STAGE 10: Campi Bisenzio – Sestola 219 km
Stage start: 11.10 CET, 17 May
Technical Overview:
Extremely serious medium mountain stage, long and with lots of climbing, coming just after a rest day. Starting from Tuscany, the peloton will cross the Apennines almost from the get go, as the first climb of the day, Passo della Collina (12.7 km at 5.3%, GPM3), comes after just 22 km from the start. Following its fast descent and some km in the valley, comes the second climb, Pietracolora (8.7 km at 6.1%, GPM3). At the top there is a short false flat, and then a very technical downhill that will bring everybody down the valley again. Here, a series of irregular 3-6% slopes will bring the riders up again, from 150m to over 800m, leading into a long and very rough terrain, full of ramps and descents, featuring the two intermediate sprints of the day. At 32 km to go the final part of the stage begins, with the ascent to Pian del Falco (16.3 km at 5.2%, GPM1), whose real difficulty is due to its final 4 km, just after the town of Sestola, which average 8.9%. The descent of this climb is very difficult, and leads to the final very gentle climb back to Sestola (7.45 km at 5%, GPM3).
The Climbs:
Passo della Collina GPM3
A very, very constant climb. Will be good for the formation of a strong breakaway. Once again, no official profile. We go with Salite.ch
Pietracolora GPM3
It is shorter and slightly steeper than the previous climb. That's pretty much all I can say here, because I have no profile
Pian del Falco GPM1
This climb is generally considered as starting from Sestola, which makes it a steep, 4 km wall. However, this year RCS includes quite a long section in the official profile, something hard to justify, but whatever. This climb became famous thanks to the victory of Fuente when it was stage finish in 1971.
Sestola GPM3
A long, easy drag all the way to the town.
What to expect:
This has the potential to be a great stage. Pian del Falco is not hard enough for a solo attack to stick, but a small selected gc group should be able to get away. The final climb will be good to increase the gap, or alternatively to favor attacks from second tiers. This will of course be a very good stage for the breakaway, if the gc guys don't bother keeping the peloton close.