Stage 1: Naples – Naples
Distance: 130km
Highest point: 158m
Category: Flat
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Following 2012’s excursion into the millionaire’s playground of Jutland, this years’ grande partenza will be quintessentially Italian. Though hugely evocative and romantic, Naples was for decades a byword for the financial and social problems of the South. Now it’s being renovated, remodelled and remarketed. Modern, progressive and above all dynamic, it will showcase its new-found optimism with a lightning-fast criterium concluding on its wondrous seafront. The likely outcome? Who else… Cavendish.
Stage 1 map
Stage 1 profile
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Julian Alaphilippe far from confident about La Flèche Wallonne chances
World champion says motivation will have to make up for ‘missing condition’ -
5 riders to watch at La Flèche Wallonne
Pidcock joins Roglic and Cosnefroy among our picks for Wednesday's race -
Best budget gravel bikes: Gravel grinding without breaking the bank
Our pick of the best budget gravel bikes for riding beyond the tarmac without living beyond your means -
Gilbert's Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège hopes dampened by training crash
'I left quite a lot of skin on the road there' reveals veteran Belgian
