Italian riders Ivan Basso, Vincenzo Nibali, Michele Scarponi and Australia’s Cadel Evans pose with the winner’s trophy during the presentation of the route of the 2014 Giro d’Italia cycling race in Milan, Italy, yesterday.
MILAN: Former Tour de France champion Cadel Evans said he is unlikely to compete at the 2014 edition of the race as he concentrates on targetting a win in the Giro d’Italia.
“It’s unlikely that I’ll start the Tour de France,” Evans said yesterday following the presentation of the three-week Italian epic, which begins on May 9 in Belfast and ends on June 1 in the Trieste region of Italy.
Evans, who was among the Tour de France’s oldest champions when he won the fabled yellow jersey at the age of 34 in 2011, produced an impressive performance in this year’s Giro d’Italia.
Despite having only several weeks of preparation following a late call-up by his BMC team, the 36-year-old was only pipped for a runner-up place by Rigoberto Uran in the final stages when Italian Vincenzo Nibali triumphed.
Evans went on to double up at the Tour de France barely a month later, but finished far off the podium as Britain’s Chris Froome won his maiden yellow jersey.
Evans, who came to the cycling world’s attention in 2002 when he almost won the Giro d’Italia on his debut, admits he has unfinished business at the race.
His absence from the Tour de France is a move he feels would boost his chances at finally claiming the race’s pink jersey.
“It’s not 100 percent confirmed, but at this point it looks like I’ll probably do the Giro,” Evans added.
“It’s unlikely that I’ll start in the Tour de France, and that leaves me with a lot of time and energy to concentrate on the Giro.”
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali will kick off the defence of his Giro d’Italia title in 2014 with three days of racing in Northern Ireland before a “key” final week of epic racing in the high mountains.
Nibali, of the Astana team, claimed his maiden pink jersey after a dramatic 2013 edition that was blighted by torrential rain, cancelled stages and a snow-hit stage to Tre Cime di Lavaredo in the Dolomites.
Next year’s edition is set for an equally dramatic end with some key mountain stages, including the 20th and penultimate day to Monte Zoncolan, labelled the ‘Welcome to Hell’ stage, set to decide overall victory.
Before then, however, Nibali and a handful of rivals including Joaquin Rodriguez, Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso and Andy Schleck will begin the three-week race with three days of mainly flat racing in the north of Ireland.
In a break from tradition, the race will begin in Belfast on a Friday with a team time trial and continue with two mainly flat stages which should suit the sprinters such as Britain’s Mark Cavendish.
After a stage three finish across the border in Dublin, the peloton will enjoy a rest day on May 12 before resuming the race the next day from Giovinazo to Bari on the ‘heel’ of Italy.
The race makes its way north with a slightly uphill finish on stages five and six and another flat stage which the sprinters and non-climbers will welcome on stage seven. The first of five stages in the mountains comes on stages eight and nine, from Foligno to Montecopiolo and Lugo to Sestola respectively.
After the second of three rest days, the ‘punchers’ - riders who excel on lumpy finishes - will be given a chance to shine on stage 10 from Modena to Salsomaggiore Terme.
The next day has a hilly start, but finishes on the flat.
The battle for the race’s pink jersey will move up a gear on stage 12 during a 46.4 km individual time trial which is almost all uphill.
From Barbaresco to Barolo, it has been labelled ‘the wine stage’.
After a flat finish on stage 13, the race only gets harder and harder.
Stage 14 features four climbs and an uphill finish at Oropa while the following day’s 217 km features a long flat stretch before ending with the climb to Plan di Montecampione.
Agencies
