Not only is Tel Aviv Israel’s financial centre and technology hub, the city on the Mediterranean coast is also the country’s sports capital. Three football clubs are active in the Israeli Premier League, with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv the most prominent. Furthermore, Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. is a powerhouse in European basketball, holding fifty Israeli titles and winning the European Championships six times.
That said, never before did a Grand Tour visit Tel Aviv. Saturday, the 5th of May 2018 will be the day.
Stage 2 starts from the northern port of Haifa, just as the arrival place located on Israel’s Mediterranean coastline. The route is predominantly flat and so it wouldn’t be a big surprise if the race came down to a bunch sprint.
In the most recent edition of the Giro d’Italia Fernando Gaviria took the credits for most sprint wins, namely four.
The first three riders on the line take time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the last of two intermediate sprints (at kilometre 22.3 and at kilometre 105.3) comes with 3, 2 and 1 seconds.
Read also: results/race report 2nd stage 2018 Giro d’Italia.
Giro d’Italia 2018 stage 2: Route maps, height profiles, and more
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