Giro d'Italia Stage 3 – May 11th, Armagh - Dublin 187km **Unmasked Spoilers**

dastardly00

Stage 3 – Sunday May 11th, Armagh - Dublin 179km (*)

Parcours wise, it's an easy day in the saddle for the peloton. However, the weather will no doubt make it very tough, and the roads will be treacherous if it rains like it did in Stage 2. Barring any unfortunate accidents, Kittel should win the sprint into Dublin.

Hopefully the crowds will turn out in big numbers like they have in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland. I'm planning on getting a spot somewhere around the Quays.

Map:



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Last kilometres:



Weather - Armagh: Windy. Periods of light rain in the afternoon. High 14C. Winds WNW at 15 to 30 kph. Chance of rain 70%. Dublin: Mostly cloudy and windy with showers developing later in the day. High 14C. Winds W at 30 to 50 kph. Chance of rain 50%.

Betting odds: Marcel Kittel 8/15; Nacer Bouhanni 6/1; Elia Viviani 9/1.

Live TV coverage on Eurosport1 from 1.30pm and on BBC2 from 2.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 2 at 10pm and Eurosport1 at midnight.

Live text ticker here.

MPFG

Its the first Grand Tour stage in Republic of Ireland since 1998 .........wow

Irish corner are at Lincoln place corner merrion sq south . Beside the Dutch corner tomorrow....(there is a Dutch corner)

Not sure about easy day tomorrow cos of cross winds ...hope someone tries to exploit these conditions and not leave it to a Kittle walk in Dublin

Found out why Movistar had a poor TTT yesterday...They had Martin McGuiness in the team car behind them :eek:....that could really put you off your stride

http://www.u.tv/News/Giro-hits-the-scenic-north-coast/47c8736b-2aec-4eea-8fdd-6a8394e19720

Darkglasses

Kittel went down such a storm up here over the last 3 days, I'd love to see him do a double. Reckon it's a safe enough bet that he will. Bouhanni's a monster but he doesn't have a world-class train like Kittel. Viviani will be his best challenger, but Kittel's got a good bit more individual talent than him.

Aside from that, I hope the Republic shows its natural beauties as well as the North did in stage 2. Even though the buzz wasn't as high in Dublin, I have no doubt that there will crowds all over the streets. In fairness, nowhere could match the Belfast hype for the Giro. People were mad for it here for months.

VinylJunkie

Hope the weather turns an we get a decent day, I'm going with Viviani from Kittel.

Mr Pseudonym

MPFG wrote: »

Its the first Grand Tour stage in Republic of Ireland since 1998

<Wince>

Darkglasses

For anyone thinking ahead - Monday is a rest/travelling day. Tuesday is somewhat interesting - very flat but also very very short at 121km. Laps around Bari, kind of a criterium race.

Wednesday will be a bit of fun, not a high mountains stage but a classic-style uphill finish.

Thursday, also an uphill finish but much less extreme. Longer one at 247km.

Friday, few hills along the way but absolute sprinter's finish.

GC fun on Saturday and Sunday

J Cheever Loophole

dastardly00 wrote: »

Hopefully the crowds will turn out in big numbers like they have in Belfast and the rest of Northern

Hope so too - it's really captured the imagination of the public here. The weather has been terrible in Armagh City tonight - hoping for something better in the morning.

A few photos of Armagh from this afternoon - hopefully gives a sense of the way the Giro has taken hold.

hardCopy

What time should the peloton hit Clontarf tomorrow?

whacker00

hardCopy wrote: »

What time should the peloton hit Clontarf tomorrow?

According to the time sheet on the big start website the caravan will hit clontarf (a.bryne:East wall road) at 14.23 and peloton at 1606

check_six

Regarding those photos, there can't really be a tile company called armatile can there?

J Cheever Loophole

check_six wrote: »

Regarding those photos, there can't really be a tile company called armatile can there?

There is indeed CS - and a very successful one at that!

godtabh

You reckon there will.much in town? Going to head in for around 3.

