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Giro d'Italia 2012: Stage 2 Preview - Herning to Herning 206KmGiro 2012 Stage 2 map

Giro d'Italia 2012: Stage 2 Preview - Herning to Herning 206Km

Simon MacMichael and Geraint Thomas give you the lowdown on a flat day at the Giro
by Tony Farrelly
Sat, May 05, 2012 19:32
2

The first road stage heads west out of Herning before turning north along the coast, then east and finally south, back towards the town when it started. It will be a nervous day for team management – if the wind’s up, some big gaps could open, and with the opening days of any Grand Tour being a nervous time in the peloton, that right-hander  500 metres from the line ahead of what should be a bunch sprint looks ominous.

On the last Giro stage outside Italy in the 2010 race, the wind blowing in from the North Sea was a big factor, causing splits in the peloton early on and contributing to a crash that took out most of Team Sky as they chased the leading bunch. You can bet the weather forecast will be scrutinised particularly carefully ahead of today’s stage, and if it’s breezy, the GC contenders as well as the sprinters’ teams will be fighting to stay near the front.

GT: It could be carnage today, depending what the wind does. You could see crosswinds, and the teams that are strong in those and are quite organised – ourselves hopefully, Rabobank, Garmin, Quick Step, GreenEdge – could do well. It will be a sprint of some sort, but it depends how big the group is coming in.

For more on this year's race read our full Giro d'Italia Preview.

Giro d'Italia 2012
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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2 comments

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Comrade | 12 years ago
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Nice one Jakal, but I also struggle to spot the G as well!

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Danzxer | 12 years ago
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Well the weather forecast says wind from west to northwest but it not going to be to windy compared to normally. It's in my backyard so to speak ridden alot of those roads, they're sadly riding the main roads which are smooth and not the backroads which are a lot more boneshaking.

But if it's only gonna be 6 m/s it would seem a mass sprint is most likely, normally we have around 10-12 m/s winds from west to northwest. There are a lot of small hills along the way but hardly anything that'll concern a pro peleton.

The ride up the coast could split it if the wind was rough but then they would have tail wind once they turn south after Struer.

And you're missing an g in the second Herning in the titel.

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