*Giro d'Italia Stage 1 - Friday 6th May*

Stage 1 (ITT)  »  Apeldoorn  ›  Apeldoorn   (9.8k)

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The central Netherlands province of Gelderland plays host to the first three stages of the 2016 Giro. Arnhem and Nijmejen will play host to stages 2 and 3 but it is the small city of Apeldoorn that provides the backdrop for this short opening TT. At 9.8km, this test should do little more than give the early GC some shape, and with this being little longer than a prologue you can expect to see riders like Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel giving it their best shot as the two flat stages to come give a rare chance for sprinters to wear the leader's jersey in the opening few days.

Apeldoorn played host to the 2011 UCI World Track Championships, and this course couldn't be flatter if it was being run on the Omnisport Apeldoorn Stadium track. However, no-one should make the mistake of thinking that this city centre course is easy, it isn't. There are 8 right angle bends in total, 6 speed bumps, and numerous roundabouts and other street furniture. The first 4km or so is fairly fast, with only one turn to break up the momentum. The intermediate checkpoint arrives at 4.8km, so with 5km remaining. After the checkpoint it becomes a little more technical, with the second half of the course containing more turns. Ability to accelerate out of these corners will be important and while the first half of the course will definitely suit the time trial specialists, it's possible the sprinters could make time back on this second section.

Dumoulin and Cancellara are the best two time trial specialists in this Giro field. Tom Dumoulin was second in both recent Tour de Romandie test against the clock, to Ion Izaguirre in the prologue and to Thibault Pinot in the longer time trial that included a climb. He was also second in the Paris-Nice prologue to Bling Matthews. This longer, flatter route will suit him and he's deservedly short at 7/4 with Paddy Power. Last year he came 5th in the Worlds TT in Richmond which came after his massive effort in the Vuelta where he won the 38km TT. He came 4th in the Tour de France prologue, beaten by Cancellara, Tony Martin and the winner Rohan Dennis. Before that he won a prologue and a time trial at the Tour de Suisse and a time trial at the Tour of the Basque Country. Fabian Cancellara is a master at winning this sort of race. It will be interesting to see whether he can pick up another jersey here in what he has said is his final season. Spartacus is a 4 time World TT winner as well as an Olympic TT winner. As well as his 7 monument wins, he has won 26 World Tour or 2.1 time trials or prologues, including 10 Grand Tour stages against the clock. He has so far never won a stage of the Giro d'Italia so that will be an extra bit of motivation. His form this year has been excellent. Although he wasn't able to gain the final monument victory he craved, he was 4th, 4th and 2nd in E3 Harelbeke, Gent-Wevelgem and Tour of Flanders before crashing out in Paris-Roubaix. Before that he won time trials in Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta ao Algarve and also won Strade Bianche, and is deseredly 13/8 favourite here. A man who impressed in the stage 1 time trial of the Tour de France in Utrecht in 2015 was Jos Van Emden coming 5th just behind Cancellara and Dumoulin. He then went on to win the Eneco Tour time trial. He will be suited by this flat test in his native Holland and although he is unlikely to beat the top two he could outperform his 33/1 odds. Another man who has had some very impressive results against the clock is Mathias Brandle. The 26 year old Austrian was 7th in Utrecht and is another who seems to go well on the shorter flatter circuits like this one. Bob Jungels is a 23 year rider from Luxembourg who is getting stronger and stronger. He was 3rd in the 15km TT in Romandie, coming in just behind Dumoulin. He has a series of top 3 finishes in TTs in the last 3 years and although this flat course might not be to his liking he has to be seriously considered for a prominent showing. Young Swiss rider Stefan Küng has not really got any World Tour TT wins to his name but he was part of the BMC team that won the TTT World Championships in Richmond in 2015. He also won the European u-23 ITT and came 3rd in the u-23 World ITT. You'd think Küng will win many time trials in his career, he's already shown how strong he is when winning the Volta Limburg and a stage of the Tour de Romandie from long lone attacks, but it's probably too much to expect for him to be competing for the win here.

As always when betting on time trials, the weather has to be taken into account because having to race on wet roads can be a massive handicap and it can pay to keep a close eye on the weather forecast and start times. A lot can change between now and Friday but at the moment it looks unlikely rain will be a factor. I take Fabian Cancellara to add to his glittering palmares, win his first stage of this Grand Tour in his retirement year, and take the first maglia rosa of this year's Giro d'Italia.