Its Got 21 stages, its 3405.3 kilometers long, 19,429 meters of elevation and has 6 mountain finishes - Giro D'Italia 2013! Can Ryder Hesjedal defend the Maglia Rosa? It seems pretty open this year to me. I know the machine that is SKY lead by the automaton that is Wiggo are hot favourites, but its not all going their own way; the Classics have been a disappointment, and Wiggo has saddle sores which he's taking antibiotics for. Which might explain the poor start to the Giro Trentino - 6 minutes down and admitting that he thought about climbing off! At least the Team Time Trial win pulled it back a bit.
Nibali will have something to say about the Maglia Rosa, he usually does, and its usually something inflammatory towards Wiggo. There's no love lost between these two. But what of the others, Maglia Verde (Climbing) or the Maglia Rosso (Points)? Cavendish has got to be the favourite to take Day 1, but can he keep with the pace to consider a points challenge? I don't think his team Omega Pharma-Quickstep are strong enough to keep him at the front. As for the mountains, lets go for Domenico Pozzovivo of AG2R-LA Mondiale - a natural climber who should show the rest a clean pair cleats.
The biggest question is of this years Giro, can the Yellow Jerkey combine a genuine desire to cycle up a few Italian Alpine passes, take in the last 3 days of the race whilst at the same time entertain my accompanying wife who will be more interested in relaxing on the banks of Lake Garda with a glass of wine than following the sweaty Yellow Jerskey about.
Below is the Yellow Jerkey in Paris being welcomed in by his wife Jayne on the final day of the tour de france (just to clarify, I'm not claiming to have been in the TDF, it was a London to Paris Charity Ride 2009 which ended on the last day of the TDF) so she's used to being "on tour" so to speak - cant see any problem then.
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