,200 meters above sea level.
Not a particularly famous climb, but it is a big one.
Over 20 kilometers in length,
with grades of up to 15% somewhere near the start.
It does flatten out a bit halfway through
and there's even a small descent,
but then towards the end, it continues
to get steeper and steeper towards the summit,
with grades of up to 10.5%.
- Wow, things ramp up even more
on the following stage, stage 14.
In fact, the organizers have given this one five stars
in terms of severity, despite the fact
that it's relatively punchy.
It is 131 k's, it is brutal.
It goes from Saint-Vincent to Courmayeur.
There are four thousand meters of climbing,
over five climbs there.
For an ultimate climb, Colle San Carlo
is 10.5 kilometers long
at 9.8% average,
with pitches of up to 14 and 15% in there,
so it is a bit of a beast, yeah.
- The following day, stage 15, that rounds out
the second week of racing
and it'd be familiar to a lot of you, in fact,
because it traces much of the route of Il Lombardia,
which is the last World Tour
one-day race of the season each autumn.
As such, it takes in the iconic climbs
of the Madonna del Ghisallo,
a super steep climb backed
of the Colma di Sormano.
We then got a couple more climbs to go before
the finish next to Lake Como, to be nice.
- It sounds tough, but it is nothing compared
to what the riders face in the final week,
particularly the dates that you need
to set in your diaries, stage 16,
Tuesday the 28th of May.
It is an epic 226 kilometers,
with five thousand meters of climbing
on the way to Ponte di Legno,
including the absolute giant of the Gavia and the Mortirolo.
- All of you know the Gavia climb, don't you?
It's the one that was made famous
by Andy Hampsten in 1988.
That was the day he went into the pink jersey,
riding through some of the most epic weather
conditions that a bike race has ever seen.
- Yeah, it's ironic, isn't it actually, when you
think about the modern extreme weather protocol
kind of robs the riders of the ability
to enter legendary status,
'cause they wouldn't race in those conditions,
would they anymore?
- No, exactly.
I'm not sure that L'Aquila stage that I did
would have gone ahead these days.
- No, and to be fair, I mean people all over the world
are still talking about your ride to L'Aquila that day.
- I'm still whinging about it, to be perfectly honest.
Anyway, the Gavia this year has the Cime Coffee prize,
so the first rider over the top of that
will receive that prize and it's the highest point
of this year's route at 2,680 meters above sea level.
- Wow, and then the Mortirolo.
I mean, what can you say about that?
One of the steepest climbs in pro racing, isn't it?
This time, it goes up the conventional side,
which is the best side.
There are maximum gradients of 16% in there,
but it's the prolonged section of over six kilometers
where it averages over 12%
that's gonna be getting people's legs crumbling.
- Whilst the Gavia was made famous by Andy Hampsten
riding through those epic conditions,
the Mortirolo was made famous a little bit later than that
by Si Richardson, who managed to get up it in 39:23.
- Oh yeah, only just.
I might have bitten off more than I can chew here.
- That was the old tendonitis, yeah?
- Let's not go there,
see nothing to do with the Mortirolo,
but I will have to re-ride it in a couple of weeks.
Ah, we're making a video there
but just how hard the hardest stage of a Grand Tour
is this year, honestly, I'm terrified, 'cause I, yeah.
- In one day or are you taking a bivvy?
- I was hoping to do it in one day.
In fact, I'm not taking a bivvy,
so I have to do it in one day.
One very big day.
Ah, right, anyway stage 17 is still another
summit finish, this time it goes up to Antholz.
- Stage 18 is that brief bit of respite
that we talked to you about earlier.
In fact, I quite like the look of this stage
because although it's 220 k's long,
if the profile is to be believed,
it's almost entirely downhill.
- Nice, yeah, well just as well actually,
because stage 19 is almost entirely uphill,
ending up on a summit finish at San Martino di Castrozza
and then the penultimate stage is actually
the final mountain stage
and this one goes up to Croce d'Aune.
- Which is a climb and a mountain which is well
etched in the history books of cycling, isn't it?
For very good reason.
In fact, the riders, as they go up it, will pass
a monument commemorating the year 1927
and a certain guy called Tullio Campagnolo
who could not change his wheel
on that particular year's Giro d'Italia.
Soon after that race, he invented the
world's first ever quick release
and in fact a few years later,
he invented the rear derailleur in 1933
and he called it, wait for it, the Croce d'Aune.
- Did he?
That's a coincidence, innit?
Anyway, we digress.
Back to the race and the final stage.
If a rider like Dumoulin or Roglič
is in the maglia rosso, they are going to be
thanking their lucky stars
that they are finishing with a time trial.
It should be relatively straight forward for them.
However, if it's one of our pure climbers,
they got a battle on their hands.
The one saving grace is that the organizers
kept it quite short, to 17 k's they have to hold on.
- Well, fingers crossed it does come down to that
very final tick. - Yeah.
- It has a couple of times in the last decade, hasn't it?
Ah, 2012, Ryder Hesjedal overhauled Joaquim Rodríguez
in the final day's time trial
and exactly the same thing happened between
Tom Dumoulin and Nairo Quintana in 2017.
