Shadows on the Road by Michael Barry
Timing. Had this come out years ago it could have had the sensational impact of Tyler Hamilton’s Secret Race given it details doping on the US Postal team. But coming out in 2014, long after the USADA report it’s a very different matter.
If the book has generated headlines about Tramadol and race fixing this isn’t a tale of scandal. Most of the intrigue is reserved for the unreported aspects of the life of a pro cyclist, from injury to travel.
Nairo Quintana leads on the stage to Val Martello. He’d gone clear on the descent of the Passo dello Stelvio launching a post-race controversy – one of many to mark the race – but it was on the climb to the finish that he built his lead.
This was a race with plenty of action with no team was able to control the race either in the plains or the high mountains. Here’s a look back at events and some thoughts on the race.
The final stage promises to be a procession followed by a city criterium. If the “fight for pink” is over there’s still a fight for the red jersey and the stage win.
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.