Modena > Viadana (Oglio-Po) 172km It’s been one week since the last sprint; the quick men will be looking forward to the next three days. The GC riders would have been looking forward to a day off, but it might not work out that way.

Viareggio > Castelnovo ne’ Monti 186km Welcome to the next phase of the race. After today’s wet TT, Del Toro leads Ayuso by just 25 seconds, Tiberi is at 1:01, Simon Yates 1:03 and Roglič looms large at 1:18. With what’s to come in the final week, these gaps are nothing, the race is definitely still in the balance. This day falls into the “interesting” category, at this stage, I don’t think anyone really knows what’s going to happen. A major climb cresting with 90km to go, followed by “easy” roads would normally see a guaranteed win for the breakaway,...

Lucca > Pisa 28.7km ITT After the chaos of the gravel stage, the 2nd week kicks off with a relatively long ITT in Pisa. Sunday’s stage has had a huge impact on the GC standings with Isaac Del Toro now leading by over 1 minute. The young Mexican is normally good on his TT bike, but this stage now takes on even more significance for Primož Roglič, he’ll be hoping to recover some of his losses from Sunday.

Gubbio > Siena 180km Today’s stage was gruelling, get ready for another. The riders head to Siena, the home of Strade Bianche, and the finale features 5 sectors from the race. I’m going to refrain from calling it a mini-Strade Bianche, because it really isn’t. It’s a nervous day for the GC riders, crashes and mechanicals are a real concern, expect a stressful finale.

Giulianova > Castelraimondo 197km Well then, we have a race. Ayuso took a brilliant win today and moves very close to Roglič on GC, basically wiping out the TT losses. Roglič looked to be poorly positioned when the attack was launched, which would have been very disappointing for his team after working hard the whole day. We’ll have to wonder for a few days if it was a tactical error or a problem with his legs, I don’t think this stage will give us any answers.

Castel di Sangro > Tagliacozzo (Marsia) 168km So many riders hit the deck today I don’t really know where to start. Those who are injured will have to see how they feel after a night’s sleep, it could be bad news for a few. This is the first proper mountain stage of the race, but how will the GC teams approach it? The race has been ridden in a negative fashion so far, will this day be the turning point?

Potenza > Naples 227km It feels like the first phase of the race is drawing to an end. Today, Lidl – Trek delivered another masterful performance to take another stage and all but seal the sprint jersey, despite the race only being 5 stages old. This stage is the longest in the race, 227km is a long day in the saddle, and it should be another sprint in Naples.

Ceglie Messapica > Matera 152km It’s the 5th stage and a very tricky finish awaits the riders. 

Alberobello (Pietramadre) > Lecce 189km After a day of rest, we are now in Italy and the riders are faced with their first sprint stage. It seems weird that it’s taken until now, the fast men will be looking forward to this one. The sprint field here is quite open as none of the top 3 are present, there’s a big chance for some riders to take an elusive grand tour stage. Olav Kooij will likely start most sprints as the big favourite, but he’ll have plenty of competition for the win.

Vlorë > Vlorë 159km What a time trial that was. Tarling was incredible, especially after the climb, but Roglič pushed him all the way. Day 3 is one of those stages that don’t come around too often, a chance for a “lesser” rider to take the pink jersey and hold onto it for several days.