- Sep 20, 2017
- 13,654
- 25,669
- 28,180
A sprint stage into Naples? Bet you didn’t see that one coming.
Map and profile
Start
An overnight transfer has brought the riders back to the Tyrrhenian coast and into Campania. Unusually, the start is not in a currently inhabited place, but rather in an important archaeological site even by Italian standards: Paestum. Founded in the late 7th century BC as Poseidonia, this is one of the best-preserved colonies of Magna Graecia, the part of southern Italy colonised by the Ancient Greeks, and among the most archaeologically significant Ancient Greek temple complexes in general. It reached its apex in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, during which the three temples that earned it a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List were constructed. Despite the name of the town, none of these temples were actually dedicated to Poseidon: two were part of a sanctuary to Hera, the third was devoted to Athena.
In the late 5th century BC, the entirety of the Greek world was weakened by the Peloponnesian War. It is during this time that the native Lucanians gained control of Poseidonia, which was then renamed Paistom (later Latinised to Paestum). The town loses some of its importance at this point, although as I will discuss momentarily, its decline was mainly precipitated by geological conditions. Paestum now became a culturally and ethnically mixed town, with the main surviving elements of this era being the painted tombs. Given the predisposition of the Lucanians and the Greeks alike towards the Romans, it should not come as a surprise that the town fought against Rome during the Pyrrhic War. After the Romans won this war, they incorporated Paestum in 273 BC. A significant part of the original town was razed at this point, thus in terms of quantity, most of the remains at Paestum are Roman.
While Paestum would be a staunch Roman ally from this point onward, its splendour was significantly reduced compared to the Greek period. This was partially because trade routes had already started to shift away from the town, but especially because the once fertile floodplain in which it was located slowly turned into a swamp. The archaeological evidence shows significant effort to raise the buildings and drain the site, but this only delayed the inevitable. As early as the beginning of the era, Strabo describes the town as having become ‘unhealthy’ due to the gradual swamping of the land (although it should be noted that other Roman writers of this era mention that it was notable for its roses at this time). Eventually, the rise of the water table forced the abandonment of more and more parts of the town, a process hastened by the onset of malarial conditions and the general decline of the Roman Empire. Paestum would be abandoned completely in (probably) the 9th century, possibly due to an Arab raid.
Because the area had become quite inhospitable due to the lack of drainage, it remained forgotten for close to a millennium before being rediscovered in the 18th century. Much of the three great temples had survived, but proper excavations did not start until the early 20th century and continue into the present day. These activities were made possible in part by the drainage of the marshy floodplain from the 1850s onwards. By the time of the Second World War, the area was quite accessible, and the Allies selected the nearby beaches as one of their landing sites. There seems to have been a mutual understanding with the Nazis not to bomb the temples, and thus they were used as a base by the US Army.
(picture by Bruno Rijsman at Flickr, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The stage starts by heading up the mostly unexposed coastal road into the city of Salerno, the second-largest in Campania. This is an important city in its own right, having reached 50000 inhabitants in the 11th century and served as the de facto capital of the liberated part of Italy in 1944, but for tourists it is perhaps more notable as the gateway to the Amalfi Coast (Costiera amalfitana). Given that the shortest route between start and finish is less than 100 kilometres, you would think that there would be ample time to visit one of the most scenic places in the country, right? Think again. We are heading directly north, to allow for a loop through the (ahem) slightly less visually appealing suburbs of Naples later on in the stage. This does entail tackling the day’s sole KOM, to Cava de’ Tirreni. As you can see, it’s very easy.
The remaining 100 kilometres are entirely within the wider urban area of Naples. After a trek through its southeastern portion, we reach Nola, Emperor Augustus’ place of death. Here, midway through the stage, we join the route of the 2025 stage, and though we take an alternative road here and there, the vast majority of the second half of the stage entails the retreading of last year’s footsteps. Once again, we pass through the triangle of death (Triangolo della morte), home to Europe’s largest illegal waste dump courtesy of the mafia and a lack of effective government. The situation in terms of contamination and related disease and mortality is so severe that last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Italian state has violated the rights of 2.9 million people living in or close to the triangle.
