Cycling Weekly has asked the teams of the big GC men to run their rule over today’s 60km time trial and to give opinions on who will be the biggest winner and loser from the stage.

“Alberto’s previewed it twice, he’ll do it again in the morning tomorrow. The climbs at the end are not serious ones, you don’t have to think about switching to a normal bike,” said Tinkoff-Saxo DS Steven De Jongh.

“It’s good for Alberto that this time trial comes after 13 stages because his recovery is always very good. He can’t use his position like he used to, but he’s confident he should do well. He has to move his arms a little out, but that’s the way it is.”

“If Richie has a good day, he can take some time back, but with a rainy time trial, if things go well, Alberto can control his place. Porte, Urán and Alberto will challenge each other, and Aru will lose time. Seeing Aru the last few days, he has to worry the most.”

But Aru’s Astana team manager Giuseppe Martinelli said that his rider has worked very hard on his time trial and he will be able to hold his own against the favourites.

“It’s Fabio’s longest time trial yet. He did the Saltara time trial in 2013, which went pretty well [lost 2-44 minutes – ed.]. He’s previewed it once and worked on his time trialling quite a bit.”

“You can lose a lot in the final, more than the flat part leading up. He told me, ‘I’ve known since the start of the Giro that this time trial – with respect to Contador, Urán and Porte – I can lose time.’ I think that he will lose less time than what many think.”

Etixx-QuickStep manager Patrick Lefevere has a genuine stage winner in Rigoberto Uran, who took the long time trial last year. Uran has big motivation as he needs to take back around two minutes to get onto the Giro podium for the third straight year.

“We hope that Rigoberto can repeat what he did last year in Barolo and win. It’s a completely different parcours, though. The final is tough, where the time trial last year was tough from start to finish.”

“He has to recover time to the guys in front of him and then see where we are afterwards. I think the podium is possible for him in Milan. In his last time trials, he’s done well, so he’s confident, and he’s trained for the distance.”

“Is he the best of the four (GC contenders)? It’s difficult to say, this Giro’s been very tough, they started like fools, riding every day like it was a one-day race. A lot of guys are tired.”

Sky principal Dave Brailsford knows that Richie Porte may be out of the GC contention, but he has the ability to at least win this stage due to his great TT abilities.

“Pacing will be key. Some riders will be tempted to go too hard in the flat and if they do that, they will pay the price in the second half.”

“It’ll be interesting to see who has the physical capability, but who also masters the pacing strategy the best. With all time trials, the real stars are absolutely amazing at pacing, that’s the difference.”

“A time trial like this calls for experience. Richie has that. He’s represented Australia a few times in championships, he’s Australian champion… Rigo’s upped his time trial, the longer the better for him. Alberto has stacks of experience, he’ll know how to do it.”

“Can Richie can pull back time? You can’t call it, for now he just has to focus on the best he can be.”