2021 Giro Italia

Britain's Simon Yates begins his bid for Giro d'Italia victory on Saturday looking to end three years of heartbreak and misfortune at the race.

Having won three stages and led for 13 days in 2018, he cracked in the final week, before an underwhelming eighth-place finish in 2019 was followed by an early exit last year after he tested positive for Covid-19.

The 28-year-old Team Bike Exchange rider starts the first Grand Tour of the year as perhaps the outright favourite following his dominant Tour of the Alps victory last month.

After moving to October last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Giro returns to its regular May slot, starting in Turin on Saturday and ending in Milan on Sunday, 30 May.

The contenders
The general classification riders are competing for the maglia rosa - the pink jersey.

As well as victory in the Alps, Yates finished in the top 10 at stage races Volta a Catalunya and Tirreno-Adriatico this year and is looking for his second Grand Tour win, having responded to his 2018 Giro disappointment with an imperious victory at that year's Vuelta a Espana.

He would be the third British man to win the Giro, all in the last four years, following Chris Froome in 2018 and last year's winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, who is racing in the Tour de France this year instead of in Italy.

Colombia's 2019 Tour champion Egan Bernal endured a tough season last year but is supported by a very strong Ineos Grenadiers team and his climbing skills should suit the terrain on his Giro debut.

His form is unknown though, with the 24-year-old not having raced since mid-March, preferring to train at altitude in Colombia, while he has also been dealing with a back injury.

Portugal's Joao Almeida, 22, led the race for 15 days last year before finishing fourth overall, though the main contenders may be even more wary of his Deceuninck-QuickStep team-mate Remco Evenepoel.

Belgium's Evenepoel, 21, is making his Grand Tour debut and has not raced since fracturing his pelvis in August, but won every stage race he entered in 2020 and is one of the sport's most exciting talents.

Last year's runner-up, Australian Jai Hindley of Team DSM, returns, though the 25-year-old has not had a strong start to 2021.

Trek-Segafredo's Italian veteran Vincenzo Nibali, 36, is bidding for his third Giro win but fractured his wrist just three weeks ago, while Spanish Team Bahrain Victorious leader Mikel Landa, 31, will try to finally win his first Grand Tour after six top-10 finishes.

Britain's Hugh Carthy, 26, of EF Education-Nippo will attempt to build on his third-place finish at the 2020 Vuelta, while Astana are hoping for a strong showing from Russian Aleksandr Vlasov, 25.

The other Britons riding are Carthy's team-mate Simon Carr, Deceunick-Quick-Step's James Knox, Eolo-Kometa's Mark Christian and Israel Start-Up Nation's Alex Dowsett, who won a stage last year.

An exciting sprinting year?
Most of cycling's major sprint showdowns happen at the Tour, but there is an impressive cast of fast finishers at this year's Giro.

Australia's Caleb Ewan, 26, has won three Giro stages before and will be the focus for his Lotto Soudal team.

Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen, 27, of Team Jumbo-Visma is racing for the first time since he was suspended for causing the crash at the Tour of Poland that saw Fabio Jakobsen suffer serious injuries.

UAE Team Emirates' Fernando Gaviria, 26, has won five Giro stages before and the Colombian, who caught Covid-19 twice last year, is looking to recapture the form he showed early in his career.

Former three-time world champion Peter Sagan, 31, won a stage and finished second four times on his Giro debut last year and the Slovak will also target stage wins on days that do not suit pure sprinters.

The course
The route features 21 stages, starting and ending with individual time trials, in which Yates will have to limit his losses to his rivals who are stronger against the clock.

A particularly mountainous course, which features a total elevation gain of more than 47,000m, sees plenty of climbing in week one amid the sprint stages, with an uphill finish on stage four and key mountain days on stages eight and nine.

The second week starts with stage 11, which includes testing gravel sections, before the riders tackle Monte Zoncolan, one of the toughest climbs in cycling, on stage 14.

A brutal third week includes three decisive mountain stages in four days, before the closing time trial, which could see the race decided on the final day, as it was last year.

Comfortable win

Taco van der Hoorn took a remarkable solo victory from the breakaway as Filippo Ganna retained the pink jersey on stage three of the Giro d’Italia. The 27-year-old Van der Hoorn, making his Grand Tour debut in this race, held his hand to his mouth in shock as he crossed the line just four seconds before the charging peloton in Canale.

Davide Cimolai won the race for second place just ahead of Peter Sagan, whose Bora-Hansgrohe team had done so much of the work on the front of the peloton, pushing to try to drop rival sprinters but getting their timing wrong when it came to chasing down the break.