On a happier note, we also have an intermediate sprint in Brusciano, which hosted the bonus sprint last year. Said bonus sprint is another 25 kilometres down the road this time. After that, it’s the same route on highways around the airport towards Naples proper.
Finish
To quote from the roadbook (I can’t believe that they thought it was a good idea to write this):
Apparently RCS decided that just repeating last year’s route (which was already rather chaotic courtesy of the rain) wasn’t hectic enough, and that they really needed a much more technical final kilometre. If you rewatch the finish of last year’s stage, you will see that there was a left-hander onto urban cobbles at 2.4k to go. That left-hander is still there, only this time it comes at 650 metres from the line. The 70-degree right-hander that comes 250 metres after this was also used last year, but this time, it is followed immediately by a 110-degree right-hander. The final 350 metres are straight, with the cobbles giving way to paving slabs at the last.
The 4% gradient on the profile below is slightly overstated (a 500-meter section with about 16 metres of elevation gain averages only 3.2% - going by Campania’s topographic maps, the 4% is accurate for the 200 metres after the final corner, which places the 300 metres before it at 2.5%). In any case, the final 150 metres are almost flat. The roads are wide, which combined with the uphill makes things less dramatic than they seem from the map, but it’s still more technical than average – and, lest we forget, these are roads that will turn into an ice rink if there’s any meaningful rain.
Naples is hosting the race for the fifth year in a row, and while I found new things to write about last year, I’m kind of out of ideas at this point. So enjoy another self-quote:
The finish is on the Piazza del Plebiscito (picture by Sergey Ashmarin at Panoramio, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
With the possible exception of Groenewegen, a slightly uphill finish suits all the big-name sprinters in the race just fine. The real question is who will still be in position after the double right-hander.
Map and profile
Start
An overnight transfer has brought the riders back to the Tyrrhenian coast and into Campania. Unusually, the start is not in a currently inhabited place, but rather in an important archaeological site even by Italian standards: Paestum. Founded in the late 7th century BC as Poseidonia, this is one of the best-preserved colonies of Magna Graecia, the part of southern Italy colonised by the Ancient Greeks, and among the most archaeologically significant Ancient Greek temple complexes in general. It reached its apex in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, during which the three temples that earned it a spot on the UNESCO World Heritage List were constructed. Despite the name of the town, none of these temples were actually dedicated to Poseidon: two were part of a sanctuary to Hera, the third was devoted to Athena.
In the late 5th century BC, the entirety of the Greek world was weakened by the Peloponnesian War. It is during this time that the native Lucanians gained control of Poseidonia, which was then renamed Paistom (later Latinised to Paestum). The town loses some of its importance at this point, although as I will discuss momentarily, its decline was mainly precipitated by geological conditions. Paestum now became a culturally and ethnically mixed town, with the main surviving elements of this era being the painted tombs. Given the predisposition of the Lucanians and the Greeks alike towards the Romans, it should not come as a surprise that the town fought against Rome during the Pyrrhic War. After the Romans won this war, they incorporated Paestum in 273 BC. A significant part of the original town was razed at this point, thus in terms of quantity, most of the remains at Paestum are Roman.
While Paestum would be a staunch Roman ally from this point onward, its splendour was significantly reduced compared to the Greek period. This was partially because trade routes had already started to shift away from the town, but especially because the once fertile floodplain in which it was located slowly turned into a swamp. The archaeological evidence shows significant effort to raise the buildings and drain the site, but this only delayed the inevitable. As early as the beginning of the era, Strabo describes the town as having become ‘unhealthy’ due to the gradual swamping of the land (although it should be noted that other Roman writers of this era mention that it was notable for its roses at this time). Eventually, the rise of the water table forced the abandonment of more and more parts of the town, a process hastened by the onset of malarial conditions and the general decline of the Roman Empire. Paestum would be abandoned completely in (probably) the 9th century, possibly due to an Arab raid.
