The first of cycling’s Grand Tours for 2013 begins today in Naples, with a flat 130km blast finishing in a circuit along the city’s waterfront.
All of the tension and expectation of a wide-open race, the intrigue over general classification favourites, team leadership and politics will be put aside for stage 1, which should provide a manic bunch sprint finish.
Naturally, the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish will start as favourite for the stage win and the right to wear the first maglia rosa of the race.
With Lotto-Belisol’s sprinter numero uno Andre Greipel sitting the Giro out, Cav’s main rival for sprint supremacy is likely to be Matt Goss.
Orica-GreenEdge has chosen a squad packed with powerful riders, with the clear aim of driving Goss to stage wins in the flat stages. If all goes to plan, the battle for leadout supremacy with Cavendish’s OPQS squad should be a compelling one for OGE fans.
Other sprinters to watch include Saxo-Tinkoff’s Daniele Bennati, Argos-Shimano’s John Degenkolb, FDJ’s Nacer Bouhanni, Elia Viviani of Cannondale, BMC’s Adam Blythe, and Marco Marcato of Vacansoleil-DCM.
The Australian contingent is strong, with ten riders in the starting peloton.
Apart from BMC’s GC hope Cadel Evans and Matt Goss, there are OGE riders Luke Durbridge, Leigh Howard, and Brett ‘Burt’ Lancaster. Australians riding for other teams include Garmin’s Nathan Haas, Blanco’s Jack Bobridge, Cannondale’s Cameron Wurf, Lotto-Belisol enforcer Adam Hansen, and Saxo-Tinkoff’s Rory Sutherland.
The Roar will be live-blogging Stage 1 when TV coverage starts from 10pm AEST, so grab some pizza and a glass of red, and join us to enjoy the beginning of the Giro d’Italia 2013.
Tim Renowden
Expert
So Mark Cavendish wins Stage 1 and will wear the pink jersey during stage 2's team time trial. A great performance from Australian Cameron Wurf, who spent most of the day in a long breakaway and will wear the King of the Mountain jersey. That's it from me. I hope you enjoyed the live blog, and we'll be back tomorrow for another edition.
Tim Renowden
Expert
OPQS worked well all day, lost control of the race in the last few km, but Cavendish was good enough to win despite an imperfect lead-out. Orica-GreenEdge had the opportunity to set Goss up perfectly, but just left him in the wind too early.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Viviani throws the fist in frustration after nearly claiming the win. 1. Cavendish 2. Viviani 3. Bouhanni 4. Nizzolo 5. Goss
Tim Renowden
Expert
Goss hit the front too early, and was caught by Cav and Elia Viviani on the line. Bouhanni third. Goss 4th. There was a big split in the peloton in the last 2km, we'll have to see who went down and how hard. Cavendish was just too fast, and came over the top for the win despite coming from a long way back,
Tim Renowden
Expert
Cavendish!
Tim Renowden
Expert
OGE go to front 800m
Tim Renowden
Expert
1km to go group of about 25 riders at the front including OGE, Cannondale and OPQS.
Tim Renowden
Expert
peloton split!
Tim Renowden
Expert
2km crash behind.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Cannondale now flying, with OGE in 4-5-6th wheel.
Tim Renowden
Expert
3km: messy at the front. Cannondale and OGE aggressive.
Tim Renowden
Expert
That was pretty pointless from Weening. He looked like he surprised himself.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Pieter Weening has attacked! He gained about 40m but will be caught.
Tim Renowden
Expert
OGE now well positioned with 5km to go. Perhaps too soon with only 3 riders at the front?
Tim Renowden
Expert
Some very tight corners squeeze riders out - no crashes this time through. 6km to go - three OGE riders on the front.
Tim Renowden
Expert
8km remain. Five teams really jostling for position: OPQS, Sky, Argos, Cannondale, Lampre. OGE moving up the left now.
Tim Renowden
Expert
A few Movistar riders near the front, and Argos Shimano now moving numbers forward.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Cannondale coming up the middle.
Tim Renowden
Expert
9km: Still very little sign of OGE.
Tim Renowden
Expert
10km: three way battle between OPQS, SKy and Lampre.