2020 Giro route unveiled, Sagan to start next year’s race: Daily News Digest
Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:
The 2020 Giro d’Italia will feature three time trials and a grueling final week, Peter Sagan will make his debut at the race next year, Cofidis set to join the WorldTour. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.
Story of the Day: 2020 Giro route revealed
After weeks of rumors hinting at what next year’s Giro d’Italia might look like, the route for next year’s race has finally been unveiled. Organizers presented the 2020 Giro parcours on Thursday in Milan, just over a week after the route of next year’s Tour de France was unveiled in Paris. Compared to the hilly 2020 Tour route, the Giro parcours features a more familiar balance of time trial miles and high-mountain challenges, with an especially challenging final week on tap.
Richard Carapaz on stage 21 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia. Photo: DB/RB/Cor Vos © 2019
As in the 2019 edition, won by Movistar’s Richard Carapaz, the 2020 Giro will feature three individual time trials. The race will open with an 8.6-kilometer test in Budapest, Hungary. Another ITT, 33.7 kilometers from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene, awaits on stage 14, and then the race concludes in Milan with one last race against the clock of 16.5 kilometers.
That said, there will be plenty of major mountain climbs in next year’s race as well. Shortly after the race transitions to Italy after three days in Hungary, the peloton will take on Mount Etna on stage 5. Stage 15 features multiple climbs before finishing on the Piancavallo, and then after a rest day comes a week sure to decide the general classification.
Stage 16 is one of three days in the final week taking on more than 5,000 meters of climbing. Stage 18 will traverse the Cima Coppi of this year’s race on the Passo dello Stelvio before finishing at Laghi di Cancano, with a gravel stretch in the finale. Stage 20 will take the peloton over the Colle dell’Agnello, the Col d’Izoard, and the Col de Montgenèvre before finishing at Sestriere. The Milan time trial closes things out the next day.
All told, it’s a route that features multiple days with potential to shake up the GC battle, while also being a more traditional Grand Tour route than the one Tour organizers presented last week. That could play a role in convincing the peloton’s more TT-oriented Grand Tour contenders to consider adding their names to a Giro startlist that already includes some big names – more on that in a moment.
Moving Pictures
Stepping away from the world of racing briefly, Global Tech Editor James Huang decided to get around Eurobike a little differently this year. That turned out to be a great decision.
You can check out the full story here …
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Sagan confirms Giro debut plans, Carapaz and Nibali will return to the race
Three-time world road champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was on hand at the Giro presentation, and he confirmed what has long been rumored about his 2020 schedule: He will make his Giro debut next May.
The 29-year-old Slovakian turned pro with the Italian-based Liquigas team, has lived in Italy, and speaks Italian, but he has never started the Giro. His racing calendar has typically taken him instead to the Tour of California in May as he builds towards the Tour.
Peter Sagan wins stage 1 of the Tour of California. Photo: Brian Hodes/Cor Vos © 2019
“Italy holds a special place in my heart. It is the country where I won my first World Championship in 2008 [the junior men’s race at mountain bike Worlds] and where I spent the formative years of my professional career, riding for an Italian team,” Sagan said.
“In the last ten years I have had the opportunity and privilege to compete, many times, in some of the most prestigious races held in Italy, but I always felt that something was missing, the Giro d’Italia.”
Sagan was not the only big name to confirm his plans for next spring on Thursday. The reigning Giro champion Richard Carapaz, who will leave Movistar for Ineos next year, announced that he would be hunting another pink jersey in 2020. Two-time Giro winner Vincenzo Nibali, on his way from Bahrain-Merida to Trek-Segafredo next season, also made his plans to start next year’s Giro official.
Cofidis set to join WorldTour in 2020, Total-Direct Energie secures automatic invites to all WorldTour events
The UCI has announced the list of the 19 teams that have scored enough points for WorldTour status in 2020, with Cofidis set to be the one newcomer moving up to the top division from the Pro Continental ranks next year. The French outfit joins the 18 current WorldTour teams (including a newly combined Katusha-Alpecin and Israel Cycling Academy team) in meeting the sporting criteria for eligibility for a WorldTour license from 2020 to 2022.
Jesús Herrada wins stage 6 of the Vuelta a España. Photo: Dario Beligheri/RB/Cor Vos © 2019
The finalized list of WorldTour teams will be released following further evaluation of teams’ fulfillment of a broader list of “administrative, ethical, financial, organizational, and sporting criteria.”
Total-Direct Energie’s points total qualifies the French Pro Continental outfit for automatic invitation to all WorldTour events next year, while Wanty-Gobert will receive invites to all UCI Classics Series races.
That will leave the other Pro Continental teams battling for invites from race organizers. Among those squads will be the likes of Arkéa-Samsic, which has signed Nairo Quintana for next year, and Mathieu van der Poel’s Corendon-Circus team.
Pantano runs for office in Colombia
Jarlinson Pantano, who retired from cycling after testing positive for EPO earlier this year, is running for office. The 30-year-old Colombian, whose career palmares includes stage wins at the Tour de France, Volta a Catalunya, and Tour de Suisse, is campaigning for a spot on the municipal council in his hometown of Cali.
Pantano said on Twitter that he is hoping to develop more park space for recreation and sport.
In case you missed it …
Feature Image: Peter Sagan at La Flèche Wallonne. Photo: ©kramon
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