Giro Route Speculation

by Monty. on Oct 10, 2008 2:55 PM EDT

OK let's get away from the doping. Today's Il Mattino has a whole page spread on news that next year's Giro will be exploring Campania and Naples fairly extensively. The final route won't be revealed until December, but there is expected to be a sprint finish into Benevento, followed by a day along the Amalfi coast, finishing with a climb to the summit of Vesuvius, fifty years after Charly Gaul won the timetrial there. They will then set out the next morning along the seafront at Naples, heading towards Lazio.

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Yes!

This is exactly what I feel like talking about. There’s a road up Vesuvio!? Volcanoes don’t tend to be overly steep, in my highly regionally restricted experience… but the grade never lets up.

I need to look up some anti-S.S. Lazio slurs so I can spit them out at every mention of the name.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris Fontecchio on Oct 10, 2008 3:03 PM EDT reply actions

I'd love to go to Pompeii

And see how Italy was at its cultural and technological peek. .

by OctaBech on Oct 10, 2008 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions

The S.S part of their name is kind of ironic considering their fans...............

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Oct 10, 2008 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Is Vesuvius not, erm, still a bit active?

by Albertina on Oct 10, 2008 3:06 PM EDT reply actions

yikes

Pliny the Elder was killed by Vesuvius ….

by cyclingchallenge on Oct 10, 2008 3:13 PM EDT up reply actions

You want fast downhill?

by Monty. on Oct 10, 2008 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions

And the winner is.....SamSan!

by Albertina on Oct 10, 2008 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions

technically

they all are. There’s a ride around St. Helens every year. So far no riders have been blowed up.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris Fontecchio on Oct 10, 2008 3:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Are there less rumours of the Giro-parcours than the Tour

or is it just that they are in forums we don’t have access to due to the language barrier? If so, why is Gavia wasting all that time on work, sleep and feeding herself instead of finding those juicy bits for us?

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Oct 10, 2008 3:19 PM EDT reply actions

There's just less organisation

One chap seems to have become the centre of speculation for Tour gossip, so he gets lots of very minor bits of info from cycling fans working at Town Halls all across France to put together. Stuff like all hotels in one town booked out on the night of x, road closure requests in town of y. The Giro has a lot fewer hangers-on so it can creep under radar far more easily and no comparable site seems to have emerged.

by Monty. on Oct 10, 2008 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions

lol

There are a few places where speculation gets passed around, I’ll have a look around and see what else I can turn up.

Truth? I know this is heresy, but I usually don’t follow course rumors very closely. And in fact, I usually only really pay attention to the announcements for the fashion erm statements. It’s just the wrong time of year to think seriously about grand tours for me. That’s a springtime sort of entertainment. Fall is for cross and transfers and silly off-season silliness.

Eh, I’ll try to rally.

by Jen See on Oct 10, 2008 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Being a centenary-route

I’m guessing it will be more focused on covering historic places (in italian and Giro history) than being an optimal course, sporting-wise. Kind of hard to top the two latest Giros in that respect anyway.

It will probably be a three week postcard from the most beatiful places in the country, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Oct 10, 2008 3:41 PM EDT reply actions

Not at all. I can't wait for the country's most beautiful aerial cathedral shots.

by Albertina on Oct 10, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

From Mattino

here‘s a profile of the Vesuvio stage, sadly a bit fuzzy online, and here’s the final climb from Torre del Greco to the top. Tough but not silly.

by Monty. on Oct 10, 2008 3:54 PM EDT reply actions

And if you want to get historical

here’s the route that the 1909 Giro took:

May 13, 1909: Stage 1, MILANO – BOLOGNA, 397 km
May 16, 1909: Stage 2, BOLOGNA – CHIETI, 379 km.
May 18, 1909: Stage 3, CHIETI – NAPLES, 243 km
May 20, 1909: Stage 4, NAPLES – ROME, 228 km
May 23, 1909: Stage 5, ROME – FLORENCE, 347 km
May 25, 1909: Stage 6, FLORENCE – GENOVA, 294 km
May 27, 1909: Stage 7, GENOVA – TORINO, 355 km
May 30, 1909: Stage 8, TORINO – MILANO, 206km

Lots of rest days, but when you look at the length of the stages that’s no surprise. The first two stages each took over 14hrs to complete. The overall winner was Luigi Ganna with a time of 89h 48 ’ 142, remarkably close to the 89h 56’ 49" of Contador this year. And no transfers whatsoever.

Expect all the above cities to get a visit next year.

by Monty. on Oct 10, 2008 4:05 PM EDT reply actions

OK, speculatin then...

Over/under on transfers: I’ll set it at 11. And I’m taking the over.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris Fontecchio on Oct 10, 2008 4:08 PM EDT reply actions

Venice to Rome?

Intriguingly, the Mattino article also suggests that the Vesuvio stage could be the final mountain stage of the 2009 Giro.

That may be just wishful thinking on the part of the local press, but it lends some credence to the rumor mentioned at steephil.tv, that the centennial Giro route might start in Venice and Finish in Rome.

I remember reading somewhere recently that the Giro route would be announced in November, rather than in December like last year, but the Mattino article mentions a December announcement. In the meantime, bring on the speculation!

by Susie Hartigan on Oct 10, 2008 4:44 PM EDT reply actions

Finish in Roma?

Wow. When does the Giro even go to Rome? Apparently almost all roads lead there, because RCS finds a bypass route every year.

"If writing too much about the Classics is wrong, I don't want to be right."

by Chris Fontecchio on Oct 10, 2008 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions

saw the Rome rumor also

That one’s been making the rounds since this year’s Giro finished.

by Jen See on Oct 10, 2008 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Start in Venice?

Will they have to cross the lagoon in pedal powered boats?

by Albertina on Oct 10, 2008 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions

lol, that would make for a very funny transfer.

by Jen See on Oct 10, 2008 8:27 PM EDT up reply actions

I was thinking that could be part of the stage itself.

Somehow incorporate a bike into a boat and make them cycle over to the mainland!

by Albertina on Oct 11, 2008 6:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Plans are in the works

Italian manufacturers have been tipped off about this special part of the 2009 route and are working on models. Here’s Pinarellos first prototype:

Rumors that Bettini has changed his mind and will ride the Giro in 2009 started swirling when photos of this Specialized prototype surfaced:

Carlos Sastre - Tour de France winner - Born From Jets

by Jens on Oct 12, 2008 4:12 AM EDT up reply actions

Rumours circulating in Italy are that race organisers RCS Sport will announce that Armstrong has agreed to ride the 2009 Giro, that the race will start in Venice and end in Rome, or perhaps even both.

However Monday’s announcement could also concern the route of the 2009 Giro d’Italia. No details have yet emerged but several pieces of evidence indicate that the race could begin in Venice and end in Rome. In the last few days Zomegnan was in Naples for several key meetings and the final mountain stage of the Giro could be held on the slopes of the Vesuvio volcano overlooking Naples before a finish in the centre of Rome.

pounding along in three ratios like a sonata
like a Ritter with pommelled scrotum atra cura on the step
Botticelli from the fork down pestling the transmission
tires bleeding voiding zeep the highway

by fmk on Oct 12, 2008 3:46 PM EDT reply actions