The 83rd Giro d'Italia will begin on May 13. The 3,707 kilometers of racing
will feature 7 mountain stages and 23,200 meters of climbing. There will be
22 major climbs.
The Giro will begin with a six-kilometer prologue at the Vatican on May 13.
This event and the first seven stages should not cause much discomfort for
the riders. Stage 8, however, is the longest stage of the race at 255 km,
and it features three Apennine climbs. Stage 9 also has three climbs,
including the one to the finish in Abetone. Stage 11, a 45-km individual
time trial from Bibione to Feltre, will be another challenge. The rest day
follows this stage.
The Dolomites follow the rest day. Stages 12, 13, and 14 will have seven
climbs among them. The latter stages will have three mountain passes each,
including the Passo di Gavia (Stage 14), where Andy Hampsten took the maglia
rosa in 1988. After the Dolomites, the riders will face three transitional
stages before they reach the Alps.
Stages 18, 19, and 20 will feature more giant climbs. In the latter two
stages, the Giro will leave Italy for France. Stage 19 will end with a climb
up the Col d'Izoard, which those Giro cyclists who will ride the 2000 Tour
de France will climb again in July. Stage 20, a 32-kilometer individual time
trial from Briancon to Sestrieres, will see the riders make the same climb
that last year's Tour de France contenders made, when Lance Armstrong won
Stage 9. The Giro will probably come down to this time trial, which should
make Stage 21, a ride from Turin to Milan, anticlimactic.
Who will win? The favorites include defending champion Ivan Gotti (Polti);
Paolo Savoldelli (Saeco), last year's runner-up and winner of last week's
Tour of Romandy; and Pavel Tonkov (Mapei), the 1996 Giro winner who has the
raw material of a champion but is very inconsistent. Other riders who
deserve consideration as prerace favorites are Francesco Casagrande (Vini
Caldirola), the 1999 Tour of Switzerland winner; and Laurent Dufaux (Saeco),
third placer at the Tour of Romandy.
Paolo Savoldelli appears to be the best bet. Gotti has struggled with his
form, although he had a respectable Tour of Romandy. Tonkov is so
inconsistent that the unofficial word is that the Giro is his last chance
with Mapei. Francesco Casagrande had an excellent 1999 campaign, but he is
an unknown quantity in three-week tours. Laurent Dufaux is not an unknown
quantity in these events, but he has never won one. There is no reason to
expect that trend to end. My prediction is as follows: 1. Savoldelli 2.
Gotti 3. Dufaux 4. Tonkov.
The most interesting rider is one who probably will not win or place. Marco
Pantani is a late entry to the Giro. He probably does not have winning form,
but he could find it. If he does, The Pirate will be a contender--in France.
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