Okay…
tomorrow Saturday, 8pm my time…one less for the UK…Giro introduction with LIVE racing at 9pm…watch for Mario’s skinsuit no doubt…
Then at 3:30pm on Sunday, Stage 1 (again, that’s CET and one less hour for the UK)
And here’s the summary:
The Giro itinerary offers a delectable mixture of antiquity and modernity, celebrating both the past of the country and paying homage to its future.
For the first time in its history, the Giro commences in the rustic deep south of Calabria before heading north to become reacquainted with traditional gems such as the sacred climb of the Stelvio, and the inauguration of the white asphalt ascent of the Col della Finestre.
The riders will stop-off for a hotly-anticipated time-trial in Florence to commemorate the likes of Bartali, before gracing Turin and the up-and-coming Olympic valleys, primed for the 2006 Winter Games.
The honour granted to Calabria and the city of Reggio, the departure town for this year’s event, is truly a deserved accolade.
There now remains just two regions in Italy - Basilicate and Molise - from which the Giro have not departed.
In short, this year’s race is virtually 100% Italian, with just a fleeting foray into Switzerland scheduled during the 15th stage from Livigno to Lissone.
The route is well weighted, with ten stages ideally poised for sprint finishes - maybe Alessandro Petacchi could even do one better than his nine victories in 2004 - and three summit finishes, of which one, the Col de Tende, making its first ever Giro appearance.
On five occasions - at Santa Maria del Cedro, Marina di Grosseto, Rossano Veneto, Lissone and Milan - the conclusion of the stage will take place with a circuit finish.
The Giro has a seemingly leisurely start, with the first ten days suited almost ideally for sprinters, before the first time-trial which will define the hierarchy on the eve of the first rest day at Ravenna, the city of hidden delights.
The difficulties of the next ten days will erase the apparent ease of the first ten, with three summit finishes, a mountain race-against-the-clock and other mixed-up stages.
Two killer rendez-vous - at Varazze-Limone Piedmont and Savigliano-Sestrières - frame the mountainous time-trial - the Chieri-Torino with the Col de Superga on the menu. These gruelling challenges come just four days before the arrival in Milan.
“The Giro will be decided there,” believes Giuseppe Martinelli, directeur sportif of Lampre-Caffita, the team of 2004 champion Damiano Cunego and Gilberto Simoni, winner in 2003.
On the way to Sestrières, the riders must negotiate the winding mountain pass of the Col della Finestre, the bête noir of this year’s Giro.
Just east of Sestrières in the Italian Alps, the hitherto unvisited, yet nevertheless highly mystical Col della Finestre transits the Orsiera National Park and reaches an altitude of 2,178m.
18.4 km of climbing at an average gradient of 9% with sections as steep as 14%, the challenging north ascent from Susa offers a 1,690 rise and, above all, after 10 km of ascent, the road degenerates into a white asphalt track before the final eight kilometres before the summit.
With its 33 virages this obvious attraction for the spectators is surely the hellish addition that worries the riders most.
STAGES - 20 (and prologue)
TOTAL KILOMETRES - 3,465
AVERAGE KM/DAY - 173.2
FLAT STAGES - 10
FOOT HILLS - 3
MOUNTAINS - 5
TIME TRIAL - 2 (and Prologue)
REST DAYS - 2