The Gang of Four failed to spot the fabulous firepower of Trek-Segafredo for the opening team time trial. Must try harder.
Now we reach more familiar territory, with all the multi-surnamed acronyms in the frame: AVV, AvdB, ELB and CUL.
It's not all smooth tarmac either, as Hannah points out. Who's it going to be?
Stage 2 Civitella Paganico – Arcidosso (124.8km)
Olivia Kaferly
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) After her fantastic win at the Giro dell'Emilia, I’m sure Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig has the legs for a day like this. Since she has already lost 1.20 in the TTT, the peloton may feel just a little too confident that they can give her a bit of rope. She’s an exciting, attacking rider, and if she’s feeling good, all she’ll need is a few metres advantage in order to score a big win.
Andy
Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) Arguably, she's been the rider of the summer, even if she only has two wins to show for it, including yesterday's TTT. Her sterling team-mate displays for Lizzie Deignan in France a fortnight ago could well mean some payback in her home race. Tough stage, but ELB is a tough cookie.
Ben Ward
Annemiek Van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) I can't imagine how frustrating the lack of racing has been for someone who is so motivated to win as Van Vleuten. After being frustrated by a La Course route that didn't give her enough to assert her strengths, I don't think she'll waste any time in restating her recent dominance on a very lumpy day.
Hannah Walker
Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) This stage has AvdB written all over it. A Strade Bianche-style parcours in the Province of Grosseto, Tuscany. After 14km comes the first dirt sector, the roads are up and down all day, and with 15km to go there’s an extremely steep ascent to Seggiano on a 4km dirt sector – this will be a pivotal point in the race. AvdB has great technical capabilities, excels on very steep terrain and has Chantal van den Broek-Blaak and Karol-Ann Canuel to help the Olympic Champion.
