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Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Tour of Italy race director hails four-time Tour
de France champion's decision to ride
Vern Pitthris Froome’s
decision to ride the
2018 Giro d’Italia
will make the race more
competitive and force rival
teams to go on the attack
early, the race’s organiser
has predicted.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly,
Mario Vegni, director of the
Giro at race organiser RCS,
said: “I think having a rider
like Froome is going to make
the other teams face the race
differently; they can’t play
the waiting game. I hope that
that’s the case and we get a
beautiful, competitive race.”
He added: “The others will
see he’s there and not wait
around to battle, but go on the
hunt early on.”
Last week, Froome
announced he would race the
Italian Grand Tour for the first
time since 2010 — a decision
he only confirmed to Vegni
four hours before the race
route presentation.
Froome’s tilt at the Giro title
is expected to see him skip
the early-season Australian
races that he has favoured for
the start of his season for the
last two years and start racing
in Europe, most likely in
February. He is likely to then
take on Tirreno-Adriatico —
the traditional Giro warm-up
race — in mid-March beforethe start of the Giro in May.
However, Froome’s
participation in the Giro
isn’t good news for the Tour
de Yorkshire, which had
harboured hopes of attracting
the British star, as the two
races overlap next year.
There is also a danger for
Vegni in that some riders
may target the Tour rather
than the Giro knowing that
Froome will not be as fresh
as he usually is, especially as
the Tour has a challenging
first week with a steep, albeit
small, summit finish, a team
time trail and cobbles.
Tom Dumoulin said that
the Sky leader’s decision to
ride won’t affect whether he
defends his pink jersey next
year or not, while Italian
Vincenzo Nibali said the route
“suited” Froome.
Vegni said: “We need more
than Froome otherwise the
race becomes boring. I hope
that we have Landa, Nibali,
Pinot, and many others.”
Italian Grand Tour-winning
great Felice Gimondi was
among those backing Froome
to win in Italy next May. Last
week he said: “Froome can do
it. It’s difficult to outdistance
him on the climbs, because
he’s skilled and supported by
a strong team. He can also
perform well in the TT stages,
without losing too much from
specialists like Dumoulin.”Israel controversy
Froome’s participation is
certainly a boon for the race’s
status as it has sometimes
struggled to attract Tour
champions. Vegni said: “It’s
not often you get the reigning
Tour de France king at the
race. Froome is a media star
and that reaches far for us.”
It comes as RCS faces
continued controversy
over the Giro’s start in
Israel. Only last week the
organisation, already under
pressure from anti-Israel
campaigners, angered the
Grande Partenza hosts for
referring to the start in ‘West
Jerusalem’. The reference
is controversial because
the UN and many other
international organisations do
not recognise Jerusalem as
a wholly Israeli city as Israel
annexed the eastern side,
which was officially part of
Jordan, in the Six Day War in- The UN considers East
Jerusalem to be Palestinian
occupied territory.
While RCS changed the
reference and said it had been
made based on geography
rather than politics, the
incident highlighted the
gamble of holding the start
in the controversial state and
with campaigners still angry,
it seems unlikely to be the
last hurdle before the roll-out
in May.
Froome set to make
Giro aggressive race
6 | December 7, 2017 | Cycling Weekly