Oct 3rd - Stage 1 - Giro d’Italia
Stage/Finish: Monreale - Palermo
Distance: 15.1 kilometers - individual time trial (ITT)
Brent's Update:
The 2020 Giro d’Italia is finally underway. It is my 11th Grand Tour and fifth Giro.
Today’s TT was unlike any other TT course I’ve seen in my career with its massive amounts of straight downhills! Knowing we have 20 long stages ahead where we are all in to support Simon, I went in with the plan to enjoy the course with a more relaxed approach instead of throwing everything I had at it.
After my recon this morning, I was relieved knowing my goal was to get around the course safely. It was a crazy course due to the extremely windy and very, very fast speed mixed with the road conditions and surfaces. All together, it made a pretty dangerous course. More than a handful of guys hit the deck and the race already saw its first DNF with Lopez crashing out.
With such limited time on the TT bike this year, I felt anything but comfortable out there. I stayed committed to doing a consistent effort to open up after a few really easy days leading into the race. I got around the course feeling focused, which felt good.
The whole team was happy to see Simon make it around safely and with a strong time relative to the other GC guys.
The next three days have us riding through Sicily, and I’m sure there will be some surprises. This island is a place of extreme contrasts. There is natural beauty combined with filthy spots where garbage is piling up. There is a mix of freshly paved roads with others that look like an earthquake recently hit them.
It’ll be good to be rolling and have a smooth start to the weeks ahead. I’ll do my best to keep updating and sharing my perspective over the coming weeks. Thanks for following along!
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