The Stage - The last mountain stage and summit finish. An Alpine epic to end what has been one of the great editions of the Giro D’Italia, and still we don’t know the outcome.
The Route - This is all about the last 48 kilometres. The first 130 are just flat, but given how this Giro has been raced, even that is likely to end up being must-watch material.
The Climbs
Col Tsecore: Making its debut in the Giro at a crucial time, the Tescore is a rather rude awakening to the finale. 16.5 kilometres long, the average is a biting 7.7%. The opening slopes – 4 kilometres infact – are a solid 7% and then there’s an ‘easing’ (if you can call it that) down to about 5.6% but not before the climb narrows and once past Challand St-Anselme there are sections of 12-14% and the last five kilometres average 9%. The descent is just as technical.
Col de St.Pantaléon: Another test of endurance, this being 16.5 km at 7.2%, and it’s much more irregular than the first too; The first 8 kilometres average 7.9% before changes in gradient as the road eases for two kilometres past Torante with kilometres at 3.2% and 4.1%, while the steepest section is the last 2 kilometres before the top, which rises at 8.9%.
Cervinia: Technically the least demanding climb of the day going by percentages, but 19 kilometres of climbing and many different sections. The climb starts with 3 kilometres at about 3%. There’s then a block of climbing at 7% for four kilometres and a sudden change as the next kilometre is just 2% and then there’s a second hard block of climbing at 7.8%.
The gradient does ease, but only to 6.6% for the next seven kilometres, the last serious climbing of the race. The last kilometre is 1.4%, a false flat and potentially a chance to sprint for seconds.
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The Magalia Rosa - Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Felice Gimondi, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali. These are the only cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours and Chris Froome is one day away from joining them following one of the great solo rides.
His extraordinary win, propelled from an attack with 80 kilometres to go on the Colle delle Finestre, saw him put three minutes into the field and even more amazingly, three minutes and twenty-two seconds into Dumoulin, who had taken the lead of the virtual pink jersey after Simon Yates, exhausted after a brilliant two weeks, had cracked on the Finestre. He would go onto lost 35 minutes in a day when 45 minutes separated Froome from Maxim Belkov, the last rider to complete the course.
He now has a 40 second lead on Dumoulin with those two ahead of Thibaut Pinot, who is 4:17 down on the Sky man, which essentially makes this a two-horse race as Pinot is ahead of Lopez (4:57), Carapaz (5:44), Pozzovivo (8:03), Bilbao (11:08), Konrad (12:19), Bennett (12:35), and Oomen (14:18).
The Tactics - Defend, defend, defend. All of Team Sky have one job; keep Chris Froome and the Magalia Rosa safe. Sunweb, who have ridden a fine race under extreme pressure, will want to try and keep bonus seconds in play for Dumoulin in his bid to take back pink and keeping a break close must surely be wise for a team set up for the flat as well as the mountain.
A repeat of today would seal the deal but we’ve seen plenty of big cracks this Giro – indeed Froome won on Monte Zoncolan and then lost 92 seconds on the road to Sappada the next day. This is a harder stage and whilst he lost 92 seconds to Yates he lost enough time to Dumoulin to lose pink.
The final climb also suits the Sunweb rider a lot, with regular recovery points before a steady gradient similar of the climb to Oropa where he won last year and beat the best climbers in the race, and this is by no means over yet.
Plenty of riders are down far enough to let a break go but will Sunweb want the bonus seconds? They’ve made big differences so far this Giro.
Movistar’s Richard Carapaz is 47 seconds behind Miguel Angel Lopez but did manage to get a few seconds ahead of the current leader of the White Jersey standings. Bonus seconds will be vital if he is to overtake him and steal the jersey.
The Break - The race exploded today – more than 14 minutes separate the top 10 – and 134km of flat is a delicious enticement for an escape to move. The key is who will make such a move – this will be very different to Prato Nevoso – and if teams will chase for bonus seconds to boot.
There are four riders on the cup of top ten positions who would alert those seeking to finish high overall – Davide Formolo (15:16) Alexandre Geniez (16:29), Rohan Dennis (16;38) and Wout Poels (17:40).
However, Bora have Patrick Konrad in the Top 10 whilst Wout Poels is likely to be on Sky duties, and as such their presence would be doubtful.
