GIRO 2018 : FINAL KM STAGES 1-3

We’re in Grand Tour mode here at VeloVoices Towers with the 101st edition of the Giro d’Italia. We’ve had a time trial with a familiar dashing figure back in pink, we’ve had BMC with a daring plan and we’ve had two sprint finishes requiring lightning fast reactions. Missed anything of the grande partenza in Israel? Don’t fret we’ve got you covered for all the highlights and more in our first Giro Final KM round up.

Stage 1

Nine kilometres and seven hundred metres of full gas effort on a TT bike ended with last year’s champion Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) gracing the top step of the podium clad in pink. The World TT champ took victory by just 2 seconds from BMC’s Rohan Dennis with Victor Campanaerts (Lotto-Fix All) third by the slimmest of margins. The headlines started before the time trial with Sky’s Chris Froome one of several riders to crash during the stage recon. For such a short time trial there were some surprisingly large gaps amongst the GC hopefuls with Movistar’s Carlos Betancur taking the VeloVoices award for shocking the editor.

Our review is here

Stage 2

First road stage, first chance to look at the fast men in action and the day BMC had a plan for a raid on the pink jersey! The whole team chased down the break of the day and led Rohan Dennis out at the intermediate sprint to grab 3 bonus seconds. Enough to put him on the top of the GC podium by one second and completing his Grand Tour treble of leaders jerseys. In a chaotic finale Elia Viviani, unhitched from his Quickstepper train, was all but out of shot until he caught the wheel of Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina – Sella Italia) and then zoomed past him to claim victory.

Our review is here

Stage 3

A long, looooong day through a moonscape desert, the constant threat of crosswinds and a thriller of sprint finish. Elia Viviani used all his trackie super powers to weave through the swerving run to the line and double his stage tally. Sacha Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale) and BORA-hansgrohe’s Sam Bennett rounded out the podium. The GC podium remains the same with Rohan Dennis (BMC) taking the maglia rosa back to Italy.