Climbs

Weather

Around 20°C at the start, around 5°C at the finish. Mixed sunny and rain throughout the whole day.

Stage breakdown

Exactly two weeks after the Oropa uphill finish, we’ll be back in the Alps, ready to tackle what most pundits seem to consider the race’s queen stage. Indeed, the riders will need to tackle five KOMs, including one of the Giro’s most iconic climbs, and for the first time so far they will venture above 2000 m above the sea level.

The stage begins on the shores of Lake Garda, and the course will quickly venture into the mountains in the direction of another famous- and gorgeous- body of water: Lake Iseo. During this first part of the stage, the riders will tackle two KOMs; cat 3 Lodrino and cat 2 Colle San Zeno. The latter is a brand new, never-before-used climb; it’s near 15 kms long with a 6.5 % average gradient, but that might not be the worst part of it all as the subsequent descent is described as long and technical.

Said descent will bring the peloton near the northernmost point of Lake Iseo; from there, they will have some 50 kms to take a deep breath as they will follow the Oglio river upstream, up the Valcamonica. Not long after the intermediate sprint in Malonno, the riders will reach one of the Giro’s best known climbs: the Mortirolo. Compared to other Alpine climbs such as the Stelvio or the Pordoi, which carry a majestic feel and a lot of history, the Mortirolo is a much more modest climb, a narrow road which had never been visited by the Giro before 1990. As soon as it was used, however, it gained instant fame and it became a staple when the corsa rosa visits this area- it’s been featured 15 times since! We will be approaching this climb from the southern side: it’s the easier way up but at the same time this means the riders will need to face another tough descent.

In the last part of the stage, the riders will travel northwards along another major Alpine valley- the Valtellina. Again, they will be going upstream so the road will be constantly rising. After two intermediate sprints in quick succession- a regular one in Le Motte and the Intergiro one in Val di Dentro- the road will once again rise towards another cat 1 climb, the Passo del Foscagno- a long but regular climb along a highway. The climb will summit above Livigno, a small mountain resort near the Swiss border… as well as a Giro sponsor and a host of some skiing events at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics. The stage will end with another brief climb: at first, they will reach the Passo di Eira, another pass just above Livigno, but then they will keep climbing up a (paved) road which follows the Mottolino ski slope. The last 2 kms will be very challenging as they have irregular gradients and some parts will get very steep.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Pogačar

★★ Bardet, Martínez, O'Connor

★ Breakaway, Thomas, Tiberi

Rider discussion

"say the line, /r/peloton mods!"

Once again, we believe Tadej Pogačar to be the main favourite for tomorrow. He's been clearly the best climber in the race so far, and the short punchy finale seems perfect for him. He does not have the strongest team to support him in the mountains, but so far he has not shown any sign of weakness, and we believe that the team which could most easily put together a concerted effort to stop him- INEOS- might wait for a stage that better suits their captain.

Romain Bardet, Daniel Felipe Martínez and Ben O'Connor have been the Slovenian's closest rivals, and they've all been quite consistent as of late. Bardet is perhaps a bit below the other two, but should he get to the finish with them, he should enjoy the final ramps. Antonio Tiberi has been consistently good too.

Why did we give Geraint Thomas just one star? The Welshman has been consistently good throughout this Giro, and we believe he should have no trouble getting to Livigno alongside his rivals for 2nd place. However, we believe that the final climb does not suit his riding style much, so he might not be the favourite to snatch a win there.

Of course we might see a breakaway win tomorrow as well. We have two reservations however: the finale is very hard, so it will need to be a very strong move going clear; at the same time, there aren't a lot of strong climbers in the race and the ones that are there will be either closely marked, as the GC behind Pogi is still relatively close together, or might need to be on domestique duties. Of course, if the peloton takes it easy tomorrow, the break might stand a bigger chance... but with a rest day on Monday and a very hectic Giro so far, we feel that will be a bit unlikely.

That's it from us, what are your thoughts/predictions?

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2024 4 Jours de Dunkerque - Stage 5

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Climbs

None.

Weather

Between 20°C-25°C. Sunny.

Stage breakdown

Another flat stage in the Po plains but unlike today’s, this one will have potential GC implications as it’s a 30 kms ITT- the second and last one in the race. We’ve moved from Emilia-Romagna to the eastern part of Lombardy- the same area that will host the first two stages of the revamped Giro Donne later this summer.

Unlike last week’s stage 7, the course is pretty consistent from start to finish: somewhat rolling but without climbs of note. Compared to the flat part of the Perugia ITT from last week, the course promises to be slightly more technical: a big engine will undoubtedly be crucial, but with many curves and intersections to navigate, being able to find the optimal line will also count.

The stage will wrap up in Desenzano, on the southern shore of Lake Garda: following today’s Riccione depart, here’s another getaway spot very popular especially with tourists from northern and central Europe. The area is also very keen to brand itself as a cycling destination hotspot.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Ganna

★★ Arensman, Pogačar, Sheffield

★ Affini, Bjerg, Hoole, Schachmann, Thomas

Rider discussion

Unsurprisingly, the main favourite is Filippo Ganna. He's the strongest time trialist on paper, and he was far better than anyone else in the flat part of last week's ITT. With no steep climb anywhere on the course, he is clearly the favourite for tomorrow's stage. As we were saying last week, INEOS has a stacked team when it comes to time trialists. Thymen Arensman and Magnus Sheffield also did pretty well in Perugia. Geraint Thomas was a bit behind his teammates, but we're expecting him to do well and gain on his GC rivals for second place.

