Giro d’Italia 2024, Presentation of the Route and Favorites Seventh Stage: Foligno – Perugia (40.6 km – time trial)

First possible turning point for the Giro d’Italia 2024. After the eventful inaugural stages and a few days dedicated to fast wheels, the time has now come to measure the abilities of the protagonists of this edition against the clock with a 40.6 kilometer time trial between Foligno And Perugia, which welcomes the arrival of a time trial for the first time after hosting the start of the one in Assisi in 1982, won by Bernard Hinault. Very complicated test with 34 kilometers in which to push and the remaining 6.6 towards the Umbrian capital which act as the GPM, with an average gradient of 4.2% with peaks of up to 16% on the first ramps. The last time we arrived in these parts was back in 1985 with the victory of the American Ron Kiefel.

FIRST RUNNER DEPARTURE TIME: 1.10pm
LAST RUNNER ARRIVAL TIME (EXPECTED): 5.09pm
LIVE TV AND STREAMING: 1.05pm-2.00pm RaiSport / 2.00pm-6.00pm Rai 2 / 12.45pm-5.45pm Eurosport 1, Eurosport, Discovery+
OFFICIAL HASHTAG: Giro GirodItalia

Seventh stage route of the Giro d’Italia 2024

I got off the starting platform Foligno, after a couple of initial curves, the runners will find a very slight downhill and mostly straight road in the first kilometres, but after around 5000 meters they will encounter a stretch with several curves and turns entering and exiting Spello which will have to be tackled with Attention. We will then continue on long flat straights, only occasionally interrupted by some slightly more delicate passages, until the first chronometric detection of Santa Maria degli Angelilocated 18.6 kilometers after the start, after which the route will continue with the same characteristics, favorable to hand specialists, for another ten kilometres.

After Collestrada, there will be a short up and down that precedes a slightly more tortuous stretch that will lead to the second intermediate survey, that of Valleceppi Bridge, which you will reach once you have covered 34 kilometres. Shortly after, there will be the possibility to change bikes, also because the climb will begin that will lead to the finish line Perugia, 6600 meters long and with an average gradient of 4.2%. The most challenging segment will be found in the first 1300 meters up to Casaglia, all in double figures (average of 11.8%, with a peak of 16%), while subsequently the road will continue to climb alternating hard ramps with counter-slope sections. Added to this is a last rather tortuous kilometer in the historic center of the Umbrian capital, almost always slightly ascending until the arrival of Corso Vannucci.

Climbs Seventh Stage Giro d’Italia 2024

Favorites Seventh Stage Giro d’Italia 2024

The strong time trial riders have been circled in red this day, and he is certainly among them Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers). A good part of this test is absolutely favorable to the characteristics of the Verbanese, who will have to try to gain as much as possible in the first 34 kilometers and then try to resist on the final climb, which in the toughest sections will not favor him given his weight. In any case, as also demonstrated in the stage arriving in Andora, the 27-year-old’s leg appears excellent, so it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see him triumph or, at least, come very close.

Among Ganna’s main rivals will be some of his teammates, starting obviously with Geraint Thomas, who as a ranking man will try to give everything on this day to gain ground on the pure climbers. Also Thymen Arensmananother rider who often scores excellent time trials, will give everything to try to recover minutes and positions in the standings after a difficult start, but also pay attention to the American for the day’s success Magnus Sheffieldwho at the beginning of the Giro had announced that he was aiming for the time trials, and the former specialty world champion Tobias Fosswho, however, after his world championship success, was no longer able to achieve a time trial victory.

Obviously, one cannot fail to include him among the favorites of the day Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), who, even if in the last few GT time trials has always come out defeated against Jonas Vingegaard, remains an excellent interpreter of the specialty and will therefore be able to create a good gap between himself and some of the other big names. Those who should be able to contain the damage from the Slovenian the most (or, if the latter is having a bad day, maybe even gain something) should be, in addition to the aforementioned Thomas, Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-hansgrohe) e Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious). The Colombian, national time trial champion, has had a good Giro so far and aims to continue his positive momentum, while the Lazio native will be able to take advantage of his skills against the clock to make up for the time lost in Oropa after the unfortunate puncture.

There will be many men in the ranking who will have to try to limit their losses, but who risk a heavy deficit at the end of the day, such as Cian Uijtdebroeks, Einer Rubio, Lorenzo Fortunato, Juan Pedro Lopez, Romain Bardet and Esteban Chaves, while a little better should go to Ben O’Connor (Decathlon Ag2r La World) and, above all, ad Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan), which has not failed to perform well against the clock in the past. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) could have also had a good time trial, but the Sicilian fell heavily to the ground at the end of the sixth stage, also dropping out of the rankings, so in view of the time trial it will above all be necessary to evaluate what his conditions will be after the fall.

Among those who can aim for a good placing or, why not, even an important result, pay attention also to the UAE pair formed by Mikkel Bjerg And Felix Grossschartnerboth quite skilled in this type of tests, to that of the Movistar composed of William Barta And Lorenzo Milesi and to that of Visma | Lease a Bike including Jan Tratnik And Tim Van Dijke. They can then aspire to a top-10 finish such as good timers Luke Plapp (Team Jayco AlUla), Stefan De Bod (EF Education-EasyPost), Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) e Josef Cerny (Soudal-QuickStep), as well as runners in good shape like Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) e Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis).

Bag of the Favorites Seventh Stage Giro d’Italia 2024

***** Filippo Ganna
**** Tadej Pogacar, Geraint Thomas
*** Thymen Arensman, Daniel Martinez, Magnus Sheffield
** William Barta, Mikkel Bjerg, Stefan De Bod, Antonio Tiberi
* Tobias Foss, Felix Grossschartner, Alexey Lutsenko, Luke Plapp, Jan Tratnik

Predicted weather for the seventh stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024

Departure from Foligno with stable weather, clear or slightly cloudy skies without the risk of rain. Stable weather also along the entire race route between sun and scattered clouds, risk of rain low or completely absent. Final stage in Perugia with good weather and arrival temperatures around 22 degrees. Average wind between 7 and 12 km per hour from the North-East.

Major pitfalls Seventh Stage Giro d’Italia 2024

A difficult time trial to interpret, in which managing effort throughout the test will be very important, trying not to overdo it in the first part so as not to risk arriving with an empty tank on the final climb. Precisely the tough slopes sometimes present in the last 6600 meters could be decisive in tilting the success towards the men in the rankings who are strong in time trials compared to the pure specialists of the hands.

Altimetry and Plan Seventh Stage Giro d’Italia 2024

Timetable Seventh Stage Giro d’Italia 2024

Giro d’Italia 2024 Stage 7 ChronoTable