 Mark Cavendish Eyes Sprint Clean Sweep in 2010 Giro d'Italia By Oct 24, 2009 - 12:32:44 PM Mark Cavendish was eyeing a sprint clean sweep at the 2010 Giro d'Italia after organizers revealed there would be seven stages for speedsters during Saturday's presentation of next May's race. "I always want to be a star at the Giro," the Briton, who bagged three individual stage wins in this year's race, told Rai television. "There are seven stages for sprinters, why not try winning them all?" Organizers had already announced that the first three stages would be in the Netherlands, starting in Amsterdam on May 8 with a time trial. It will be the ninth time the world's second biggest stage race, which celebrated its centenary this year, kicks off outside Italy. Many of the grueling mountain stages have been saved for the second half of the race before the climax in Verona on May 30 with an individual time trial finishing at the city's Roman arena. The 15th stage from Mestre to Mt. Zoncolan and the penultimate stage between Bormio and Ponte di Legno Tonale look especially tough. The Giro will not stop in Milan after a farcical stage in the city this year, when the times did not count for the general classification after the riders cruised for most of it in protest at the safety of the course. REAL CONTENDERS After the first three stages, the peloton will fly to Piedmont for a team time trial between Savigliano and Cuneo. The race then heads southwards with the first uphill finish coming in the eighth stage from Chianciano Terme to Mt. Terminillo in Lazio, which is expected to show who the real contenders are. Three days later the riders will take on the longest stage, a 256-kilometer slog from Lucera to L'Aquila in Abruzzo, which is still recovering from the earthquake that hit the region in April. "The race is paying a visit to this city still wounded by the earthquake, something which Italian President Giorgio Napolitano requested," said Carlo Verdelli, the editor of La Gazzetta dello Sport, whose parent company runs the Giro.
2010 Giro d'Italia stages Stage 1 - Saturday, May 8, Amsterdam TT, 8.4km
| bicycling app for Nokia phones
| 
|
|
