Monte Zoncolan awaits the riders in the Giro. Climbs like the Stelvio, Galibier and others have rich history but Monte Zoncolan’s as new as you get. Although it had been climbed before from Sutrio it was only in 2007 that the road from Ovaro was used with its infamous gradients.
But what makes a climb tough? The steeper the slope the more the contest is reduced to a rider’s power to weight ratio, stripping out tactics, roadcraft and everything else that makes road racing such a subtle contest.
The final stage of the Giro given tomorrow promises a procession followed by a city criterium. What a way to finish with the infamous Monte Zoncolan too.
A giant mountain time trial, a maxicronoscalata. This stage is long and deceptively hard. We could and should see Nairo Quintana win but the greater uncertainty is over who could claim third place overall. Not that today will settle everything, push it too much and a rider could be cooked for tomorrow’s crucial Zoncolan showdown.
Another day, another mountain stage. It’s easy to just see more peaks on the profile but each stage is different. Today’s
208km through the Alps but without a mountain pass and hopefully with out a polemic post-race debate too. Today might not be for the sprinters as we’ve seen teams reluctant to work and the Ca’ del Poggio wall sits 20km from the finish.
Today’s stage passes through the Veneto region so a look at the Italian cycle industry because no other region in the world has such a concentration of famous cycling brands, from Sidi to Pinarello. Even Oakley is owned by a company founded here.
The mountains were covered in cloud but the last stage of the Giro has been equally marked the “fog of war” following uncertainty over the Stelvio descent with claim and counter-claim about safety measures on the the descent.
This is the stage that many fans and locals have waited a long time to see but the riders will be less keen with grim weather conditions ahead. It’s still not certain whether the proposed route is viable with RCS studying weather conditions.
Huge climbs and the short distance means this could be an explosive stage. The Passo Gavia is infamous and the Passo Stelvio is the literal high point of the race and a very challenging climb with thanks to the triple combo of length, gradient and altitude. All this before the climb of Val Martello, 22.3km long at 6.4% but with a series of steep steps to climb on the way making it ideal for attacks.
Who will win the Giro? The forecast for tomorrow’s weather seems hard to get right so predicting anything for the rest of the week seems tough.
With the Giro taking a pause today, a look across the sport to count up the win rates of different teams. As usual the quantitative take gives us the numbers on the racing so far this season but behind the numbers are a variety of stories.
200km and then a decisive summit finish, a brutal change of rhythm from a high speed approach to a grinding uphill climb. Each time the Giro has finished on Montecampione the stage winner has gone on to win the Giro.