Because the area had become quite inhospitable due to the lack of drainage, it remained forgotten for close to a millennium before being rediscovered in the 18th century. Much of the three great temples had survived, but proper excavations did not start until the early 20th century and continue into the present day. These activities were made possible in part by the drainage of the marshy floodplain from the 1850s onwards. By the time of the Second World War, the area was quite accessible, and the Allies selected the nearby beaches as one of their landing sites. There seems to have been a mutual understanding with the Nazis not to bomb the temples, and thus they were used as a base by the US Army.
(picture by Bruno Rijsman at Flickr, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
The route
The stage starts by heading up the mostly unexposed coastal road into the city of Salerno, the second-largest in Campania. This is an important city in its own right, having reached 50000 inhabitants in the 11th century and served as the de facto capital of the liberated part of Italy in 1944, but for tourists it is perhaps more notable as the gateway to the Amalfi Coast (Costiera amalfitana). Given that the shortest route between start and finish is less than 100 kilometres, you would think that there would be ample time to visit one of the most scenic places in the country, right? Think again. We are heading directly north, to allow for a loop through the (ahem) slightly less visually appealing suburbs of Naples later on in the stage. This does entail tackling the day’s sole KOM, to Cava de’ Tirreni. As you can see, it’s very easy.
The remaining 100 kilometres are entirely within the wider urban area of Naples. After a trek through its southeastern portion, we reach Nola, Emperor Augustus’ place of death. Here, midway through the stage, we join the route of the 2025 stage, and though we take an alternative road here and there, the vast majority of the second half of the stage entails the retreading of last year’s footsteps. Once again, we pass through the triangle of death (Triangolo della morte), home to Europe’s largest illegal waste dump courtesy of the mafia and a lack of effective government. The situation in terms of contamination and related disease and mortality is so severe that last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Italian state has violated the rights of 2.9 million people living in or close to the triangle.
On a happier note, we also have an intermediate sprint in Brusciano, which hosted the bonus sprint last year. Said bonus sprint is another 25 kilometres down the road this time. After that, it’s the same route on highways around the airport towards Naples proper.
Finish
To quote from the roadbook (I can’t believe that they thought it was a good idea to write this):
Apparently RCS decided that just repeating last year’s route (which was already rather chaotic courtesy of the rain) wasn’t hectic enough, and that they really needed a much more technical final kilometre. If you rewatch the finish of last year’s stage, you will see that there was a left-hander onto urban cobbles at 2.4k to go. That left-hander is still there, only this time it comes at 650 metres from the line. The 70-degree right-hander that comes 250 metres after this was also used last year, but this time, it is followed immediately by a 110-degree right-hander. The final 350 metres are straight, with the cobbles giving way to paving slabs at the last.
The 4% gradient on the profile below is slightly overstated (a 500-meter section with about 16 metres of elevation gain averages only 3.2% - going by Campania’s topographic maps, the 4% is accurate for the 200 metres after the final corner, which places the 300 metres before it at 2.5%). In any case, the final 150 metres are almost flat. The roads are wide, which combined with the uphill makes things less dramatic than they seem from the map, but it’s still more technical than average – and, lest we forget, these are roads that will turn into an ice rink if there’s any meaningful rain.
Naples is hosting the race for the fifth year in a row, and while I found new things to write about last year, I’m kind of out of ideas at this point. So enjoy another self-quote:
The finish is on the Piazza del Plebiscito (picture by Sergey Ashmarin at Panoramio, reuploaded to Wikimedia Commons)
What to expect?
With the possible exception of Groenewegen, a slightly uphill finish suits all the big-name sprinters in the race just fine. The real question is who will still be in position after the double right-hander.
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