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Will the forum make it to Rome? You’re going to have to press that button if it doesn’t settle down.
The Swiss never open it early and already said last year that they won't do any extra measures to open it earlier than usual (start of June). The reasoning behind it is to force people/tourists who travel South during the upcoming holidays (Ascension and Pentecoste) to use the tunnel and pay the toll. It's a money thing, RCS would have needed to pay them extra to try to open it earlier than usual.
Milan vs Pedersen for Ciclamino actually looks like a decent fight.
That stage in reverse, with the actual Grand Bernard instead of the tunnel would be pretty awesome...So tunnel like the last time:
Less than 5 % average gradient, the last 9.4 km of it is at ~3.5 %.
I think the switch to the tunnel, while unfortunate for us viewers, will have slightly less impact on the race than if Remco was still there healthy and had the 2-minute lead we anticipated. In that situation, Roglic, Ineos, Almeida would want every meter of climbing possible to try to win back time. Now, the bigger factor shaping the race is how close many riders are to the lead, will decrease the probability of long-range attacks. Of course, if Pogacar isn’t there the chance of getting serious long-range attacks is pretty small anyways.
2005 was a bad year for Ivan Basso. He lost his mother and then decided to concentrate on II Giro, At Zoldo he came in second behind II Falco but gained the Pink jersey. He then lost it on stage 13 after having stomach problem. He continues on but did badly in the next two stages and was effectively no danger for the Pink.....But as he his robbo basso he soldiered on and win the 17th mountain stage ...AND FOR THE LOLZ he beat David Zabrieske in a ITT in the next stage to win two stages for the 2005 edition.Stage 18: Oderzo – Val Di Zoldo 161 km
Thursday, May 25th, 12:20 – 17:10 CEST
Technical Overview:
The final mountain block begins with a beautiful 4-star stage in the Dolimites, which funnily enough, with its 161 km, is the second shortest road stage of the race. From the town of Oderzo, the riders will immediately head into the mountains, with the first climb of the day coming after 28 km: Passo della Crosetta (GPM1, 11.6 km at 7.1%), a tough climb that will promote the formation of a strong breakaway. At the top the peloton will find a 16 km long false flat, before a short descent and another climb, Pieve d’Alpago (GPM4, 3.3 km at 5.5%), a very easy one. Its descent will bring everyone back to the Piave river, at which point the riders will have to go upstream for 32 km of false flat before hitting the next climb, the uncategorized Tai di Cadore (6.7 km at 4.6%). Shortly after the top, they will find the first intermediate sprint in Pieve di Cadore, just before turning south-west to get to the main dish of today, coming after 10 km more. The final combo begins with Forcella Cibiana (GPM1, 9.6 km at 7.8%), a mid-size climb with a pretty steep second half. It starts at 36 km to go and ends at 26, which means it is already in GC attack range. The descent is also quite tricky, and leads directly into the second intermediate sprint, Forno di Zoldo, and to the foot of the next climb, starting at 15 km to go. The climb to Coi (GPM2, 5.8 km at 9.7%) a secondary road parallel to Forcella Staulanza, is a new entry in the Giro and a very interesting one. It is a narrow road that gets steeper and steeper all the way to the top, which lies at 5.3 km to go. The descent is very short, only 2.1 km, but it does feature a few interesting curves and might give or take a few seconds between contenders. It connects with the main road of Staulanza at only 3.1 km from the finish line of Val di Zoldo (GPM2, 2.7 km at 6.4%), the same as in 2005.
The Climbs:
Passo della Crosetta: GPM1, 11.6 km at 7.1%
A tough climb with very regular slopes. It will assure a quality breakaway.
Pieve d’Alpago: GPM4, 3.3 km at 5.5%
Short and easy, nothing much to see here.
Forcella Cibiana: GPM1, 9.6 km at 7.8%
Ridden last time during the mythical stage of Gardeccia 2011 (but from the opposite side), this climb is short but has a very steep second half.
Coi: GPM2, 5.8 km at 9.7%
A new and very surprising climb, short but really steep. See below for the profile.
Val di Zoldo: GPM2, 2.7 km at 6.4%
Last time we had a finish here was 2005, and it was an awesome stage. This year the location is the same, but the approach will be completely different.
What to Expect:
Anything can happen from the start of Cibiana onward. However, this is only the first of three consecutive GC stages, so it is hard to predict how much energy the riders will want to spend here. I think there will be selection on Cibiana and attacks only on Coi. Moderate gaps between the favourites.
Forno di Zoldo
Considering the time gaps likely such profile change of stage 13 won't affect the race as a whole. As it could if the gaps would be bigger. On the other hand stage 13 still remains a really tough stage that will affect GC.
As for stage 20. In local media we get some news on a daily basis. Don't know if Giro has seen something like that in recent history. Or ever. Looking forward to it.
Val di Zoldo was founded/formed in 2016. Before that the place was called Zoldo Alto.
In 2005 they came via Duran, but did not climb that loop over Coi. Which btw is quite narrow, both the climb and the descent. Could be really difficult.
Giro 2023: Withdrawals
The Giro d'Italia started on Friday 6 May in Abruzzo with 176 contestants. Unfortunately, not all of them will reach the finish line in Rome. Pink jersey Rem
DNS stage 10
1. Remco Evenepoel (bel – Soudal-QuickStep)
26. Oscar Riesebeek (nld – Alpecin-Deceuninck)
71. Rigoberto Uran (col – EF Education-EasyPost)
104. Stefan Küng (swi – Groupama-FDJ)
123. Sven Erik Bystrøm (nor – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
128. Rein Taaramäe (est – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
131. Domenico Pozzovivo (ita – Israel-Premier Tech)
137. Mads Würtz Schmidt (den – Israel-Premier Tech)
196. Callum Scotson (aus – Team Jayco AlUla)
DNF stage 10
51. Aleksandr Vlasov (rus – BORA-hansgrohe)
84. Erik Fetter (hun – EOLO-Kometa)
126. Simone Petilli (ita – Intermarché-Circus-Wanty)
186. Martijn Tusveld (nld – Team DSM)
DNS stage 11
3. Mattia Cattaneo (ita – Soudal-QuickStep)
4. Josef Cerny (cze – Soudal-QuickStep)
5. Jan Hirt (cze – Soudal-QuickStep)
8. Louis Vervaeke (bel – Soudal-QuickStep)
17. Andrea Vendrame (ita – AG2R Citroën)
72. Jonathan Caicedo (ecu – EF Education-EasyPost)
173. Stefano Gandin (ita – Team Corratec-Sella Italia
207. Natnael Tesfatsion (eri – Trek-Segafredo)
Mental. SQS should just up stumps and take a select super team over to the tour. I really hope this slows down asap.
If that were to happen, would this solo rider's inevitable stage victory in Rome (as he's the only guy in the race) be classified on PCS as a sprint victory or solo breakaway?
They might need a new definition & acronym, i.e. LMS aka "last man standing".
Well, certainly more than one rider will finish the race but at this rate maybe only two or three of the ones that were considered GC contenders will reach Rome and sadly today was another step in that direction.
We need something to change in Grand Tours to avoid them turning into races where the decisive stages are only ridden by half of the GC contenders and 30-40% of riders abandon, but that is a discussion for another topic.
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