@fauniera, i think i wrote something like that on stage 5. Zakarin could also like it if he would show some Froome-esque performances. I only hope the Alpine stages now will be a bit too much for both of them.
Mayomaniac said:
@railxmig: Stage 19 is awesome, maybe I'd use a climb right at the start, probably the climb up to Salten, but it's a fantastic stage.
I wonder if anyone will ever go full Zomegan and use
Oberbozen/Soprabolzano from St. Magdalena Bozen as a MTF, I know that the climb is a small Vuelta goat track and you'd need to pave 200m, but the first 3.3km of that climb are just ungodly steep and if it was a Spanish climb we'd have already seen it in a gt.
It has a very short descent near the top and on such a goat track i don't think anyone but Eshnar would be interested in using it. If not these problems however i wouldn't use it was just MTF but continue further up to Corno Renon (Ritter Horn). The whole south Sarntal is extremely fertile (San Genesio, Avelengo, Merano 2000, Auna di Sopra etc.) so i don't think there's any need for crazieness like Soprabolzano at least for now. I doubt even Vuelta would be interested in such an ascent as there seems to be some genuine problems with it.
Mayomaniac said:
Libertine Seguros said:
If you were to add another climb to that stage Castrín would be the obvious choice.
It's a great use of Monte Giovo from San Leonardo - I can never see past Ridnaun from that side though. I love Ridnaun.
Of course Castrin would be a great first climb, but if the stage would still start in Bozen having Salten right at the start of the stage or the first climb of the
Livigno stage of the 2005 Girowould be the obvious choices.
Castrin on the other hand would be perfect before a Meran 2000 MTF, that would be a great stage.
I guess if i will ever do a race in Sweden the first places i would consider would be Falun & Östersund. I still consider that Val Ridnaun stage as one of your best.
Merano 2000 is a very popular MTF so i guess this combination was allready used. I'm not sure if even on this forum i didn't saw something like that. The area around Bolzano is very popular. I decided to have a flat run to Merano for the safety reasons as the roads on top of these climbs are a bit suspicious and i don't trust this descent from Avelengo. I also doubt such additional climb would change much if anything. Still a possible descent finish in Merano would be a tasty idea for the last significant Giro stage but i have an other idea in Slovenia which i will present in a couple of days.
It's time for theoretically the queen stage of this Giro. With the previous stage it's the only one to have more than one cat. 1 climb but unlike the previous stage it has much more climbing to offer and arguably the descents are also more difficult.
Previous stage:
link.
Giro d'Italia by railxmig, stage 20. Trento - Piovene Rocchette, 191km, ~4500m asc
Start: Trento, Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza, Museo delle Scienze
Km 0: Gardolo, Via Alto Adige, 8,6km from the start
Finish: Piovene Rocchette, Viale Vittoria, 300m straight
Sprint 1: Villa Lagarina, Via Antonio Pesenti, 420m straight
Sprint 2: Arsiero, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 220m straight
Feed zone: Arco, Via delle Grazie
Climbs:
Passo dello Santel - 14km, 6%, 2 cat. 1130m
Passo del Ballino - 10,2km, 3,6%, 4 cat. 764m
Passo Santa Barbara - 12,8km, 8,3%, 1 cat. 1170m
Passo della Bordala - 4,7km, 6,7%, 3 cat. 1250m
Passo di Valbona - 25,5km, 6,3%, 1 cat. 1778m
San Ubaldo - 1,6km, 6,7%, 4 cat. 404m
Start – km 0:
Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza - Via Monte Baldo - Via Giuseppe Giusti - Via Antonio Rosmini - Via Giuseppe Verdi - Piazza del Duomo - Via Rodolfo Belenzani - Via Giannantonio Manci - Via San Marco - Via Bernardo Clesio - Via Alessandro Manzoni - Via del Brennero - Gardolo, Via Alto Adige
This is the 2nd oldest stage of this Giro made just days after the San Martino one. I've basically created this Giro having in mind both these stages. I had a bit of a trouble throughout the development as i wasn't sure on the Bordala descent. The inclusion of Fai della Paganella and the Formigal stage from Vuelta also gave me headaches but most of the changes ended up being merely cosmetic.
This stage takes place in the provinces of
Trentino and
Veneto. Trentino with Bolzano is part of the South Tirol autonomy while Veneto is a mish mash of Dolomiti and the Po valley. Technically and geologically this stage is in Dolomites even if for me it's the same Dolomites like the Alps west of Rhône. The stage goes through the Brenta group, Garda Prealps and Venetian Prealps (generally near or alongside Alto Adige).
The roads on this stage are often narrowish and the descents tend to be difficult. Good bike handling skills should be slightly more relevant than usually.
Stages in Alto Adige are not very popular nowadays in the Giro. It's mostly a Trentino thing as of now. In the previous years this area was much more popular especially during Moser years but back then Giro mainly went along the valleys because Moser wasn't a GT rider (or at least i don't consider him as a proper GT rider but that's of course my own opinion).
