Giro d’Italia

Dates: Saturday October 3 – Sunday October 25
Stages: 21
Length: 3,495.8km
Start: Monreale
Finish: Milan
TV Coverage (UK): Eurosport

Giro d’Italia recap

Stage 15

After extending his overall lead on stage 14, João Almeida found himself fighting to stay in pink on a tough mountain day on stage 15 from Rivolto to Piancavallo.

The stage was taken by Ineos Grenadiers rider Tao Geoghegan Hart, who made it back-to-back wins for Ineos, while Wilco Kelderman very nearly stole the race lead from Almeida by finishing second.

But Almeida put in an outstanding ride to hold onto the pink jersey, his overall lead cut to just 15 seconds with a brutal week of racing left.

General classification after stage 15

1. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, in 59-27-38
2. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Sunweb, at 15s
3. Jai Hindley (Aus) Sunweb), at 2-56
4. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, at 2-57
5. Bilbao Pello (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at 3-10
6. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 3-18
7. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at 3-29
8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling, a 3-50
9. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 4-09
10. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 4-12

Stage 14

The second time trial of the Giro d’Italia 2020 was the longest of the race at 34.1km, and was a tough proposition with two climbs to tackle on the way.

Victory went to Ineos Grenadiers rider Filippo Ganna once again, who took the stage with a 26-second buffer to his team-mate Rohan Dennis.

João Almeida put in a phenomenal ride to finish sixth on the stage and extend his advantage to all of his rivals, most importantly drawing out the gap to Wilco Kelderman in second.

Stage 13

Stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia unexpectedly turned into a stage for the GC contenders as a group of the favourites along with the pink jersey João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) got away from the sprinters on the final climb.

Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) was able to win a sprint from that group ahead of Almeida, who extended his overall lead to 40 seconds ahead of the stage 14 time trial.

Stage 12

A brutal day of up and down climbing at the Giro d’Italia was made all the more difficult by horrendous conditions, but Ineos’ Jhonatan Narvaez was able to survive from the day’s main breakaway to beat Mark Padun (Bahrain-McLaren) to the win. The victory is Ineos’ third of the 2020 Giro.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) maintained his 34-second lead over Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) heading towards a testing weekend that includes a time trial and a huge summit finish.

General classification after stage 12
 

1. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, in 49-21-46
2. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 34 seconds
3. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at 43s
4. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling, at 57s
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita), Trek-Segafredo, at 1-01
6. Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-15
7. Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb, at 1-19
8. Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-21
9. Fausto Masnada (Ita) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, at 1-36
10. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, at 2-20

Stage 11

The riders of the Giro d’Italia faced a more straightforward day on stage 11 of the race, with a flat stage almost certain to end in a bunch gallop for the line. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) once again proved he’s king of the sprints at the 2020 Giro, taking his fourth victory of the race ahead of Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe).

The pink jersey stays in the hands of João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) after not changes in the GC top-10.

Stage 10

The racing returned at the 2020 Giro d’Italia after the race’s first rest day, with a lumpy route on the Adriatic coast. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was able to take his maiden Giro d’Italia stage win, soloing from the remains of the breakaway with just over 12km to go.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) continues to impress as he once again extended his lead in the maglia rosa by grabbing the four-second time bonus for his third place finish on the stage.

The day’s big news came before the stage however, with two teams, Jumbo-Visma and Mitchelton-Scott, quitting the race over coronavirus positives as well as Michael Matthews (Sunweb).

Stage nine

The breakaway took the victory again at the Giro d’Italia as Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling) beat Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) to the win on the stage nine summit finish.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) carries the race lead into the rest day as the GC contenders only saw small gaps between them with very late attacks on the stage.

Stage eight

Opinions were split before stage eight on whether the breakaway would escape or if the sprint teams would try to control proceedings.

As it turned out, the bunch gave up the chase half-way through the day to let the six-rider breakaway decide the stage winner amongst themselves.

Britain’s Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) emerged as the victor, attacking for the first time 30km from the finish and striking again 17km, finally making it clear and soloing to the line to take a massive win for his career.

The peloton opted not to race for the rest of the stage as João Almeida (Deceuninck – Quick-Step held the race lead for another day.

Stage seven

Stage seven of the Giro d’Italia was a phenomenally fast day with crosswinds disrupting the peloton on the flat roads in southern Italy. Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) came out on top again to take his third victory of the race, with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) trailing behind him to take second.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) retains the overall lead heading into the weekend stages before Monday’s first rest day.

Stage six

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) doubled up on stage wins with a dominant victory on stage six of the 2020 Giro d’Italia. The Frenchman came from nowhere in the chaotic finale of the stage to win by a massive margin in the final sprint.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) held onto pink for another day after finishing safely in the main group.