- Yeah, that's right and in fact,
bit of Giro history for you,
in 1984 in the very city of Verona,
Moser overhauled Laurent Fignon
to take the Giro that year.
Poor Laurent Fignon lost another Grand Tour in a time trial.
- I didn't know that.
- No, I didn't either, before the infamous
Tour de France one, where he got rolled by Gregor LeMond.
- Hashtag facts.
Ah, right, well that's the route
for the 2019 Giro d'Italia.
Before we get on to the riders to watch out for this year,
we're going to have a quick break
for a short commercial break.
Our own commercial break in fact,
because we've got some merchandise
that we would like to sell you.
First up, we've got these new 3D tees
that Si's been sporting through the show.
Also available in black.
We've got the country tees, which is still
proving very popular with you all
and of course it's the launch of GC Italia,
we also have their own t-shirt, which I love.
That's a cracking logo, isn't it?
- A bit busy, maybe limited.
Prices correct at time of publication.
Real garments will look better in real life
compared to when I presented.
(electronic music sting)
- The contenders, then.
First up, we've got Vincenzo Nibali.
He is the only rider on the start line
to have won this race twice before
and he's looking at like he's pretty
fired up for this one, doesn't he?
If his performance at the Tour of the Alps
is anything to go by.
He animated the five stage race through
the Austrian and the Italian Alps
and that was straight off the back
of an altitude training camp in Tenerife.
He went straight back into the groove, didn't he?
- He did look good there. - Yeah.
- And in fact, his manager Brent Copeland said
he's never looked so good on lead-up
to a Grand Tour in the last few years.
So he seems to have got over that injury
which wrecked the 2018 season in terms
of the Grand Tours for him.
Also there's the fact that there are some
very high profile contract sorts going on
Nibali at the moment, so he might have
to eke his prices a bit if he wins a Grand Tour
at the ripe old age of 34.
- Yeah.
Right, next up we've got Tom Dumoulin.
Now having finished runner-up to Geraint Thomas
in the Tour de France last year, it could well come
as a surprise to people to see him on the start line here,
given that he's therefore not focusing all his energies
on bumping himself up one spot in July.
But he said, having reviewed the routes
of both races, he is gonna be focusing on the Giro,
whilst still trying to do the double
because frankly it just suits him more.
- Yeah, he is the only other former winner
on the start line this year in fact,
along with Nibali, isn't he?
I think it's fair to say we've not seen the best
of Tom Dumoulin so far in 2019,
but I wouldn't be too worried.
He knows what he's doing when it comes
to correct training, so to say,
and he's got a history of getting his form
at exactly the right point at exactly the right time.
- That's right.
Then next up, Primož Roglič. - Yes.
He has been flying, hasn't he, this last year.
He is a former ski jumper, of course.
Primož Roglič, he's kind of in the revelation
of the world of Grand Tours since he burst
onto the scene only three years ago, in 2016.
- That's right, he's a man that can
kind of do it all, can't he?
He can climb with the best, he can time trial
with the best and he is a demon descender.
No surprise, given his Alpine background.
Rumor has it that were there to be a massive jump
on the descent of the Gavia,
he would be the only GC contender
to be able to actually clear and land it.
- Yeah, he'll be leading Jumbo-Visma as we mentioned,
but leading Team Ineos, as they are now known,
is the Colombian climbing sensation
(harsh horn sound)
Now he's had quite the meteoric rise
to the position of Team Leader at that squad,
he's only 22 years of age, let's not forget.
He was a product of that Androni Giocattoli
school of talent spotting
and in fact on that subject, he might well be
joined by Iván Ramiro Sosa at the Giro this year.
- Yeah, although this is his first opportunity
to be Team Leader at a Grand Tour,
you wouldn't put it past him winning, would you?
I mean, what he did for Geraint Thomas
as one of his super domestiques
at the Tour de France last year,
where he was winning right through to the finale,
and his season this year would back it up, wouldn't it?
So he won Paris-Nice, he was third in Volta Catalunya
and he's also gonna be supported by two guys
that turned pro in the same year as him,
the class of 2017, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Pavel Sivakov.
Both of whom are absolutely pinging as well.
- They are, they did their first pro wins
very recently, didn't they?
Next up, we've got Simon Yates.
Who could forget what happened to him last year?
He looked brilliant for what, about 18 stages?
- Yeah. - He was leading the race
and then he burnt all his matches
and absolutely collapsed.
- The noise of the explosion is still
reverberating around the Italian Alps.
- Yeah, it was brutal to watch, wasn't it?
He lost out to Chris Froome, actually he lost out
on the top ten overall, if memory serves me correctly.
He did bounce back last year to take the overall
win at the Vuelta a España, which was nice to see
and he's now back here to make amends at the Giro.
- That's right, I mean he's had
an interesting 2019, hasn't he?
He's supported his twin brother Adam to take
second place at Volta a Catalunya.
Simon himself has taken
a couple of stage wins at the Ruta del Sol.