Was in to watch the Dublin Marathon last year. Weather was bad and not many people in. I wonder will it be the same

MPFG

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

<Wince>

What is the wince for ???

letape

MPFG wrote: »

What is the wince for ???

Memories of 98 I'd guess

Darkglasses

L'Equipe is reporting that Nacer Bouhanni wants to leave FDJ, and up to 7 teams are interested.

Jawgap

check_six wrote: »

Regarding those photos, there can't really be a tile company called armatile can there?

I scanned the photos and originally read that as "Armalite" --

---"f%7king hell" was my initial reaction until I re-read it.

Pretty foul day in Drogheda - looking west,there doesn't seem to be much in the way of an improvement on offer.

Julianstown looks great - they've put up extra bunting, ribbons, banners, pink bikes etc........Drogheda looked pretty tame - just the bull painted pink and some smattering of bunting.

furiousox

There's a restaurant in the middle of Belfast called 'Maze'!

snailsong

check_six wrote: »

Regarding those photos, there can't really be a tile company called armatile can there?

I think there's another flooring company called 'Tiocaidh Ár Urlár'.

Jawgap

My favourite one in Belfast (on the Holywood Road)

wanderer 22

-

MPFG

colm18 wrote: »

At the finish

Well is there many there ...could you elaborate ....:rolleyes:

wanderer 22

Stupid phone! Meant to attach this pic :-)

MPFG

Good Philip Deignan diary in Sticky bottle...style very like Ger Cromwell ?

http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/deignans-giro-diary-guys-soon-got-cold-wet-and-grumpy-and-the-chatter-died-down/

MPFG

colm18 wrote: »

Stupid phone! Meant to attach this pic :-)

emmm ??:D

Waitsian

So the publicity caravan is passing my house in an hour - is it worth going out to see (what kind of goodies do they throw out?) or will I wait til the riders pass?

MPFG

mod9maple wrote: »

So the publicity caravan is passing my house in an hour - is it worth going out to see (what kind of goodies do they throw out?) or will I wait til the riders pass?

Jasus ..don't bother at all...go back to bed for yourself....you don't want to exert yourself or put yourself out

Waitsian

MPFG wrote: »

Jasus ..don't bother at all...go back to bed for yourself....you don't want to exert yourself or put yourself out

Bed? At quarter past 11? I'm up at 6 every morning.

I could just as easily see a load of cars passing from my window as go out and likely get soaked. Now if they were tossing anything worthwhile I'd go out - bidons, or key rings or t-shirts even.

MPFG

mod9maple wrote: »

Bed? At quarter past 11? I'm up at 6 every morning.

I could just as easily see a load of cars passing from my window as go out and likely get soaked. Now if they were tossing anything worthwhile I'd go out - bidons, or key rings or t-shirts even.

For goodness sake...you go out to support the event and its at your door ..its not like you have to travel miles...if you can't be bothered because of rain and are only interested in what you get then maybe better stay inside

Waitsian

MPFG wrote: »

For goodness sake...you go out to support the event and its at your door ..its not like you have to travel miles...if you can't be bothered because of rain and are only interested in what you get then maybe better stay inside

Hahahaha! You should go back to bed and get out the other side, you grumpy oul sod!

Still I'm not going to let you get me down, wallow in your own misery.

Lusk_Doyle

mod9maple wrote: »

Bed? At quarter past 11? I'm up at 6 every morning.

I could just as easily see a load of cars passing from my window as go out and likely get soaked. Now if they were tossing anything worthwhile I'd go out - bidons, or key rings or t-shirts even.

They might throw you a rain jacket if you don't have one already!

MPFG

mod9maple wrote: »

Hahahaha! You should go back to bed and get out the other side, you grumpy oul sod!

Still I'm not going to let you get me down, wallow in your own misery.

TBH the only misery guts is you ...do you think if i had the opportunity of the Giro passing my door i would debate whether i would go out or not or be wondering about what I can get .......says it all really