By Kirill Karin
Since 1909, the Giro d’Italia has been part of the three Grand Tour races (alongside the Tour de France and Vuelta). This year is its 94th anniversary, with Belarus represented on the Spanish team Movistar by Vasily Kirienko, 29, and Bronislav Samoilov, 25. In addition, Alexander Kuchinsky, from Russian Katyusha, 31, and Konstantin Sivtsov, 28, from High Road (USA), cycle for the squad.
The multi-day race consists of 21 rounds and finishes on May 29th in Milan. It covers 3522.5km and, due to its mountainous terrain, is viewed as the most complicated of recent years. Previously, the best Belarusian achievement in the Giro d’Italia was claimed by Konstantin Sivtsov, who gained 16th position overall in 2009. He also won a separate round at the Italian multi-day race: an 8km leg between Morbegno and Bergamo, which was 209km long.
This season, Vasily Kirienko is showing the best results, having won the 2nd stage of the multi-day Tour of the Basque Country. He was also placed second in a two-day highway race called the Criterium International, hosted by the island of Corsica. Bronislav Samoilov came third in the first round of the multi-day Tour de Romandia, held in Switzerland.
