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Giro d’Italia 2024, Stage 12: Martinsicuro – Fano, 193.0k

In which RCS continues its extremely annoying recent trend of having a hilly stage in Le Marche, famous for its brutal walls, without actually using said walls. It’s still a decent stage, though.



The route



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The start is in Martinsicuro, the northernmost town in the Abruzzo region. Its name is derived from the Spanish captain Martin de Siguera, who oversaw the construction of a watchtower (which doubled as a border post, as this was also the northernmost extent of Spain’s Italian possessions) here in the 16th century. Although a decent-sized town had been located here, it remained only a small village until the development of beach tourism from the 1960s onwards.



Martinsicuro-Panorama-6953.jpg





Immediately after the start, the peloton crosses the border with Le Marche, quickly passing through the traditional endpoint of Tirreno-Adriatico in San Benedetto del Tronto. From here, the route follows the coast until Civitanova Marche, where they turn inland for the Crocette di Montecosaro. This climb was categorised in the 2022 stage to Jesi (the one where Biniam Girmay almost blinded himself with a champagne bottle), a recurring theme for the central part of this stage.



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It is followed by the uncategorised climb to Montelupone, the first 1.8k of the profile below.



https://climbfinder.com/CDN/montelupone-contrada-mazzagallo.png[/img



Next up is the hardest climb of the day, to Recanati. For reasons beyond human comprehension, it’s the intermediate sprint this time.



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After Recanati, we deviate from the 2022 route to head for the first KOM, in Osimo. This side is far easier than the wall used for the 2018 finish won by Simon Yates, barely worth the KOM points. For those relying on the PCS profile, it is incorrect here at the time of writing: the actual stats are 6.7k at 2.5%, with a flat section in the middle but still rarely over 6%. I don’t have an actual profile, but I do for the harder, but uncategorised climb just after it to San Paterniano. It is the first 3.2k of the profile below, making for a climb of 3.1k at 4.4% with all the difficulty in the initial ramp.



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The route then briefly rejoins the 2022 one for the final KOM of that stage, to Monsano.



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After this, the going gets harder, with the short, but stingy little wall to Ostra.



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The final KOM is just around the corner, with the two-stepped climb to La Croce. Atop the first step, in Ripe, there’s the Intergiro.



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Following a short valley, there is the climb to the bonus second sprint in the village of Mondolfo.



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From here, there are just over 30 kilometres to race. If those 30 kilometres were similar to the 30 before it, this stage would be a lot more exciting, but unfortunately there are almost 20 kilometres of nothing to stymie the hopes of long-range action. The final climb, to Monte Giove, is uncategorised, and really isn’t done justice by including the false flat at the end and breaking up the gradients into 500-metre intervals. In reality, the first 1.2 kilometres average over 9%, and even those are quite irregular given the maximum gradient. The highest point is just over 9k from the line.

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Those 9 kilometres to the line could have been almost halved, but unfortunately they’ve seemingly tried to use every last road in Fano to get to the finish line. The final kilometres are flat and full of narrowings, road furniture that I hope will at least partially be removed, and twists and turns.

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Fano was already of importance in the Roman era, when it was a religious centre known as Fanum Fortunae, and also the point where the Via Flaminia reached the Adriatic coast. Part of the fortifications, including a large arch, survive to the present day. It was destroyed in the 6th century by the Ostrogoths, but swiftly rebuilt by the Byzantines, and largely maintained its position as one of the main cities of what is now the Marche until today.

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What to expect?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJsdHn5djr4

 
Tratnik and Sheffield I think, both look to be coming into good climbing form, maybe Steinhauser if he doesn't ride like a fool this time around. Jhonny has showed his hand too much and would be leant on heavily I think.

Simon Geschke is going for the KOM jersey so I expect to see him in the break. It will be very difficult however, he will need the GC group to be passive for the next week, and for VPP/Bardet to go for stages instead. My advice for him tonight is to watch some old footage in order to channel the spirit of 2014 Julián Arredondo.

Giro_2014_18_etape_Julian_Arredondo_sejr__.jpg
 
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Tratnik and Sheffield I think, both look to be coming into good climbing form, maybe Steinhauser if he doesn't ride like a fool this time around.

Simon Geschke is going for the KOM jersey so I expect to see him in the break. It will be very difficult however, he will need the GC group to be passive for the next week, and for VPP/Bardet to go for stages instead. My advice for him tonight is to watch some old footage in order to channel the spirit of 2014 Julián Arredondo.

Giro_2014_18_etape_Julian_Arredondo_sejr__.jpg
Steinhauser has been finishing with the Grupetto for the past few days so he‘s probably sick. There‘s 12 KOM points tomorrow, less than for one Cat 2, so it‘s probably not worth it to burn matches in the breakaway tomorrow for that.
 
Colle dell' infinito (the poem by Leopardi)
in translation

Always dear to me was this solitary hill,
and this hedge, which from a large part
of the farthest horizon excludes the sight.
But sitting and gazing,
I frame within my thought endless
spaces beyond that [hedge], and beyond-human
silences, and the deepest quiet,
so that my heart almost takes fright.
And when I hear the wind
rustling through these plants, I compare that
infinite silence to this voice:
and there come to mind eternity,
and the dead seasons, and the present
and living one, and the sound of it. Thus in this
immensity my thinking drowns:
and it is sweet to be shipwrecked in this sea.

Colle.jpg
 
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Cross winds, not strong but no sof tofay on the area and possible rain, bur little. I am quite optimistic..the wind will make harder the stage and there is terrain to something to happen. if I were Bora or Ineos I will try to isolate Pogacar from far and try. Ineos is stronger for an echelon. First Tour Pogacar won lost 2 minutes in an echelon.
 
Colle dell' infinito (the poem by Leopardi)
in translation

Always dear to me was this solitary hill,
and this hedge, which from a large part
of the farthest horizon excludes the sight.
But sitting and gazing,
I frame within my thought endless
spaces beyond that [hedge], and beyond-human
silences, and the deepest quiet,
so that my heart almost takes fright.
And when I hear the wind
rustling through these plants, I compare that
infinite silence to this voice:
and there come to mind eternity,
and the dead seasons, and the present
and living one, and the sound of it. Thus in this
immensity my thinking drowns:
and it is sweet to be shipwrecked in this sea.

Colle.jpg
Every italian kid was forced to memorize this (the poem not the profile) in middle school.
Still i personally like Leopardi's work a lot, rather pessimistic but still interesting.
 
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Not surprisingly Fab Jakobsen a DNS after the crash yesterday.
So yesterday we had a 3km long finishing straight and today it's like 300 meters. It all those 90 degree left, rights from 5km to go that's going to be a headache (at least it's not apparently based on the Fibonacci Sequence like we had the other day). A good thing it's flat and hopefully no rain, and if it's a reduced bunch sprint then maybe no more crashes.
 
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Not surprisingly Fab Jakobsen a DNS after the crash yesterday.
So yesterday we had a 3km long finishing straight and today it's like 300 meters. It all those 90 degree left, rights from 5km to go that's going to be a headache (at least it's not apparently based on the Fibonacci Sequence like we had the other day). A good thing it's flat and hopefully no rain, and if it's a reduced bunch sprint then maybe no more crashes.

View: https://twitter.com/dsmfirmpostnl/status/1791028967744409728
 
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