|
|
LATEST FEATURES: LIVE FROM LAKE COMO: THE 2011 GIRO ROUTE
By Gregor Brown
November 6, 2010
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
The Giro d'Italia topped the Tour de France again with the spectacular route it presented Saturday in Turin, a few days after the Tour presented its in Paris. Next year's Giro d'Italia will take riders up a volcano, over gravel roads and into the high mountains.
The two route presentations came at the end of a year in which the Giro d'Italia produced a much more exciting three-week race than the grand daddy, the Tour de France. The Giro was a humdinger: crashes in the north, mud in Tuscany, a mega-escape and a dramatic comeback victory by Ivan Basso in the high mountains. Compare that to the Tour de France and you come up short; the Alberto Contador-Andy Schleck's duel fizzled out on the Tourmalet.
It is not easy work. The man behind the Giro d'Italia, race director Angelo Zomegnan, spent nearly two years working on this course. He flipped through multiple requests from cities to host stages, read letters from amateur cyclists about new climbs that he may want consider and, so not to be distracted, drove many of the proposed climbs at night.
"I was a journalist for 25 years," he told Italy's Gazzetta TV, "and I still have that curiosity to discover."
The Giro d'Italia runs for three weeks, starting with a team time trial in Turin on May 7 and ending with an individual one in Milan on May 29. In between, there are seven mountaintop finishes and about 24,000 metres (78,000ft) of climbing. The race includes Europe's most active volcano, Etna, the return of the fan friendly Monte Zoncolan and the gravel pass over the Finestre to reach Sestriere.
"Is it too hard of a course? By Milan, we will know how the riders have interpreted it. For example, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the hardest of the one-day classics, but there were 80 riders in the group with two climbs to go this year. It is not the course, but the riders who make the race."
The Riders
Zomegnan will meet with the organisers of the other two Grand Tours, the Vuelta and the Tour, and the International Cycling Union (UCI) this week and next month to talk about what riders and teams may race. He hopes to have some definitive rules soon so that he can name the teams allowed to participate in his race.
He would like to have back this year's winner, Ivan Basso, and his Liquigas team-mate and Vuelta winner, Vincenzo Nibali. Andy Schleck has not raced the Giro since he won the best young rider's white jersey in 2007 and since he has finished twice second at the Tour de France. Zomegnan wants him back, too. He also wants the Tour de France champion and winner of the 2008 Giro, Alberto Contador.
"It's true, the riders make the race, but it is not also a guarantee that the big riders make a great race. It is the opposite, the fewer big names there are, the less the race is controlled and the more unpredictable it is.
"I hope both of the Schleck brothers come. We have been in contact, I know the new boss of the team well. If Andy Schleck wants to race here I suggest he prepares well and to avoid having too many beers at three in the morning.
"Contador? If he races next year this would provide a good base for the Tour de France since he has not raced since July. Ricardo Riccò? He seems to be on the right path. In my opinion, he is not a bad person, just a little different. He has the ability to give something to the Giro and to all the races he participates in. The question is, is he the same rider as before or has he changed?"
The Locations
To understand the course that Riccò and the others will race, you need to understand Italy's history. The country was unified 150 years ago in 1861 and Turin became its first capital city, which is why the Giro starts in Turin.
Giuseppe Garibaldi led the military campaign to unify Italy. He sailed with an army from Quarto dei Mille in the north, start of stage four, and landed in Sicily to begin the battles and work his way north. The Giro d'Italia's first big classification battle will likely be on the mountaintop finish of Mount Etna in Sicily and the race will work its way north for the final.
"We wanted to pass through all 20 of Italy's regions, but it is impossible," added Zomegnan. "We skipped Sardinia, Puglia and Valle d'Aosta. The Islands of Sardinia and Sicilia are hard parts to hit, though, the race did it in 1961."
Garibaldi relied on a boat and horse to get him around Italy, but ahead of the first rest day, riders will have an airplane to take them the 1000 kilometres from Etna to Termoli on the east coast.
Zomegnan has thought of all the elements to have another exciting race. Now, it is up to the riders to make it happen. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|