He also took his first ever time trial victory
in a pro race, brilliant brilliant performance
at Paris-Nice as well and because of that,
because of the work he's been doing
against the clock, he's really really
upped his game, hasn't he, for mention he's got?
- And I think he'll have learnt a lot
from last year too, won't he?
- Yeah.
- Also got another Colombian sensation,
superman Miguel Ángel López, he will lead Team Astana,
who've had a quite incredible start to 2019.
- Miguel Ángel López is four years senior to
(harsh honking sound)
so he is coming into his prime now
and he's been on good form this year.
He took his home race at the Tour Colombia,
right at the start of the season
and a small blip for penalties,
but I think that was probably mainly down
to the weather conditions and the cross-winds,
but he bounced- - Like you get at L'Aquila.
- Yes, bounced back at the Volta a Catalunya,
which he won overall
and that was a race for the big hitters.
- Yeah, two of these come down
to a battle of the Colombians.
It's quite, quite likely almost, isn't it?
- Well, I don't think we're far away from
a Grand Tour which has an all Colombian podium,
if I'm perfectly honest.
- Yeah. - Next couple of years.
Beyond that, well, we have to mention Bob Jungels,
because he has worn the pink jersey
on two separate occasions at the Giro d'Italia.
Been serious focussed in on the GC now,
after his performance at the Cobbled Classics this year.
What we do know is that he won't have a team
fully surrounding him like
(harsh honking sound)
and also like López because they're also
bringing out the Deceuninck-Quick-Step,
the sprinter Elia Viviani.
- Yeah, then the world champion Alejandro Valverde.
As we film this, his participation is currently
in doubt, following the crash he had in the Ardennes,
but Movistar, his team, will have Mikel Landa
who is looking like he might be okay for this one,
and also last year's sensation, Richard Carapaz.
- We also got Team Katusha here,
they'll be led by Ilnur Zakarin.
Never know what to expect from him,
he could be on the podium, he could finish
in 50th position, for all we know.
It really is a stacked field, we've not even
mentioned Mike Woods at EF Education
- Or Rafal Majka of BORA-hansgrohe.
- Yeah. I can't wait for the whole race to start.
We haven't mentioned any of the sprinters yet.
Admittedly, the length of the top class sprinters
names is not quite as long as the GC prospects.
Normal for the course, really, these days
at the Giro d'Italia, which is so brutal,
but we will have Elia Viviani, Guillaume Boivin,
Fernando Gaviria and Arnaud Démare amongst those
fighting it out on the flat stages.
- That's right, the interesting thing
is who BORA-hansgrohe will take, isn't it?
So, currently Pascal Ackermann is there,
but will they see sense
and send Irish sprint sensation, Sam Bennett?
I'm hoping so.
- Well, he was the sensation of last year's Giro,
along with Elia Viviani the sprinter, wasn't he
and he's really proven himself this year.
We'll wait and see.
- Yeah. - Right.
We got the route.
We've done the riders.
It's time, then, for the predictions.
Primož Roglič.
- Vincenzo Nibali.
- My prediction for the 2019 Giro d'Italia,
I'm gonna say
(harsh honking sound)
- Ooh, my Giro prediction,
I think this year's Giro d'Italia winner
is going to be Simon Yates.
- I think the winner of this year Italia
will be Vincenzo Nibali.
- Alan?
Who gonna win this year?
- Vincenzo Nibali.
In my opinion, Vincenzo Nibali.
And for you?
- For me?
(harsh honking sound)
- Right, my prediction for this year's Italia
is Adam Yates, because he's gonna switch
with Simon Yates on every stage.
- (laughter) Sure.
- They agree.
- It's possible.
- They're Italian, they agree.
- I think the winner of the Giro d'Italia this year
will be Superman López.
- My prediction for the winner of the Giro d'Italia is
Simon Yates and the reason for that is 'cause
I just watched this film called "The Prestige",
where's there two twins
and they keep swapping places
and I think they can do that.
- The great news is that once we get
up to about 180 presenters, we've guaranteed
a prediction win, haven't we?
- That's right, although we'll have to run
a sweepstakes by that point,
'cause otherwise everyone will be
predicting the same people,
so we still won't get it right.
- Good point.
Ah right, that is it for our Giro d'Italia preview
for 2019, but don't worry because we've got
so much content Giro-related coming up for you
the next three and a half weeks.
- That's right, so you're heading out there, aren't you?
- I am. - Very shortly, indeed.
Along with Ollie, to create a load of super cool videos.
I'm going out there, then, a little bit later
as I said, among other things,
to try and ride the queen stage, which,
well, watch this space.
- Good luck.
- And then over on Facebook,
we'll have our daily highlight wrap-up show as well,
which we're super excited about,
looking forward to doing it again,
and then I imagine Eurosport of course
will be televising it as well.
- Yeah, live coverage every single day from them.
All right, don't forget to let us know who you think
is going to win the Giro d'Italia this year
by leaving that name in the comments section
just down below.
In the meantime, if you would like to watch
Si grinding his way up that Mortirolo climb
a few years ago, when he was much younger,
you can find that video just down here.
- That's a lovely term, innit,
grinding away, yeah.