Giro 2020 - Stage 1: Monreale – Palermo 15 km ITT *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles

Stage 1: Monreale – Palermo 15 km ITT
Saturday, October 3rd, 12:15 BST.

The Giro d'Italia kicks off on Sicily with an ITT of 15 kilometres. Expect high speeds, as the route runs mostly downhill on long and straight roads.



Although the route runs mainly downhill, the riders tackle a climb to the Cathedral of Monreale, (GPM4, 1.1 km at 5.6%), which serves as the first categorized climb of the race and feature a cobbled section at the top.





The first time check is located near the cathedral before the riders plunge down a descent of 8 kilometres into Palermo. The first 3 km are a flat-out descent which only features two hairpins, and it is followed by 6 km of descending false flat on a completely straight road, all the way to the heart of Palermo and the second intermediate checkpoint. The second time check is located on the Via Roma.
The last 2,700 m run straight along Via della Libertà, all the way to the finish.
Final kilometres
The final kilometres run flat all the way to the finish line, which sits on 7 m wide tarmac.



Favourites 1st stage 2020 Giro d’Italia
*** Filippo Ganna, Michael Matthews, Rohan Dennis
** Geraint Thomas, Victor Campenaerts, Edoardo Affini
* Jan Tratnik, Alex Dowsett, Chad Haga, Mikkel Bjerg, Tony Martin

And what of the other British favourite for the overall? Well.......
Simon Yates: ‘The Giro d’Italia prologue is the worst time trial I could ever imagine’

Monreale

Monreale has a very important historical peculiarity: it is a city, nowadays with 40,000 inhabitants, built around the immense and wonderful Norman Cathedral, built in 1174 by the king Guglielmo II. Furthermore, since 2015 Monreale is declared a “UNESCO World Heritage Site”, and it is part of the Arab-Norman route (that includes the Arab-Norman monuments of Palermo and the Cathedrals of Cefalù and Monreale).



The most traditional and characteristic activities of Monreale are the arts of mosaic and ceramics.



Monreale excels for its vineyards, orchards, olive groves and lush forests. Very famous is also the production of the wines: Insolia, Grillo, Catarratto, Nero d’Avola, Perricone, and the Extra Virgin Olive Oil DOP Val di Mazara.



S-COOKIES: in the same ovens where the bread is baked, the same “S” shaped biscuits and oblong biscuits filled with quince jam and candied cedar, brushed with glazed sugar invented by the nuns of San Castrenze are produced.



Another very delicious typical product is the “sfincione”, mixed with ancient sicilian flours and seasoned with typical Cacio Cavallo cheese, tomato and onion.



LE SUSINE : The Sanacore and Ariddu plums of Core sweet, whose dry flesh with an intense taste are preserved in thin paper braid by skilled growers, enter full-fledged slow food presidia. Both varieties are very delicate and together with citrus fruits they are na of the local delicacies.

Palermo

Palermo is the capital of the autonomous region of Sicily. The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285.
The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old.



Palermo is Sicily’s cultural, economic and tourism capital.



The Teatro Massimo ("Greatest Theatre") was opened in 1897. It is the biggest in Italy (8,000 m2, 86,000 sq ft), and one of the largest of Europe (the third after the Paris Opera and the Vienna State Opera), renowned for its perfect acoustics. Enrico Caruso sang in a performance of La Gioconda during the opening season, returning for Rigoletto at the very end of his career.



Food
Caponata, Pasta with sardines, Anelletti Al Forno



Sarde A Beccafico, Babbaluci, Panelle, Spleen sandwich, Sfincione, Arancine, Cannoli, Cassata

yorkshireraw

Great stuff.
So the first climb (KOM) of the race is the very first 1.1km of the entire Giro.
Going to be hilarious watching some of the 'lesser lights' absolutely burying themselves in c.2min uphill sprint out the startgate, in a bid for the KOM jersey on day 1. Makes a change from getting in a 3 man break and pipping someone up a 3% 2km cat 4 I suppose.

Lanterne_Rogue

Is that a couple of hairpins on the descent, plus cobbles? Might be a bit sporty on a TT bike, especially if it's wet.

blazing_saddles

Start times (All times CET)for the stage favourites, outsiders and GC guys:

13:15 Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) - first starter
13:18 Victor Campenaerts (NTT)
14.00 Jan Tratnik (Bahrain McLaren)
14:14 Rohan Dennis (INEOS Grenadiers)
14:34 Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Emirates)
14.35 Jos van Emden (Jumbo-Visma)
14:36 Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers)
14:58 Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers)
15:33 Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb)
16:08 Edoardo Affini (Mitchelton-Scott)

13:16 Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren)
13:52 Jonathan Castroviejo (INEOS Grenadiers)
13:59 Matthias Brändle (Israel Start-Up Nation)
14:39 Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal)
15:26 Maciej Bodnar (BORA-hansgrohe)
15:41 Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma)
16:02 Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates)
16:09 Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ)

13:27 João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)
13:56 Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)
14:25 Ilnur Zakarin (CCC)
14:36 Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers)
15:12 Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana)
15:55 Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb)
15:56 Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)
15:57 Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo)
16:03 Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma)
16:10 Rafal Majka (BORA- hansgrohe) - last starter.

NB. British Eurosport are not due to start their tv coverage until Simon Yates and Geraint Thomas have finished their time trials.

lettingthedaysgoby

Yet another great intro thread BS, looking forward to them all for the next 3 weeks :-)

orraloon

Eurosport Player schedule showing the Uninterrupted stream as starting at 1210 BST.

blazing_saddles

orraloon said:

Eurosport Player schedule showing the Uninterrupted stream as starting at 1210 BST.