There's no steep climb where he can unleash his full power, but pink jersey Tadej Pogačar should do pretty well tomorrow regardless, in the flat part of the Umbria ITT he was up there with Arensman and Sheffield. Other guys who did pretty well on that day were Max Schachmann and Daan Hoole- both seem to be in good form, and while they might not be in contention for the win they can certainly aim for a top 10 placing. Mikkel Bjerg is another strong TTer, his performance last week was perhaps a bit underwhelming but he deserves a mention.

Last but not least, what to make of Edoardo Affini? He can be a very fine TTer, but he's not too consistent; furthermore, he's been in the break twice this week so he's perhaps more tired than others. We feel like he deserves a shoutout, however, if anything because he's a local from Mantua and he will certainly want to do well on his home roads.

That's it from us, what are your thoughts/predictions?

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So it has come to this

Climbs

Lol

Sprints

Weather

Between 20°C-25°C. Sunny. Mild crosswind from the south.

Stage breakdown

In order to get from the Apennines to the Alps, one has to cross the Po plains, Italy’s only large flat region. In other words, in order to enjoy some high mountain racing, Giro viewers are usually subject to a “completely flat stage tax” as the peloton moves from central Italy to the country's northernmost part. Alas, tomorrow will be that day.

The stage takes place entirely in the eastern part of the Emilia-Romagna region. The day begins in Riccione, a very popular tourist destination; from there, the peloton will follow the Via Emilia, a flat highway mimicking the path of a major Roman road, passing through several major towns. Not long after Forlì, the riders will find the first intermediate sprint of the day in Villanova.

Once they reach Faenza, with about 100 kms to go, the riders will leave the trunk road; the rest of the stage will take place on secondary highways and rural roads… but the altitude won’t change, there isn’t even a tiny hill here. The Intergiro sprint and the second “regular” intermediate sprint, taking place respectively in Lugo and Conselice, are relatively close to each other; after the latter, there is nothing of note for the last 60 kms of the stage leading to Cento.

The last kms take place on urban boulevards, there are some curves but they should be broad and non-threatening; the last of them comes with about 500 m to go.

With all this in mind, here are our predictions for tomorrow's stage:

★★★ Milan

★★ Groves, Merlier

★ Molano, Pithie

Rider discussion

We're heading towards another very likely sprint. We believe that a course like this should not really entice any strong breakaway action: there's no KOM points on offer, there are many sprinters' teams who can mount a chase and unless we get a breakaway of five Ganna clones resisting the peloton on a course like this should be pretty tough.

Jonathan Milan has been consistently the best sprinter throughout this Giro, so he's once again our top pick; Kaden Groves and Tim Merlier have been looking like the most creditable rivals so far, and Groves might like the "twisty" approach to the finish line, it's not a big straight like yesterday.

There's plenty of other good sprinters in the race, but as we were saying two days ago they have been either inconsistent (eg. Andresen, Aniołkowski, Bauhaus, Dainese, Lonardi, Mihkels), consistently average (Gaviria, three top 10s already but never above 7th) or consistently underwhelming (Ewan). We decided to name Juan Sebastián Molano and Laurence Pithie as our form picks for tomorrow, they both made the top 5 in Francavilla... and for Molano it was the second good result in a row.

That's it from us, what are your thoughts/predictions?

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/zwemcoach-jacco-verhaeren-opvolger-merijn-zeeman-bij-visma-lease-a-bike/

Jacco Verhaeren will succeed Merijn Zeeman at Visma | Lease a Bike . After this cycling season, Zeeman will leave for football club AZ in Alkmaar to work as general manager. As a result, the position of sporting director at the cycling formation has become available.

Several sources have indicated to WielerFlits that Verhaeren (55) will fill the position of sporting director from next season. Verhaeren was added to the performance staff of the Dutch cycling team at the end of last year.

The intention is for Verhaeren to take charge of the entire top sports policy within Visma | Lease a Bike and control the sporting event with a helicopter view. A large part of Zeeman's cycling technical affairs will be taken over by Grischa Niermann and Mathieu Heijboer, who are also taking a step up within the organization.

Verhaeren and the cycling team indicated last year that they firmly believe in cross-pollination between the different sports. This year, Verhaeren would mainly support a number of processes in the background. Verhaeren is currently fully focused on his position as national coach of the French swimming team, with the Olympic Games in Paris as his absolute main goal.

Verhaeren has been extremely successful as a swimming coach for decades and guided, among others, Inge de Bruijn, Pieter van den Hoogenband and Ranomi Kromowidjojo to Olympic gold.

At the end of last year, Verhaeren said about his role at Visma | Lease a Bike : “Knowledge sharing is the reason for this collaboration. I want to get to know cycling better and will provide my input on performance processes and training. I am still 100 percent committed to the French swimming team in the run-up to the Olympic Games, but I would like to shed some light on Visma 's current performance approach | Lease a Bike . I do that 'with my swimming goggles on'. What they do with it is then up to them.”

Zeeman said about Verhaeren at the time: “In recent years I have often exchanged insights and ideas with Jacco,” said Zeeman. “After our best season ever, it is important for us that we continue to look for improvement and new insights. Together with Mathieu Heijboer, I came to the conclusion that Jacco can give us these new ideas and other insights from another sport. We are starting with a modest collaboration, which will hopefully lead to more in the future.”

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2024 4 Jours de Dunkerque - Stage 3

2024 Vuelta a Burgos Feminas - Stage 1