The first cycling Grand Tour of the season launches in Northern Ireland on May 9 as a selection of the best climbers in the world battle for the famous Maglia Rosa in the 97th edition of the Giro d’Italia.
British Eurosport will be showing all 21 stages live across three gruelling weeks, while BBC Northern Ireland will give terrestrial viewers the chance to watch live coverage of the opening three stages as Irish shores welcome the return of Grand Tour cycling for the first time since 1998.
Every other year, the organisers of the Giro d’Italia take their Grande Partenza – or Big Start – overseas and this year Northern Ireland was chosen turn to play host to what will be one of the biggest outdoor sporting events the country has ever staged.
One of the greatest challenges in world cycling and the first Grand Tour of the season, the 2014 Big Start, and its whistle stop weekend trip to Ireland, see riders take part in a 22km team time-trial around the Northern Irish capital Belfast and its Titanic Quarter.
Then on Saturday, stage two follows the riders as they speed along the picturesque north coast and Glens of Antrim to the sprint finish at Belfast City Hall.
Finally on Sunday, the Giro leaves Northern Ireland with the peloton restarting at County Armagh and heading south and a sprint finish in Dublin.
The race then returns its home country on Tuesday, May 13, where the battle for the famous Pink Jersey will continue apace up the daunting Italian mountains.
Last year’s Giro saw pre-race favourite Vincenzo Nibali dominate the race, beating the rest of the field by nearly five minutes and wearing the Maglia Rosa from stage eight.
Team Sky’s Rigoberto Uran was the nearest competitor to Nibali and his win on stage 10 was the highlight of a positive tour of the British team.
They finished top of the team classification, despite lead rider Bradley Wiggins dropping out after 12 stages, while British rider Alex Dowsett won the stage eight individual time-trial for the Movistar team.
Reigning champion Nibali will miss this year’s race, opening the door for the likes of Quintana, Rodriguez and 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans.
This year’s Giro will be covering 3,449km over the usual 21 stages across three weeks, comprising of eight flat stages and 10 more which will be suited to climbers such as 2013 Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez.
The route may feature nine summit finishes but it is the individual time trial up Cima Grappa on stage 19 that has the potential to create the most significant splits in the general classification.
With no team-mates to offer support, this stage will be man against man and the harsh slopes of the climb will ruthlessly punish weaker legs.
In the absence of Nibali, Alberto Contador and reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome as they concentrate instead on July’s French showpiece, the 2014 Giro has the ingredients to be one of the most open instalments of the race in years.
Quintana, Evans and Rodriguez are the strongest favourites, but as many as six or seven riders could be in with a chance of overall victory.
British interest in the race comes from Team Sky’s Ben Swift while his team-mate Philip Deignan, the only Irish rider in the race, will enjoy the benefit of home support over the opening weekend.
After 21 challenging stages and three pulsating weeks, who will claim the prestigious maglia rosa on June 1?
Follow the 2014 Giro d’Italia on British Eurosport, BBC NI & Sky Sports:
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British Eurosport will be the only place to watch all 21 stages of the 2014 Giro d’Italia, the first Grand Tour event of the season.
As in 2013, the pan-European channel will screen three hours of live coverage from every stage, mainly starting around 1.30pm, with the exception of the opening stage in Belfast which starts at 5.30pm.
Leading the commentary team throughout the three weeks will be Rob Hatch and Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly.
All of the action will be available to watch in high-definition via British Eurosport HD or British Eurosport 2 HD.
Live streaming of Eurosport’s coverage is also available online via Eurosport Player (subscription required).
British Eurosport is the home of cycling on TV with more coverage than any other channel, including action from all three Grand Tours – Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and La Vuelta a Espana.
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BBC Northern Ireland will be screening live free-to-air coverage of the opening three stages of the 2014 Giro d’Italia as the race sets off on Irish shores for the first time.
In a deal struck shortly before the Grand Depart, BBC Two NI will screen all three Irish stages live with Jill Douglas presenting coverage alongside roving reporter Gavin Andrews, who will capture all the colour and atmosphere as the peloton criss-crosses Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
For the opening two days, Douglas will be joined in studio for expert analysis by former British professional rider Michael Hutchinson.
BBC Sport NI will be using the live commentary from the world feed with Carlton Kirby and Daniel Lloyd.
The weekend’s coverage will also include route previews and packages explaining all there is to know about the Giro d’Italia including the intricacies of team time trialing and road racing.