Stage five

Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) took his second stage win of the 2020 Giro d’Italia after putting in a monster ride in the mountains to solo to victory. The Italian attacked the remaining breakaway riders on the final climb of the day to hold on and win the stage.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) once again extended his lead in the overall lead after finishing third on the stage and taking four bonus seconds.

Stage four

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) took the first sprint victory of the 2020 Giro d’Italia in a photo finish with Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe). The French champion took the victory by just the width of a tyre on the line in a chaotic finale.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) extended his lead in the pink jersey after taking bonus seconds in the second intermediate sprint and finishing safely in the peloton.

Stage three

Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) won the first mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia holding on from the day’s early breakaway to win with the main GC contenders coming in 51 seconds behind to the summit of Mount Etna.

That is all the GC contenders aside from British favourites Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos). Thomas crashed in the neutralised zone of the stage and eventually lost over 12 minutes, while Yates appeared to crack on the final climb and lose over four minutes.

João Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) took over the pink jersey from Filippo Ganna (Ineos) after finishing 11th on the stage.

Stage two

Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) took victory on the uphill finish to stage two of the 2020 Giro d’Italia, beating Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the final sprint to line.

Filippo Ganna (Ineos) finished safely in the main bunch to retain his overall lead in the pink jersey, while his team-mate Geraint Thomas remains the best placed of the GC contenders with no significant changes in the positions of those looking to win the Giro overall.

Stage one

The 2020 Giro d’Italia kicked off with a fast individual time trial on the island of Sicily, with world champion Filippo Ganna (Ineos) smashing the competition to win the stage and take the overall lead.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos) was the best placed of the GC contenders in fourth, with Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) finishing 26 seconds behind his compatriot. The other GC contenders, Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), and Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) all lost over a minute to Thomas.

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Giro d’Italia 2020 route

This year’s Giro d’Italia route begins in Italy with four stages on the island of Sicily, including an opening 65km time trial which will see gaps between the GC contenders from the off. The first mountain stage of the race comes on stage three, with a summit finish to the top of Mount Etna.

As the race moves to the mainland, the sprinters and punchers will get their chance at stage victories before the next mountain day on stage nine ahead of the rest day.

There are some tricky stages to come in the second week ahead of a big weekend for the GC contenders, which includes a 34.1km individual time trial and a huge summit finish ahead of the second rest day.

The final week features a brutal set of stages, with three huge summit finishes. Even the stage 19’s flat profile covers a massive 251km, which will be a drain on riders so late in the race. The race then culminates with a 16.5km time trial to Milan, which could see the lead change hands on the final day of the 2020 Giro.

The stages of the 2020 Giro are typically long this year, adding up to a total distance of 3,495.8km (2,172 mi) over the 21 stages, meaning the average distance of each stage is 166.4km. There are eight stages of over 200km this year though, with the longest the 251km flat route on stage 19. Excluding the individual time trials, the shortest stage of this year’s Giro is stage four to Villafranca Tirrena at 140km.

Stage	Date	Start	Finish	Distance	Terrain
1	Sat Oct 3	Monreale	Palermo	15km	ITT
2	Sun Oct 4	Alcamo	Agrigento	150km	Hills
3	Mon Oct 5	Enna	Etna	150km	Mountain
4	Tues Oct 6	Catania	Villafranca Tirrena	140km	Flat
5	Weds Oct 7	Mileto	Camigliatello Silano	225km	Hills
6	Thurs Oct 8	Castrovillari	Matera	188km	Flat
7	Fri Oct 9	Matera	Brindisi	143km	Flat
8	Sat Oct 10	Giovinazzo	Vieste	200km	Hills
9	Sun Oct 11	San Salvo	Roccaraso	207km	Mountains
–	Mon Oct 12	Rest day
10	Tues Oct 13	Lanciano	Tortoreto	177km	Hills
11	Weds Oct 14	Porto Sant’Elpidio	Rimini	182km	Flat
12	Thurs Oct 15	Cesenatico	Cesenatico	204km	Hills
13	Fri Oct 16	Cervia	Monselice	192km	Flat
14	Sat Oct 17	Conegliano	Valdobbiadene	34.1km	ITT
15	Sun Oct 18	Rivolto	Piancavallo	185km	Mountains
–	Mon Oct 19	Rest day
16	Tues Oct 20	Udine	Valdobbiadene	229km	Mountains
17	Weds Oct 21	Bassano del Grappa	Madonna di Campiglio	203km	Mountains
18	Thurs Oct 22	Pinzolo	Lago di Cancano	207km	Mountains
19	Fri Oct 23	Morbegno	Asti	251km	Flat
21	Sat Oct 24	Alba	Sestriere	198km	Mountains
21	Sun Oct 25	Cernusco di Naviglio	Milan	15.7km	ITT

Read more: 

• Giro d’Italia 2020 route
• Giro d’Italia 2020 start list
• Giro d’Italia 2020 TV guide

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