Having reached its southernmost point of this year's race during today's stage, the Giro turns north, which to fans of bears the promise of the Dolomites and Verona. But that is for another day, since tomorrow's stage is daunting enough in its own right.
At 262km it is by a wide margin the longest stage of this year's Giro, and with almost 4km of climbing, will certainly be yet another taxing day at the office for the peloton. The break will have to comprise many hardy men to survive a day like this; and my guess is that a break won't make it unless all big teams are represented. The climbing will thin the peloton out significantly. Since the toughest climbing is some distance from the finish line I doubt gaps between the GC men will be large, but certainly the Italians will still be motivated to use the small bumps just before the finish to try and go for victory. For symbolic reasons discussed below I would hope Pozzato manages to get the victory here, but I fear the stage will be too taxing for him. Therefore I'll pick Scarponi to power away out of a select grouping and take the victory for himself and Italy as well.
The stage travels from the site of one historic tragedy to a recent one. Lucera once represented the last stronghold of medieval Islamic Italy. After a century of campaign and forced relocations to Lucera, by 1300 its population had swelled to almost 20'000 Muslims. A 'Christian' army under the command of the King of Naples and Sicily sacked the prosperous city, forcibly converting many to Christianity and expelling the rest. It ended over four centuries of Islamic influence over Southern Italy.
The recent tragedy is centered around L'Aquila in the Abruzzo, where the same plate tectonics that produced the spectacular Apennines which surround the city caused an earthquake in the early hours of the morning of April 6 last year. The earthquake wreaked havoc on the many old and medieval buildings which comprised the picturesque city. On that April morning 308 people lost their lives. This stage is dedicated to their memory.
At 262km it is by a wide margin the longest stage of this year's Giro, and with almost 4km of climbing, will certainly be yet another taxing day at the office for the peloton. The break will have to comprise many hardy men to survive a day like this; and my guess is that a break won't make it unless all big teams are represented. The climbing will thin the peloton out significantly. Since the toughest climbing is some distance from the finish line I doubt gaps between the GC men will be large, but certainly the Italians will still be motivated to use the small bumps just before the finish to try and go for victory. For symbolic reasons discussed below I would hope Pozzato manages to get the victory here, but I fear the stage will be too taxing for him. Therefore I'll pick Scarponi to power away out of a select grouping and take the victory for himself and Italy as well.
The stage travels from the site of one historic tragedy to a recent one. Lucera once represented the last stronghold of medieval Islamic Italy. After a century of campaign and forced relocations to Lucera, by 1300 its population had swelled to almost 20'000 Muslims. A 'Christian' army under the command of the King of Naples and Sicily sacked the prosperous city, forcibly converting many to Christianity and expelling the rest. It ended over four centuries of Islamic influence over Southern Italy.
The recent tragedy is centered around L'Aquila in the Abruzzo, where the same plate tectonics that produced the spectacular Apennines which surround the city caused an earthquake in the early hours of the morning of April 6 last year. The earthquake wreaked havoc on the many old and medieval buildings which comprised the picturesque city. On that April morning 308 people lost their lives. This stage is dedicated to their memory.
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