BBC Sport NI’s live coverage of the grand depart will be produced by Century TV, who are also responsible for TV coverage of the Tour of Britain.
Viewers outside Northern Ireland will be able to watch BBC Two NI’s live coverage on Sky channel 972 or Freesat 969, or online via the BBC Sport website.
Once the event leaves Irish shores, fans can follow the event with BBC Northern Ireland by watching daily stage highlights on the BBC Sport NI website as the race for the famous pink jersey continues in its home country of Italy.
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Sky Sports will screen nightly 90-minute highlights of every stage from the 2014 Giro d’Italia.
Orla Chennaoui presents all the key action each day on-location in Italy. She will also conduct interviews with a selection of the riders as they finish.
Commentary will be provided by the world feed team of Carlton Kirby and Daniel Lloyd.
Sky Sports’ Giro d’Italia highlights forms part of its extensive line-up of world class cycling coverage throughout 2014.
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OFFICIAL WEBSITE 2014 ROUTE START LIST
Friday 9th May STAGE 1: Belfast > Belfast – 22km / Team Time Trial LIVE: 5.30pm-8.15pm British Eurosport / 6.30pm-8.30pm BBC Two NI Highlights: 11.30pm-12.30am Sky Sports 3 Saturday 10th May STAGE 2: Belfast > Belfast – 219km / Flat LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British Eurosport / 2.00pm-4.30pm BBC Two NI Highlights: 8.00pm-9.30pm Sky Sports 3 Sunday 11th May STAGE 3: Armagh > Dublin – 187km / Flat LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British Eurosport / 2.30pm-4.30pm BBC Two NI Highlights: 10.00pm-11.30pm Sky Sports 2 Monday 12th May REST DAY Tuesday 13th May STAGE 4: Giovinazzo > Bari – 112km / Flat LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British Eurosport Highlights: 8.00pm-9.30pm Sky Sports 3 Wednesday 14th May STAGE 5: Taranto > Viggiano – 203km / Med-Mountain LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British EurosportHighlights: 8.00pm-9.30pm Sky Sports 3 Thursday 15th May STAGE 6: Sassano > Montecassino – 247km / Med-Mountain LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British Eurosport Highlights: 10.30pm-12.00am Sky Sports 3 Friday 16th May STAGE 7: Frosinone > Foligno – 211km / Flat LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British Eurosport Highlights: 10.30pm-12.00am Sky Sports 3 Saturday 17th May STAGE 8: Foligno > Montecopiolo – 179km / Med-Mountain LIVE: 1.00pm-4.30pm British Eurosport Highlights: 9.30pm-11.00pm Sky Sports 3 Sunday 18th May STAGE 9: Lugo > Sestola – 172km / Med-Mountain LIVE: 1.30pm-4.30pm British Eurosport Highlights: 8.00pm-9.30pm Sky Sports 3 Monday 19th May REST DAY Tuesday 20th May STAGE 10: Modena > Salsomaggiore Terme – 173km / Flat LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Wednesday 21st May STAGE 11: Collecchio > Savona – 249km / Med-Mountain LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Thursday 22nd May STAGE 12: Barbaresco > Barolo – 42km / Individual Time Trial LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Friday 23rd May STAGE 13: Fossano > Rivarolo Canavese – 157km / Flat LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Saturday 24th May STAGE 14: Agile > Oropa – 164km / Mountain LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Sunday 25th May STAGE 15: Valdengo > Montecampione – 225km / Mountain LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Monday 26th May REST DAY Tuesday 27th May STAGE 16: Ponte di Legno > Val Martello – 139km / Mountain LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Wednesday 28th May STAGE 17: Sarnonico > Vittorio Veneto – 208km / Flat LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Thursday 29th May STAGE 18: Belluno > Rifugio Panarotta – 171km / Mountain LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Friday 30th May STAGE 19: Bassano del Grappa > Cima Grappa – 27km / Individual Time Trual LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Saturday 31st May STAGE 20: Maniago > Monte Zoncolan – 167km / Mountain LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports Sunday 1st June STAGE 21: Gemona del Friuli > Trieste – 172km / Flat LIVE: British Eurosport Highlights: Sky Sports
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Very disappointed with the commentators chosen by the BBC to provide live coverage of this years race, there knowledge of both north and South Ireland is a joke not being able to pronounce place names etc. BBC certainly scraping the bottom of the barrel wouldn’t hot a candle to the coverage provided by Channel 4 on the Tour its like listening to the 2 old guys on the Muppets.