Stage 0: Pre-Race/ Race Presentation Full Results and Report
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Trofeo Senza Fine (Endless Trophy), awarded to the overall Giro d'Italia winner since 2000 | 
RCS Sport CEO and Managing Director, Paolo Bellino, said: “We still have in mind Froome’s great victory last year that projected us, with even more force, into an international dimension of the highest level. In 2019 we want to continue on this trajectory and always keep our attention high outside our national borders.” | 
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Gazzetta della Sport managing director on the left and and on the right Italy’s government undersecretary and sports delegate Giancarlo Giorgetti, who said: “The Giro d’Italia is part of the sport and a cultural heritage of our country and, as such, we want to embrace it to the fullest. Cycling is a unique discipline that lives on the streets and in the homes of Italians as no other sport can do. It’s a cultural phenomenon that has made the history of Italy and that makes me particularly happy to support it – which is also due to my passion, since childhood, for bikes and for the Corsa Rosa.” | 
Last year's overall winner, Chris Froome arrives | 
Elia Viviani arrives | 
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Chris Froome talking in fine Italian: “The Giro victory will always be in my heart for the rest of my life because I’ve never won a race in such an iconic way – and I’ve felt an incredible amount of love from the Tifosi all over the country. I like this edition of the Giro very much, it can be won only by a complete rider. It’s a balanced course in between mountains and time trials. A very organised team will be needed too. The stage with Gavia and Mortirolo is a beast! It comes after a rest day and that day the true champions will stand out from the bunch.” | 
RAI's cycling announcers | 
The 2019 route | 
Post presentation photo-op | 
Giro d' Italia race director Mauro Vengi: “For our Group, sport is a fundamental asset that we continue to support and nurture through La Gazzetta dello Sport and RCS Sport. The Giro d’Italia, one of our sporting pillars, has grown significantly in recent years. This ‘all-Italian’ Giro will raise worldwide awareness of the excellence of our country, thanks to the images that will be broadcast and shared through all communication channels. I am also sure that in 2019, our race will be an edition worthy of the event’s history and tradition.” | 
Chris Froome now has an affinity for the Giro, but he is uncommitted to next year's race. |
Stage 1: Pre-Race Press Conferences Full Results and Report
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Pre-race ribbon cutting: President of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini, the Giro d'Italia Director, Mauro Vegni, the Mayor of Bologna, Virginio Merola and FICO Eataly World CEO, Tiziana Primori (Credit FICO Eataly World) | 
Tom Dumoulin and Vincenzo Nibali | 
Vincenzo Nibali said: "I’m very calm ahead of this Giro. As always, I prepared for the race well and I aim to race with the team as united as possible. We decided to have the Giro as my main goal this year. More and more riders come to Italy with a great shape every year and it makes the Giro more and more international. It’s hard to give stars to everyone but at the moment, Tom Dumoulin, Primoz Roglic, Mikel Landa and Simon Yates are my most important rivals. Being superstitious, I don’t want to say more than that I’m here for a nice result. I miss winning. My last victory was too long ago [the 2018 Milan-Sanremo]. Raising the arms up in the air is the nicest thing for an athlete." | 
Tom Dumoulin said: "I have the feeling that I’m in a good condition right now. Liège-Bastogne-Liège was bit of a downer but hopefully it was due to the weather. I don’t know if it’s possible to win the Giro and the Tour the same year but I’m here to win the Giro. I don’t expect anything at the moment. There’s a possibility that I take the Maglia Rosa if I have the right legs but it’s not in my mind to think what I’ll do if I win the opening time trial. It’s a beautiful time trial that we start with. I love this kind of uphill finish." | 
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Primoz Roglic said: "It’s true that we started the season really strong as a team. After Tirreno-Adriatico, we had a hard training camp and the Tour de Romandie has been a good preparation but the Giro will be a totally different race. I didn’t see any need to hide my form there. Every race I start, I do it for winning. The Giro looks hard on paper. I’ve recce'd the main mountain stages. I can do well on all terrains. I feel more tension than before my first Giro three years but it’s normal and we also need to enjoy, have fun, and like it, otherwise a three-week race is too long and too hard for everyone." | 
Arnaud Démare said: "I also expected more results from the classics. I was first to be disappointed. Therefore I’m coming to the Giro with a strong desire to raise my hands up in the air. I’m up for a revenge. I’ve chosen to ride the Giro with the team because the course suits me more than the Tour de France this year whereas the course of the Tour gives an opportunity to Thibaut Pinot to go for GC. We have a sprint-orientated team and we want to win as many stages as possible, bearing in mind that the level of the sprinters is very high here." | 
Caleb Ewan said: "I think there’ll be five or six opportunities for sprint finishes. It’s not heaps but it’s a good amount. My integration to Lotto Soudal has been good so far. I was only lacking the last lead out man, Jasper De Buyst who crashed on stage 1 in Paris-Nice and wasn’t yet able to help me at the Tour of Turkey. It takes time for a sprinter and a lead out man to work together and the Giro isn’t the easiest race to practise, but we hope for the best. I feel a bit more pressure than in the past at the start of my first Grand Tour with Lotto Soudal but I prefer to have the pressure and a full team supporting me than the opposite."Victor Campenaerts added: "I had no specific preparation for the Giro. The hour record was the main goal. The altitude training put me in good shape and I hope for having good legs still at the Giro. The Verona time trial looks the best for me. This Saturday, I can get a good result but it’ll be hard to beat Roglic and Dumoulin. There won’t be any benefit in a bike change. All I need is a smaller chain ring for the climb." Thomas De Gendt said: "The King of the Mountains is not a goal but it can become a goal if I score points in breakaways in the first part of the Giro." | 
