Giro d'Italia 2018 stage 9: Pesco Sannita–Gran Sasso 225 km

[Red Rick]

STAGE 9: Pesco Sannita – Gran Sasso d'Italia 225 km

May 13th

Technical Overview:
Another MTF, this time on a completely different kind of climb. We start in Pesco Sannita and head north-west following the Appennines for quite a long and tough stage. The first categorized climb of the day follows a gentle drag of 8.2 km at 4.3% and its descent. Roccaraso (GPM2, 6.9 km at 6.5%) is a classic climb that has been ridden countless times. It features 11 km of false flat at the top, after which a long and gentle descent will bring the peloton into the Abruzzo region. Here, 40 km of false flat will lead to the foot of the Gran Sasso d'Italia, the highest mountain of the Appennines. In order to reach the finish in Campo Imperatore, the riders will have to climb for the next 45 km, that the organizers have divided into two sections. The first one is Calascio (GPM1, 13.5 km at 6%), a very regular climb. After it the peloton reaches the second section, simply named Gran Sasso d'Italia (26.5 km at 3.9%). This section opens with 10 km at 4% to reach a plateau of another 10 km, with some rolling terrain. Finally, the last ramp begins at 4.5 km to go (8.2% average), which is by far the hardest ramp of the whole stage. The initial part of this ramp is the steepest, with 1.5 km at over 9% (max 13%), after which there is a 500m false flat, and the last 2 km have an average of 8.1%.

Final km

The Climbs:
Roccaraso (GPM2, 6.9 km at 6.5%)
Pretty much every year the Giro has to pass in this region, it climbs this road. The real climb is only the middle section, with 5 km at 7.5%. The rest is false flat.

Calascio (GPM1, 13.5 km at 6%)
Very regular, 5-7% from start to finish. It's long enough to wear down some people.

Gran Sasso d'Italia (26.5 km at 3.9%)
The “Big Rock” of the Appennines has been ridden only 4 times in the Giro's history, and never in this millennium. Last time in 1999. Its last ramp is the only hard part.

What to Expect:
The stage should be long and hard, but the profile of the last climb makes hard to believe the favourites would try anything before the last 4 km... Hopefully a few second tiers will attack during the Calascio climb. The wind might be a problem however, especially on the plateau.

Gran Sasso d'Italia

 

[Red Rick]

I have no idea what to think of this stage.

 

[Alexandre B.]

1999

 

[Robert5091]

TommyD will grind it out.

 

[EroicaStradeBianche]

Climb for the Butterfly

 

[Sestriere]

Even if the race is boring we are going to see one of the most beautiful landscapes of Europe.
But I don't expect it to be boring, so it should be a good stage. Pozzo, Mitchelton and Astana will surely attack at some point.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Even if the race is boring we are going to see one of the most beautiful landscapes of Europe.
But I don't expect it to be boring, so it should be a good stage. Pozzo, Mitchelton and Astana will surely attack at some point.

Could you be a bit more specific?

 

[Red Rick]

Unless some sneaky bastard GC rider sneaks into the breakaway I think most teams will let the domestiques do the work all the way until the final 3km.

 

[staubsauger]

Ciccone nets the stage win and the blue jersey here IMHO!

 

[DanielSong39]

Someone will lose minutes; any guesses on who?

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Someone will lose minutes; any guesses on who?

Mareczko.

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

Someone will lose minutes; any guesses on who?

The full Willier-Triestina roster

 

[fantomas]

Re: Re:

Someone will lose minutes; any guesses on who?

The full Willier-Triestina roster

Tbf, Zardini broke his collarbone on the Etna stage and the rest of the team helped him finish the stage.

https://twitter.com/WilierSelleIta/status/994863238738300929

 

[tobydawq]

They are only an hour and a half between the second worst team in the team's classification after 8 days, though...

 

[staubsauger]

https://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Isola+del+Gran+Sasso+d%27Italia/amp/1

That doesn't look promising for Aru, to be honest!

 

[EroicaStradeBianche]

Re:

https://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Isola+del+Gran+Sasso+d%27Italia/amp/1

That doesn't look promising for Aru, to be honest!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

https://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Isola+del+Gran+Sasso+d%27Italia/amp/1

That doesn't look promising for Aru, to be honest!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

He's got a history of cracking in the rain or cracking the day after it rained heavily respectively.

If it stays at "raining modestly" your laugh might be legitimate. Once it's raining cats and dogs again though, I've got a full point.

 

[fauniera]

Re:

Ciccone nets the stage win and the blue jersey here IMHO!

Agreed.

 

[EroicaStradeBianche]

Re: Re:

https://www.ilmeteo.it/meteo/Isola+del+Gran+Sasso+d%27Italia/amp/1

That doesn't look promising for Aru, to be honest!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

He's got a history of cracking in the rain or cracking the day after it rained heavily respectively.

If it stays at "raining modestly" your laugh might be legitimate. Once it's raining cats and dogs again though, I've got a full point.

I'm laughing because i'm thinking about Are under the rain

 

[Rollthedice]

It's time for everybody who's not Tom Dumoulin or Chris Froome and want to win this Giro to test Tom Dumoulin and gain more on Chris Froome. Tom didn't look particularly comfortable when the road was going up and Froomey is barely hanging on. Some rain would be good.

 

[Sestriere]

Re: Re:

Even if the race is boring we are going to see one of the most beautiful landscapes of Europe.
But I don't expect it to be boring, so it should be a good stage. Pozzo, Mitchelton and Astana will surely attack at some point.

Could you be a bit more specific?

The reason why I named these teams instead of specific riders is that they have multiple strong riders and thus are able to prepare attacks by their leaders by setting a very high pace. In the end it will of course come down to Lopez and Chaves/Yates. For Mitchelton, I think Chaves will attack first and Yates will counter everybody to gain more time.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Tibopino

 

[Eyeballs Out]

The 2nd climb says Cat 1 on the profile but every other reference has it as a Cat 2 (plus it's not very hard) so I'm guessing Cat 2 is correct

 

[Frankschleck]

Re:

1999

was this the exact same stage?

 

[Gerrard Slipped haha]

Kinda want MAL to attack and fail, and then comeback with a Schleck11-esque attack on the Sappada or Finestre stage, idk but the idea of this sounds awesome to me. But yeah for real, Astana need to grab the stage by a throat tomorrow and Lopez has to gain some time on everyone. Just like everyone else surely has to try and gain some time on Froome before he actually hits his peak in the 3rd week, right, RIGHT?

**** Yates, Pinot, Pozzo
*** Lopez, Dumo, Carapaz, Bennett, breakaway
** Formolo, Aru, Chaves