Giro d’Italia 2017 Stage 1
The 100th Giro d’Italia gets under way on Friday with the first of three stages on the island of Sardina. The profile suggests there will be bunch sprints on stages 1 and 3 and the possibility of a breakaway on stage 2.
As this preview is going live prior to the start of the race you can read my overall race previews here:
Giro d’Italia 2017 – Pink Jersey Preview
Giro d’Italia 2017 – Sprint, Mountains and Young Rider Preview
Onto my stage preview!
Giro d’Italia 2017 Stage 1 – The Profile
Grand Tours have in the last decade+ opened with a Prologue or a short ITT. This years Giro has a long opening road stage as the introduction into the race.
Stage 1 is 206kms in length starting in Alghero and finishing in Olbia. The first half of the days racing is a little tougher. Two of the three category 4 climbs are in the first 90kms.
Riders looking to make a quick start in the KOTM classification and the chancers will definitely form a break. The final 100kms only really features one point of difficulty. A category 4 climb is crossed at San Pantaleo with 21kms remaining. From here the run in to the finish line is straight forward.
There are only 6 stages (aside from the finale in Milan) in the 2017 Giro that look like sprinters stages. There are three elite sprinters here gunning for stage wins. We can fully expect their teams to pull back the break well in time for a bunch sprint finish.
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Giro d’Italia 2017 Stage 1 – Favourites
The three riders in this section should really take all of the bunch sprint wins in this years Giro. For stage 1 all three can be backed at 3.50!
Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) is riding his first Grand Tour after a glittering track career. Gaviria is young at 22 and has been favoured as the teams sprinter over Marcel Kittel (Kittel will ride the TDF). Gaviria has 4 wins this year and a couple of decent Classics results with 5th at Milan-San Remo being the highlight. The terrain on stage 1 is similar to Milan-San Remo’s profile so the short categorised climb at 185kms shouldn’t pose a threat. He is very, very quick and riding for a team that has a lot of success in 2017 thus far. Gaviria is the man to beat.
Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) has 21 Grand Tour stage wins including 3 at the 2016 Giro. He is the sprinter in this years field with the experience and that may be crucial in stage 1 of the 2017 race. Greipel has 3 wins in 2017 with the best probably Stage 5 at Paris-Nice where he beat a strong group of sprinters. Of the three Greipel has one main advantage – his experience.
Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) has 7 wins in 2017 plus two sprint classification victories (Tour of Yorkshire and Tour Down Under). For me his best result was the sprint win on stage 4 of the Tour of Dubai where he beat the likes of Kittel and Cavendish in a terrible rainstorm. Ewan, like Gaviria is 22 and a former track star. He is a tiny rider with explosive power. This is Ewan’s second Giro – he made little impact last year. He will be looking for his second Grand Tour stage win on Friday (won stage 5 of the 2015 Vuelta).
Giro d’Italia 2017 Stage 1 – Outsiders
Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgohe) can be backed as high as 17.0 for stage 1 success. This is Bennett’s first Giro d’Italia. He has yet to win a Grand Tour stage. The best result of 2017 is a stage win at Paris-Nice (3rd stage) where he beat Greipel amongst others. To me he is the most likely rider to split the big three. 17.0 has EW value.
I don’t think the top two Italian sprinters in the field have the speed to win this stage. In my Sprint Classification preview Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) will probably target the overall classification win. Of the two Modolo has better 2017 results with two wins (both at the Tour of Croatia) versus none for Nizzolo. I’m a little surprised that Nizzolo (13.0) has shorter odds than Modolo (17.0) for stage 1. Of course one of them winning the 1st stage in the 100th Giro would be perfect for rider, team and nation. If pushed Modolo could be worth a small EW bet.
It seems crazy tipping a Grand Tour stage and only mentioning 6 riders. The field is so unbalanced this year because of the terrain that there really are so few options in the sprints.
Giro d’Italia 2017 Stage 1 – Tips
Bet on Fernando Gaviria to win stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia 2017 for a 2.5/10 stake at 3.50 with Bet365.
Back him here:
Back Sam Bennett to win stage 1 of the Giro d’Italia 2017 for a 1.0/10 stake EW (1/4 odds top 3) at 17.0 with Paddy Power.
Bet here:
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