Tao Geoghegan Hart said: "The Tour of the Alps has made me quite confident. Pavel Sivakov and I enjoyed the race. It was our first time to be the centre of the attention with podium ceremonies and press conferences and coming to the hotel one hour after our teammates. Team Sky was known for stage racing. We won our last race as Team Sky and we also won out first race as Team Ineos with Chris [Lawless] and Eddie [Dunbar] not far from him on GC."It was definitely strange to hear the news about Egan [Bernal crashing] as I rode with him earlier that day. It was an emotional shock for everyone who invested in supporting him for months. This sport is brutal, really, but a Grand Tour presents a great more deal of opportunities than any other race. We’ll see Egan back. Now it’s up to us and Ineos to make this Giro special. We’re bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm into this race as a young team." | 
Miguel Angel Lopez said: "We have worked out the calendar very well with the team. I raced in Colombia and in Europe with Paris-Nice and Volta Catalunya. We have a pretty strong team here, I hope we’ll be at 100%. I haven’t recce'd all the stages but the time trials and some of the mountains that will be decisive in the third week. If I lose more than two minutes to Tom Dumoulin and Primoz Roglic in all the time trials combined, it would become complicated but I don’t think the time trials are bad for me because they’re hilly." | 
Elia Viviani said: "We’ve split the team more than last year between sprints and GC ambitions but with Fabio Sabatini and Florian Sénéchal, I have a very strong lead out. Probably only Caleb [Ewan] and – I don’t know – possibly [Arnaud] Démare have a team fully built for the sprints but usually Fernando [Gaviria] is my strongest rival. To ride the Giro with the tricolour jersey adds to my motivation to win as much as last year even though the competition looks harder between the sprinters. Since the race ends in my native town of Verona, I for sure want to complete the race and I’d like to take the Cyclamen jersey to the final podium like last year. That’s what keeps a sprinter motivated till the last day."Bob Jungels added: "I can confirm that we have a very balanced team, with one of the best sprinters in the world and myself to target a good classification until Verona. With possible sprints in the first ten days, it’s a nice course for everyone. I have the privilege to be a versatile rider so I can ride GC in a Grand Tour after the classics. I don’t consider myself a top favourite. Others have proved to be stronger in the past but it’s a challenge that I’m proud to accept." | 
Israel Cycling Academy | 
Bauke Mollema, leader of Trek-Segafredo, said: "I feel ready for my third Giro after 2010 and 2017. I believe the last time trial is equivalent to the one I did on my first Giro. I also know San Luca from riding the Giro dell’Emilia several times. All three time trials are hard. I’ve worked on it in the past few months. I also reckoned six or seven mountain stages so I know what to expect. My first goal here is to fight for GC. I feel that I’m at the level I wanted to be in. I’m aware of the quality of the field of the favourites, so it’s hard to target the top three but I’m ready to perform at my best level." | 
Alexis Vuillermoz, AG2R said: "I had good preparation for the season and I performed well until Tirreno-Adriatico where I crashed. So now I believe that I’m at 90% capacity. The last 10% are the hardest to catch up with but I count on being fresh and I have a great desire to do well. I’m not going to focus on GC because I might have some ups and down but it’s not my style to give up and lose half an hour on purpose. Sometimes we have a nice surprise with being still well placed on GC. I have a great memory of my first Giro five years ago. I was close to the top 10 [11th] and we won the teams classification. The Giro is always beautiful and generates fantastic human adventures. I never thanked Hubert Dupont for what he did for me that year so I do it now."Tony Gallopin added: "I pay a lot of attention to the culture and history of my sport. Not many cyclists have a stage in each Grand Tour. It motivates me to become one of them during this Giro." | 
Simon Yates said: "Saturday’s weather is just a prediction. Nobody knows really what it’ll be like. I normally want to know my opponents’ time and work around that. So I stick to the plan and start last from my team. I won’t change bike at the bottom of the climb. There are many favourites for the Giro but I do believe that I’m in great shape and I’m confident in winning it. I’m confident in my abilities. I’ve dedicated the last twelve months to this race now. I know that time trials will make my task very difficult against the likes of Dumoulin and Roglic but I won the last time trial I did [at Paris-Nice]. I’ll see straight away from stage 1 here and I’ll take it from there." | 
Esteban Chaves added: "Simon won La Vuelta and what he did at the Giro last year was incredible. He has proven to be a great champion and I’m here to give everything for him to win the race overall." | 
Mikel Landa said: "I’ve always loved the Giro and it’s great to come here with a strong team and a lot of confidence. It’s not a unique opportunity for me to perform but it’s another opportunity. The bad experiences I’ve had before have taught me a lot. I believe I have the same good condition as when I made the podium in 2015. I’m one of many favourites.”Team Manager Eusebio Unzue added: “I’ve never seen Mikel in such a good form as now ahead of the Giro. All I fear for him is bad luck, that’s what affected his performances in the past." Richard Carapaz added: “Being here as the second man of the team doesn’t put a break on my ambitions. I’m here to help Mikel and it’s good for my career. I’m glad to have two compatriots from Ecuador [Jhonathan Narvaez and Jonathan Caicedo] in the peloton this time!” | 
Ben O’Connor said: “I’m pretty much here to do the same Giro as last year but without crashing this time. My recent results show that the form is kind of there. You don’t come here to just walk around Italy. It would be great to aim for the top ten, but being the best young rider would be even more spectacular. It’s something I really aim for. I know it’s gonna be crazily difficult with the time trials and other candidates like Miguel Angel Lopez but I’ll take my opportunities and try to be up there every day.” |
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