Giro d'Italia: Viviani warns of tough finish to 'flat' stage 2
Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step) has warned that the finish of stage 2 in Fucecchio on Sunday could well prove to be a tougher finale than some might expect. In fact, the Italian the has predicted it may well leave some fast-men trailing and out of touch on what will nevertheless likely be the first bunch sprint of this 2019 Giro d'Italia.
Quite apart from the weather – set to be very wet and rainy – Viviani said the incursion into hilly terrain in the last hour of racing, prior to a flatter finish, could cause problems for the out-and-out sprinters.
"There could well be a bunch sprint, but we'll have to work for it," Vivivani warned in La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this week.
The Italian road race champion was so concerned about the possible challenges of stage 2 that he revealed that he'd done a reconnaissance of the route – which is something fairly unusual for 'flat' days of a Grand Tour.
The stage 2 finale features two classified climbs, with the 6.2km category 3 Montalbino-il Castra after 157km – averaging 6.8 per cent, with a mid-section ramp of 13 per cent – and the category 4 San Baronto, which is tackled immediately after the descent of the Montalbino, 178km into the stage and 27 kilometres from the finish in Fucecchio.
Mitchelton-Scott's manager Matt White has already pointed out the technical, fast nature of both descents off both of the climbs to Cyclingnews. There's then a hefty chunk of unclassified uphill terrain through the Apennines in the first 50 kilometres of the stage to contend with, as well as a shorter, unclassified ascent with 14 kilometres to go preceding a flat run-in to the finish of around 10 kilometres.
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