Could British Ineos talent Tao Geoghegan Hart win this most unpredictable Giro d’Italia?

As we head into the second rest day at the end of the second week of the Giro d’Italia, now is a good time to take stock of what has been a most irregular Giro.

Looming over the entire race has been, of course, coronavirus. While Italy appeared to be doing far better than the rest of Europe when the Giro began, two weeks later and the Bel Paese is now recording over 10,000 new cases a day.

Unlike the Tour de France which continued more or less intact, the Giro has fallen prey to the virus. Britain’s Simon Yates, one of the favourites to win the race having looked on good form after his win in Tirreno-Adriatico before the Giro, tested positive and had to pull out. Following him was his whole team, Mitchelton-Scott, and also Jumbo-Visma, leaving the Giro two teams down.

While it’s still unclear how Yates and others caught coronavirus, the finger has been pointed at some potentially less than satisfactory bubble standards while in Sicily when the race begun.

Meanwhile Education First Pro Cycling – who are having a great Giro having already won two stages – wrote to the Giro’s organisers and UCI suggesting the race be ended on the second rest day. There was no other way to protect the bubble, the management felt.

All this after another race favourite, Britain’s Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), had to abandon after falling heavily after running over a stray bottle in the neutralised zone on only Stage 2.

Right, now back to the racing. With two of the favourites missing, the general classification battle opened up and Portugal’s 22-year-old Joao Almeida (Deceuninck–Quick-Step) stepped in, taking the leaders Jersey on Stage 3.