As had been previously announced, the Giro starts, as with 2015's Tour, in the Netherlands, this time with an individual time trial in Apeldoorn on Friday 6 May.That's followed by two stages between Arnhem and Nijmegen. Nothing to report other than the Dutch tourist board throwing everything at getting Dutch cycling on the map (which Tom Dumoulin almost did single-handedly at the Vuelta last month) and the stages being flat. I know, I'm surprised too.
The first of three rest days follows, existing solely to give the riders and teams time to fly from Arnhem down to the toe of Italy's boot, ready for the Giro proper to begin on the Tuesday. Catanzaro will be the first Italian town we see, as stage 4 sets off up the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The next four non-threatening stages cut inland and track the Appennines on this tour of Italy's mountains. That being said, only a summit finish at stage 6 is likely to shake up the GC to any real extent, before the race continues north to the second of the three ITTs.
This one bears a serious mention. Stage 9's 40km time trial will travel through the Chianti vineyards, for a stage that should produce some stunning visuals, as well as by far the biggest chance for the TT specialists to stretch their legs, with two thirds of the Giro's ITT distance being covered. If any time trialists have any designs on wearing the maglia rosa, they'll have 15 May circled already.
They might just be able to hold onto it for a few days, as following a rest day the Giro spends four days in the flatter part of the country until stage 12. The medium-mountain stage 13 skirts along the edge of the Alps, providing two pairs of peloton-splitting summits and signalling the beginning of the Giro for the climbers.
The day after, the first official mountain stage bites hard. The trip through the Dolomites from Alpago to Corvara is punctuated by six peaks, five of which tower well over 2km above sea level. That 2km is climbed steadily in the first half before the first summit, the average 7% Passo Pordoi. That, though, pales compared to the 9km, 9% climb up Passo Giau, still over 40km from the end of the stage, and one where you can expect the serious GC contenders to be attacking with vigour, before the next day's third, and final, ITT.
There's a twist even in that, however, as stage 15's 10.8km almost entirely consist of an average 8.4% climb, with only a brief false flat start and a mere 6.8% gradient to finish. A mountain time trial, with a maximum 11% gradient, should set a lot of Italian cats among a lot of Italian pigeons.
The ultimate winner of the maglia rosa will only be decided in stages 19 and 20, however. The former has only two Alpine peaks, but the first is the year's Cima Coppi, the second highest mountain the Giro's ever tackled, the Colle dell'Agnello. It's only ever been featured once before in the Giro, in 2007, although oddly twice in the Tour de France. Quirks of geography and cycling aside, the long descent could be just a telling as the climb, so the contenders should bring their A game.
Stage 20 will provide the contenders with four summits to tackle, with the 20km-long slog up the Colle della Lombarda perhaps being the key. The eventual winner of the Giro will be all but certain after a small climb up to Sant'anna di Vinadio. A processional 150km ride into Turin will be all that separates the maglia rosa from victory on 29 May.
So, after all that, what does it all mean? Well, firstly that the Giro looks like it could tempt a lot of riders. Tom Dumoulin's recent heroics in Spain, coupled with the three individual time trials, might just tempt teams to send a TT specialist as a GC contender, although that vicious mountain time trial might just scupper those dreams. Equally, six summit finishes will give the climbers a great deal of optimism for their overall chances.
While many would think it's too early to be making predictions for who'll be there, let alone win the Giro itself, I'm brave and/or daft enough to think that, with Froome's eyes inevitably on back-to-back Tours, Nairo Quintana's thoughts might just linger on a nice, celebratory glass of Chianti...
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