For me Moser was a typical flahute with amazing TT, great sprint, bike handling, descent, classics and cobbles but he often struggled on the bigger climbs. I do consider him a top 10 guy considering the GT and road standards at the time but not a GT winner. Something alongside Saronni, Kelly, Janssen, Van Springel, de Vlaeminck or Phil Anderson rather than Merckx, Gimondi, Zoetemelk, Hinault, Fignon or LeMond who were more complete riders. Of course that's only my opinion and observation based on results. I'm too young to remember any of them.
I've mentioned Moser because the stage starts in
Trento. I've used Trento in my Giro del Trentino as an ITT and a stage start. It's historically one of the most important cities in the whole Alps and there were propably tons of books written about its history so i guess it's easier to check out the
English or
Italian wikipedia pages so i can keep this post relatively short as there'll be plenty of other things to write about.
Cattedrale di San Vigilio from XIII c.
Castello del Buonconsiglio from XIII c.
Start is placed in Le Albere – a new (2013) and fancy office district located on the former Parco Fratelli Michelin, in front of the new Museo delle Scienze (MuSe) on Corso del Lavoro e della Scienza nearby Palazzo delle Albere. Palazzo delle Albere is a XVII c. old bishop castle of Madruzzo family once housing the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art which now is in Rovereto (just south of Trento). As of the MUSE (or MuSe), it tackles a lot of subjects mostly in geology and alpinism but there's a lot of other things inside.
Start in Trento with Museo delle Scienze to the left.
Palazzo delle Albere, Trento.
Most of the path to km 0 is the same as in Giro del Trentino visiting Piazza del Duomo and Castello del Buonconsiglio. The only change is that it goes north through Via del Brennero, not west into Monte Bondone. Km 0 is in Gardolo on Via Alto Adige, 8,6km from the start. First 11km will go through the Adige valley alongside the Verona – Brennero SS12 road parallel to A22. In San Michelle all'Adige riders will turn left into Mezzocorona and Val di Non.
Mezzocorona, with the nearby city of Mezzolombardo on the other side of Noce was a strategically important place at the entrance to Val di Non and Val di Sole which is now underlied by a set of castles like Palazzo Conti Martini, Castel San Gottardo or Castel Firmian. There are tons of such in Trentino and i guess i will miss some later on.
The ruins of Castel San Gottardo carved in a cliff, Mezzocorona.
Mezzolombardo is on the other side of the river. Riders will reach the city through Mezzocorona via SP29 and over a very scenic but quite narrow Ponte alla Fosina. Of course they'll go through the road bridge, not the bike path to the left.
Ponte alla Fosina between Mezzocorona and Mezzolombardo. The bike path bridge can be seen to the left.
To 1194
Mezzolombardo was united with Mezzocorona. Nearby Mezzolombardo there are ruins of an important Austro-Hungarian fort from 1860 known as Forte Rocchetta. It operated to WW1 when it was downgraded to a warehouse and powder magazine because the main war took place east of the Adige river. It sadly exploded in 1925 because of the bad maintenance of powder. I'm not sure if Giro ever finished here or in Mezzocorona but
Giro del Trentino had a finish here this year as a preview of the Giro's Andalo stage. Just outside Mezzolombardo in the lower Val di Non riders will turn left into the well known ascent of Fai della Paganella.
Of course this ascent was used this year on the Andalo stage. I hope this stage will have similar scenario to that one.
Fai della Paganella is home to the biggest ski resort in the Brenta group (Dolomiti di Brenta). This is the westernmost Dolomitic range and i think the only one west of Adige. It's considered as a part of Dolomites because of the geological similarities. I personally consider it as the northernmost part of the Garda Prealps because for me Adige for Dolomites is like Rhône for Alps.
Campanile Basso (2883m).
I don't think i need any more in depth info on this climb. It's 8,5% at 8% with the next roughly 3km to Santel stairs-like with the steppest step in Fai della Paganella at 15%. When in 2016 the ascent ended in Santel with a descent to Andalo here it continues for the next roughly 2,5km but mostly as a false-flat. From Fai della Paganella it's only 3,2km at 4,3% which would be barely enough for a cat. 4. The whole climb is called
Passo dello Santel and overall it's
14km at
6%. It's a borderline cat. 1/2. I decided for the lower one to have a more colorful profile
. Propably Valverde and co. would
rightfuly object to that.
Profile of Fai della Paganella.
From the profile it looks like this stage consist of three massive two-peak mountains. I guess Passo dello Santel can be accepted as the first such peak. The ascent and descent to Andalo from Passo dello Santel is on a wide 2-lane and well surfaced road. This (very stepped) descent can be extended as far as Ponte Arche achieving a rather stunning 28km in length. In 2016 riders descended immediately from Santel to Cavedago with last couple of uphill kms to Andalo. That stage was won by Valverde. Of course Andalo is part of the Paganella Ski complex.
Andalo.
The descent will lead through four steps to Ponte Arche in Valli Giudicarie. I've used it before as an ascent in Giro del Trentino in the
Corno Renon stage but this time the stage will continue south to Ballino rather than east to Sarche. Valli Giudicarie is a series of valleys from Lago d'Irdo to Pinzolo and Sarche.
