Giro d'Italia: Bologna TT a fight for every second – Preview
The 2019 Giro d'Italia begins with an individual time trial on Saturday evening but the eight kilometres from the centre of Bologna to the Santuario di San Luca is far more complex than a prologue and far more important than most opening stages due to the impact the intense effort will have on the overall classification.
Since arriving in Bologna on Wednesday, the riders have been unable to ignore the red brick Santuario overlooking Bologna from the hilltop to the south of the city. As the hours tick down to the start of the 102nd Giro d'Italia, they know they will face a moment of pure pain during the 2.1km, 9.7 per cent climb.
Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) surprisingly starts first at 4:50 pm local time to try to avoid possible thunderstorms, and so he could spend the next three hours in the hot seat, waiting to see if anyone can beat his time. His rivals for the stage victory include Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos), while Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Mikel Landa (Movistar) and others will try to limit their losses.
Nibali holds the Strava record for the San Luca climb, having set a time of 5:26 during the 2017 Giro dell'Emilia. That record is expected to be smashed on Saturday. But only one rider can win the stage, pull on the first leader's maglia rosa and look down on all his rivals from the top of the first general classification. Defeat will perhaps be more psychological than chronological but every second always weighs heavily on the first day of racing.
The secrets of the 666 porticato archway
The Bologna time trial is a race of two very different, very technical halves.
The stage starts in the Piazza Maggiore, in the very heart of Bologna, near the two leaning Asinelli and Garisenda towers. The first six kilometres are on flat, fast roads and will be covered at over 50km/h. The road up to San Luca begins with just two kilometres remaining, at the Meloncello arch, with the riders approaching from the right. They are cruelly forced to slow to take a sweeping right curve onto the steep lower slopes of the 2.1km climb to San Luca.
Start times and bike tech choices
— Thijs Zonneveld (@thijszonneveld) May 10, 2019
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com