Yes, that's why I said tv.
Not everybody has the player or GCN.
All the Sicily stages are being shown in full on the player, but Sunday's stage coverage on tv is quite short.

blazing_saddles

Going to be an uncomfortable night in Palermo in more ways than one:
24 hour forecast:

notquite6foot

blazing_saddles said:

NB. British Eurosport are not due to start their tv coverage until Simon Yates and Geraint Thomas have finished their time trials.

S4C start theirs at 1300. At least that gives them room for half an hour of pre-race talk before G opens his campaign, with Ganna taking the rainbows for a spin 22 minutes later (something that wouldn't have happened without the coronavirus situation, at least this year).

RichN95.

This is going favour big men. The ones who can stick on a dinner plate chain ring and get on top of the gear out of the corners. Ex trackies will have an edge

andyp

What about current trackies?

RichN95.

andyp said:

What about current trackies?

Yeah them too. It's been so long since track cycling that they're all ex-trackies.

jam1e

Chances of Ineos taking the top 4?

Also, did anybody else pick up on the horrific phrase "spleen sandwich" in the food section?

Lanterne_Rogue

notquite6foot said:

blazing_saddles said:

NB. British Eurosport are not due to start their tv coverage until Simon Yates and Geraint Thomas have finished their time trials.

S4C start theirs at 1300. At least that gives them room for half an hour of pre-race talk before G opens his campaign, with Ganna taking the rainbows for a spin 22 minutes later (something that wouldn't have happened without the coronavirus situation, at least this year).

Worth highlighting this for people that don't have Eurosport (or have it as part of a package but don't have a subscription for the app). https://www.s4c.cymru/clic/ lets you watch online; I don't know what the Freeview situation is but I can get S4C via my Virgin box - would assume Sky is similar.

Will be welsh commentary, I presume, but riders' names are the same...

DeadCalm

Can teams choose the order in which their men go? Just wondering if there is some tactical or weather reason why Thomas and Yates are relatively early?

zest28

First time this year were Ineos is actually legit the favorite to win a stage

They got some seriously good TT specialists with Ganna and Dennis. Thomas is pretty strong too in TT (despite people saying he is crap and not good enough).

blazing_saddles

DeadCalm said:

Can teams choose the order in which their men go? Just wondering if there is some tactical or weather reason why Thomas and Yates are relatively early?

They can, but it had to be done by Thursday.
I think the wind forecast at the time had something to do with it, but the forecast has now changed.
Looks like there isn't much of a marginal gain whatever time a rider sets off.

andyp

Hopefully Ineos have learned a lesson since the Tour prologue in 2010.

phreak

zest28 said:

First time this year were Ineos is actually legit the favorite to win a stage

They got some seriously good TT specialists with Ganna and Dennis. Thomas is pretty strong too in TT (despite people saying he is censored and not good enough).

Been a while since they actually won a GT stage isn't it?

gethinceri

About a fortnight.

flite

2016, I think, I was racing in Wales while the tour was running, so watched highlights on S4C. Surprisingly easy to follow if you know the team colours.
Interviews with Geraint and others were in English!
I'll be tuning in at 1pm.....
30 mins highlights at 9.30pm, may have english subtitles if you dig into the settings.

blazing_saddles

phreak said:

zest28 said:

First time this year were Ineos is actually legit the favorite to win a stage

They got some seriously good TT specialists with Ganna and Dennis. Thomas is pretty strong too in TT (despite people saying he is censored and not good enough).

Been a while since they actually won a GT stage isn't it?

Not sure what point you are trying to make.
2018.
He had Sky/Ineos's last two GT stage wins until Kwiato won stage 18 of this year's Tour.

takethehighroad

blazing_saddles said:

phreak said:

zest28 said:

First time this year were Ineos is actually legit the favorite to win a stage

They got some seriously good TT specialists with Ganna and Dennis. Thomas is pretty strong too in TT (despite people saying he is censored and not good enough).

Been a while since they actually won a GT stage isn't it?

flite said:

2016, I think,

Not sure what point you are trying to make.
2018.
He had Sky/Ineos's last two GT stage wins until Kwiato won stage 18 of this year's Tour.

I read it as flite was cycling in Wales in 2016, but they're not sure if it was 2016

RichN95.

Ganna's going for 60 x11

blazing_saddles

takethehighroad said:

blazing_saddles said:

phreak said:

zest28 said:

First time this year were Ineos is actually legit the favorite to win a stage

They got some seriously good TT specialists with Ganna and Dennis. Thomas is pretty strong too in TT (despite people saying he is censored and not good enough).

Been a while since they actually won a GT stage isn't it?

flite said:

2016, I think,

Not sure what point you are trying to make.
2018.
He had Sky/Ineos's last two GT stage wins until Kwiato won stage 18 of this year's Tour.

I read it as flite was cycling in Wales in 2016, but they're not sure if it was 2016

Yeah, I did as well, but thought just in case I was wrong.
Anyhow, I removed quote to avoid any confusion.

mrfpb

So, I got Rapha's Email about the new EF kit this morning. Those guys will be easy to spot on the road!

blazing_saddles

Dowsett has kicked off this Giro. There is plenty of wind out there looking at the trees and bushes.

Lanterne_Rogue

Start of that course is a right rollercoaster, isn't it?

Lanterne_Rogue

Dowsett nearly stacks it on the descent.

Bits of this are terrifying.

Lanterne_Rogue

Campanaerts down. Looked like the back wheel locked up a little on the entry to the first hairpin and compromised his entry line, then lost it as he tried to tighten up the line.

blazing_saddles

Campenaerts second rider on course, first rider to crash.
Dowsett has had a brown shorts moment too.