“I can’t believe it,” Van der Hoorn said. “I just wanted to go in the break and be aggressive for the whole Giro, I know how difficult it is to try to win a stage or even get to the finish line with the group but if there’s even 0.5% of a chance you just take it.”

Attention now turns to Tuesday’s 187km hilly stage from Piacenza to the uphill finish in Sestola, where the first major changes to the overall standings since the opening time trial could come.

Backed Simon Yates this morning. Feel sorry for Landa, he looked in good shape

Its a windy DAY

Colombia's Egan Bernal took control of the overall standings in the Giro d'Italia by extending his lead in the race to 45 seconds.

Switzerland's Mauro Schmid won a dramatic stage 11 from a breakaway as riders struggled with the intense gravel roads of Tuscany.

British duo Hugh Carthy and Simon Yates moved up to fourth and fifth respectively despite losing time.

"I'm happy to arrive at the front but we need to stay focused," said Bernal.

Yates, 28, who had questioned whether the 162km run from Perugia to the town of Montalcino had a place on a Grand Tour due to the high risk of mechanical issues and crashes, said he was pleased overall with his performance on Wednesday.

The Team Bike Exchange rider added: "Onwards and upwards. It wasn't a day I was looking forward to but I think I did a good ride. The legs were good, and that's the main thing."

Several general classification contenders were left reeling by the famed Strade Bianche, with Belgium's Remco Evenepoel conceding more than two minutes to fall from second to seventh overall.

The 21-year-old, riding his maiden career Grand Tour and first race since fracturing his pelvis last year, ran into trouble on the third gravel section and looked nervous on the descents.

He then found himself in an angry discussion with Deceuninck-QuickStep team-mate Joao Almeida and ripped out his earpiece after the Portuguese left it late to drop back to help - leaving his bid for the pink jersey over.

Qhubeka-Assos' Schmid held off Alessandro Covi of UAE Team Emirates in a two-man sprint to the line to take his first professional victory.

Stage 12 takes place on Thursday with the 212km route setting off from Siena and finishing in Bagno di Romagna.

General classification
1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col/ Ineos Grenadiers) 42 hours 35mins 21secs
2 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus/Astana-Premier Tech) +45secs
3 Damiano Caruso (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) +1min 2ecs
4 Hugh Carthy (GB/EF Education-Nippo) +1min 17secs
5 Simon Yates (GB/Team BikeExchange) +1min 22secs
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 50secs
7 Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Deceuninck-QuickStep) +2mins 22secs
8 Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +2mins 24secs
9 Tobias Foss (Nor/Jumbo-Visma) +2mins 49secs
10 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +3mins 15secs

Bernal appears to be in good shape, but there are bigger tests to come .......

Italy's Lorenzo Fortunato impressively climbed to his maiden career win on stage 14 of the Giro d'Italia, as Egan Bernal added to his overall lead at the summit of Monte Zoncolan.

Fortunato, riding for Eolo-Kometa, won the 205km stage in five hours 17 minutes 22 seconds.

Colombian Bernal came fourth, but crucially extended his race lead to 93 seconds.

Briton Simon Yates finished sixth and moved up to second overall.

Italy's Damiano Caruso is third overall, 1:51 back.

Russian Aleksander Vlasov lost more than a minute on Ineos Grenadiers rider Bernal in the pink jersey on the final climb of the mountain stage - which included scaling gradients of over 20% in the final three kilometres.

"I think that I'm in a really good position now. I don't need to attack on every mountain stage," said 2019 Tour de France winner Bernal.

"I just need to be calm and patient. Finally I followed Yates and I tried to make an acceleration in the final and I think that I did a good race."

Sunday's 15th stage is 147km cross-border circuit between Italy and Slovenia which takes in three climbs.

General classification
1. Egan Bernal (COL/Ineos Grenadiers) 58hrs 30mins 47secs
2. Simon Yates (GBR/Team BikeExchange) +1mins 33secs
3. Damiano Caruso (ITA/Bahrain Victorious) +1:51
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS/Astana-Premier Tech) +1:57
5. Hugh Carthy (GBR/EF Education-Nippo) +2:11
6. Emanuel Buchmann (GER/Bora-hansgrohe) +2:36
7. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/Trek-Segafredo) +3:03
8. Remco Evenepoel (BEL/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +3:52
9. Daniel Martinez (COL/Ineos Grenadiers) +3:54
10. Romain Bardet (FRA/Team DSM) +4:31

Does appear to have his mojo back, but yes, the big boys aint playing in this Tour.

Stage curtailed by bad weather, tv pictures missing half the time
Wasnt a very picture
Apart from the fav

Bernal wins
His g/friend gives him a real SMOOCH