Giro d'Italia favourites to start TT early to avoid thunderstorms

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Many of the big-name contenders of at 2019 Giro d’Italia will start Saturday's opening time trial early in the hope of avoiding rain showers and thunderstorms forecast for the evening.

Team leaders usually start last in time trials to see how their teammates and rivals perform and to please race organisers and television broadcasters who want a crescendo to the race.

However, the weather in Bologna is expected to worsen during Saturday afternoon and evening, with the worst conditions forecast for around 8pm CET when the last rider is due to reach the finish near the hilltop Santuario di San Luca.

Riders and teams are concerned that racing in the rain will cost them vital seconds on the flat roads out of the centre of Bologna and especially on the 2.1km climb to San Luca, where wheels could slip on the 9.7 per cent average gradient. The opening time trial will immediately shape the overall classification of the Giro d’Italia, with the natural climbers keen to lose as little as possible to the better time trialists.

The official start list shows that Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) will be the first rider to start the 8km time trial at 4:50pm CET. Miguel Angel López (Astana) starts a few minutes after at 4:54pm, with Bob Jungels (Deceuninck-QuickStep) off at 4:56pm, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 4:58 and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) at 5:01pm. Tao Geoghegan Hart is the first rider to start for Team Ineos at 5:11pm, with co-leader Pavel Sivakov off at 5:33pm.

The start order of the 22 teams is drawn from a hat during the pre-race meeting and Team Sunweb were drawn first and so opted for Dumoulin to start first.

The only overall contender not to start in the first team rotation is Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott). He will be the third to last rider to start, at 7:43pm, with Mitchelton-Scott perhaps unconcerned about the weather conditions or hoping any rain will have stopped by then.

Several riders did an extra reconnaissance ride on Friday to decide on their equipment choices for the time trial. All teams have apparently decided against making a bike change and switching to a climbing bike for the road up to San Luca. Riders are now used to riding their time trial bikes on hilly terrain and so will try to stay in aero position and then dance on the pedals on the steepest sections.

Bike weight will be a vital factor, with team mechanics working to ensure bikes are as close to the 6.8kg limit as possible. Some riders may opt to use deep section wheels rather than the more aerodynamic but heavier disc wheels.

Giro d'Italia stage 1 start times