- Sep 20, 2017
- 13,639
- 25,622
- 28,180
The last chance of the race for a huge chunk of the peloton.
Map and profile
Start
Every now and again, a GT will include a stage host that gives me absolutely nothing to work with, and that’s the case today. Fai della Paganella is one village over from yesterday’s finish in Andalo, and the two share a ski resort. It has never hosted the Giro, and the most interesting thing there aside from the (admittedly very pretty) landscape is a originally 17th-century hunting lodge for the local nobility.
(picture by Matteo Ianeselli at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
After a long neutralisation down the descent into the Adige valley, the stage starts with 20 very flat kilometres into Trento, the capital of Trentino. The city is famous as the seat of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), where the Catholic Church decided on how to address the Protestant Reformation. They settled on implementing a number of much-needed reforms in terms of how the church was run (the lack thereof was of course a main driver of the schism), but also formally defended Catholic traditions that had come under Protestant attack and condemned Protestantism itself, thereby launching the Counter-Reformation. While still in the city itself, the road starts to climb for the first time. The ascent takes us to Forte di Civezzano, and it’s decidedly more irregular than it looks on the stage profile. This should really have been a cat. 3, and it will greatly help the puncheurs looking to join the break.
There are two more little hills, to Madrano (2.4k at 5.0%) and Sella di Vignola (2.4k at 4.3%), then the road flattens out. The next 45 kilometres down the Valsugana are very easy, with a net elevation loss of over 300 metres but barely any undulations. This section ends with the massively overcategorised Scale di Primolano, with the KOM just after the actual summit in Fastro.
The route now heads around the foot of Monte Grappa, passing through Feltre, where we will be finishing tomorrow. Upon reaching the edge of the Po Valley, it turns east, into prosecco country. Prime prosecco country, in fact – most of the remaining 45 kilometres are in the area that was UNESCO-listed in 2019. The first port of call is Valdobbiadene, the most common Giro host in the area. On the outskirts of this town, the road starts to climb again, for the double ascent to San Pietro di Barbozza and Combai. In between the two, the riders pass through the intermediate sprint in Guia.
There is a valley after this as the riders make their way to the bonus sprint in Tarzo, located just after another easy hill.
And then, it’s time for Vegni’s parting shot. Muro di Ca’ del Poggio was already the most-used climb during his tenure as race director, and of course he had to include it one last time for his final Giro. It would not surprise me to learn that RCS decided on the finish location for this stage so that it could be used in an interesting spot for once.
Finish
Only 9.3k separate the KOM from the finish, and with a little descent in there, these should be fast kilometres. The final kilometre is not really suited to any sort of sprint, with a fairly noticeable curve at barely 100 metres to go.
Although its church is first mentioned in the 12th century, the area that comprises Pieve di Soligo consisted of multiple villages until they clustered into a town in the first half of the 20th century. Said church was also demolished and rebuilt during this period. The town retains a significant industrial presence, but is also very much part of the prosecco-producing area. While the Giro has not visited before, the town is quite supportive of cycling, annually hosting the junior race Trofeo GD Dorigo that also uses the Ca’ del Poggio as its main climb. It has amassed quite the roll of honour since it became a UCI race in 2003, having been won by the likes of Simon Špilak, Lorenzo Fortunato, Felix Gall, Antonio Tiberi, Romain Grégoire and Paul Seixas.
(picture by Marek.69 at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
It seems almost impossible to keep a lid on the break this deep into the race on a route like this. With the lack of hard hills before the final one, it’s a great route for anticipatory attacks, opening up the race to a wide array of rider types. Ca’ del Poggio is hard enough and close enough to the finish that GC action is possible, but with the queen stage looming large, it would hardly be a surprise if the big names keep their powder dry.
Map and profile
Start
Every now and again, a GT will include a stage host that gives me absolutely nothing to work with, and that’s the case today. Fai della Paganella is one village over from yesterday’s finish in Andalo, and the two share a ski resort. It has never hosted the Giro, and the most interesting thing there aside from the (admittedly very pretty) landscape is a originally 17th-century hunting lodge for the local nobility.
(picture by Matteo Ianeselli at Wikimedia Commons)
The route
After a long neutralisation down the descent into the Adige valley, the stage starts with 20 very flat kilometres into Trento, the capital of Trentino. The city is famous as the seat of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), where the Catholic Church decided on how to address the Protestant Reformation. They settled on implementing a number of much-needed reforms in terms of how the church was run (the lack thereof was of course a main driver of the schism), but also formally defended Catholic traditions that had come under Protestant attack and condemned Protestantism itself, thereby launching the Counter-Reformation. While still in the city itself, the road starts to climb for the first time. The ascent takes us to Forte di Civezzano, and it’s decidedly more irregular than it looks on the stage profile. This should really have been a cat. 3, and it will greatly help the puncheurs looking to join the break.
There are two more little hills, to Madrano (2.4k at 5.0%) and Sella di Vignola (2.4k at 4.3%), then the road flattens out. The next 45 kilometres down the Valsugana are very easy, with a net elevation loss of over 300 metres but barely any undulations. This section ends with the massively overcategorised Scale di Primolano, with the KOM just after the actual summit in Fastro.
The route now heads around the foot of Monte Grappa, passing through Feltre, where we will be finishing tomorrow. Upon reaching the edge of the Po Valley, it turns east, into prosecco country. Prime prosecco country, in fact – most of the remaining 45 kilometres are in the area that was UNESCO-listed in 2019. The first port of call is Valdobbiadene, the most common Giro host in the area. On the outskirts of this town, the road starts to climb again, for the double ascent to San Pietro di Barbozza and Combai. In between the two, the riders pass through the intermediate sprint in Guia.
There is a valley after this as the riders make their way to the bonus sprint in Tarzo, located just after another easy hill.
And then, it’s time for Vegni’s parting shot. Muro di Ca’ del Poggio was already the most-used climb during his tenure as race director, and of course he had to include it one last time for his final Giro. It would not surprise me to learn that RCS decided on the finish location for this stage so that it could be used in an interesting spot for once.
Finish
Only 9.3k separate the KOM from the finish, and with a little descent in there, these should be fast kilometres. The final kilometre is not really suited to any sort of sprint, with a fairly noticeable curve at barely 100 metres to go.
Although its church is first mentioned in the 12th century, the area that comprises Pieve di Soligo consisted of multiple villages until they clustered into a town in the first half of the 20th century. Said church was also demolished and rebuilt during this period. The town retains a significant industrial presence, but is also very much part of the prosecco-producing area. While the Giro has not visited before, the town is quite supportive of cycling, annually hosting the junior race Trofeo GD Dorigo that also uses the Ca’ del Poggio as its main climb. It has amassed quite the roll of honour since it became a UCI race in 2003, having been won by the likes of Simon Špilak, Lorenzo Fortunato, Felix Gall, Antonio Tiberi, Romain Grégoire and Paul Seixas.
(picture by Marek.69 at Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
It seems almost impossible to keep a lid on the break this deep into the race on a route like this. With the lack of hard hills before the final one, it’s a great route for anticipatory attacks, opening up the race to a wide array of rider types. Ca’ del Poggio is hard enough and close enough to the finish that GC action is possible, but with the queen stage looming large, it would hardly be a surprise if the big names keep their powder dry.
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