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Last night we saw a cracking Stage 3 of the Giro, with Italian veteran Luca Paolini of Katusha, slip away from the main group and claim victory over Cadel Evans (BMC) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin).
A seven man break away was slowly whittled away by the chasing peloton who sacrificed taking in the stunning scenery to fly down the final descent to the finish line.
Thankfully the roads had dried from the morning rain or else we would have had scenes of carnage.
Today’s stage is the longest at 244 km, from Policastro Bussentino to Serra San Bruno. Expect to see the pretenders separated from the contenders on today’s stage. Time lost today could well equal race over.
The stage is fairly flat for 180 km until the riders reach Vibo Valentia which is 450 metres up. This isn’t too bad, it’s the Croce Ferrata whose summit is 6 kilometres from the finish that will test the riders.
At 950 metres and with an average gradient of 5%, except for the parts that touch 10%, this baby has the potential to cut down grown men, flinging their shattered pink Giro dreams into the woodlands below.
Prediction: I think we’ll see a similar stage to yesterday with to possibility of another non-GC rider escaping to take the win, but the genuine GC contenders will be very close behind. Any loss of time today for a GC contender could be disastrous.
So join me from 10.15pm AEST for a thrilling ride through deepest darkest Calabria.
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