Ponte Arche is a spectacular bridge over the Sarca river with interesting sculpture-like add-ons and a small eponymous village nearby.
Lago di Molveno.
Ponte Arche and Valle del Sarca.
The next climb of the day is
Passo del Ballino which starts in Ponte Arche. Like the descent from Santel it's an irregular climb consisting of 3 steps. It's not hard at all with the steepest 1km at 6,5% in the middle. Overall it's
10,2km at
3,6% and it's a borderline 3/4 cat. I decided on the 4 cat. to distinct a bit tougher Passo della Bordala later on. Of course i've used this climb and the following descent previously in my Giro del Trentino on the
Cles stage. The descent is long, quite difficult and can get steeper towards the end.
Profile of Passo del Ballino.
From the descent riders won't just roll to
Riva del Garda but turn left just before the city to
Arco while entering a delta like plain known as Piano del Sarca where Sarca flows into Lago di Garda. I am still biting myself for not going with a Giro del Garda type of stage in the middle of 3rd week but i think such stage should be better as some sort of Grande Partenza. The next roughly 5,5km in the Piano del Sarca will be through an industrial region (Area Produttiva) between Arco and Riva del Garda with a feed zone on Via delle Grazie (SS45).
Lago di Garda seen from Riva del Garda.
Piano del Sarca in the evening.
Most of the massifs on the west bank of the Adige valley tend to be very steep and rocky on the one side and shallow on the other one (similar to Vercors in France). Paganella is only one of the examples. Thanks to these cliffs Arco is popular in mountain climbing and there are a lot of cliffs nearby to attack (annual Rock Master competition and various rock climbing championships through the years). They also had an important military function in the older times with various forts (like Forte Rocchetta) or castles like Castello di Arco from at least X c. which for a long time housed the counts of Arco.
Castello di Arco.
The next climb of the day starts in Arco and it's pretty tough (9km at 9% speaks for itself). This climb is
Passo Santa Barbara and it should be known from Giro del Trentino. It also seems to be a rather popular climb in the design community which is quite understandable. If this climb was located in France or Spain it would propably be a hot stuff (if Signal de Bisanne can be such then why not Santa Barbara) but in Italy it's overshadowed by tons of better cat. 1 climbs like nearby Monte Bondone. It was used twice in Giro in 2001 and 2002 respectively won by Unai Osa and the mexican Rujano – Julio Alberto Pérez Cuapio. Last time in Giro del Trentino it was used in
2015 stage 2 to Brentonico won by a Sky train... i mean LPR.
Giro del Trentino 2015 stage 2 to Brentonico.
Passo Santa Barbara is a steep, twisty and quite narrow path to an eponymous village in the north Garda Prealps on a small plateau Altopiano del Creino (great for hiking) between Monte Stivo (2054m) north and Monte Creino (1280m) south.
Altopiano del Creino – a plateau north of Monte Creino on top of the pass.
Road to Passo Santa Barbara.
First 9km to a hilltop chapel Chiesa di San Francesco are the hardest at 9% (max 15%). The last roughly 3,3km to the village are a bit easier at 6,4% but they're also much less regular (max 11%). Overall the whole climb is
12,8km at
8,3% which is a strong cat. 1 (HC in Tour de France). This should be a rather important climb as i expect a fine selection like it was in 2015 with roughly 20-30-man group at the top.
Profile of Passo Santa Barbara.
The descent from Passo Santa Barbara to Ronzo-Chienis is short and rather straight but steep (max 15%). While the Trentino stage in 2015 descended further down a twisty road to Lago di Loppio this time the bunch will turn north into
Passo della Bordala. This pass is located between Monte Stivo, Monte Biaena (1615m) southwest and Malga Somator (1309m) overlooking the Adige valley west. Like Santa Barbara, Bordala is full of hiking trails and beautiful views into the Adige valley.
Rovereto from Malga Somator with Prealpi Venete in the background.
From this side Passo della Bordala goes through Altopiano della Bordala – an extension of Altopiano del Creino. The ascent isn't long nor difficult but it's irregular with max 13%. Overall, from Ronzo-Chienis it's
4,7km at
6,7% and it's cat. 3. The only time Bordala was used in the mentioned before 2002 stage 17 to Passo Coe. While the kom was won by Pérez Cuapio the stage was won by his breakaway companion – the late Pavel Tonkov.
Passo della Bordala with Passo Santa Barbara.
This ascent is wider than Santa Barbara but at the top the road narrows down significantly and continues like that for the next roughly 3km to the eponymous village before widening up once again. These 3km are very tricky with 4 serpentines in span of 1km. Thankfully there's barely any drop on the sides so there's no Monte Crostis situation. I don't remember there being any problems in 2002 though. Still, considering a propably significantly reduced peloton this descent can be used to continue the pressure on some of the leaders.
A serpentine on the descent from Bordala.
From the village of Bordala the descent continues for another 11km at a constant 7,8% (max 12%) to the Adige valley. It's not easier as the amount of serpentines increases but this time the road is wider. The difficulty of this descent (it's one of the most difficult in this Giro) plus propably uneven weather can pose more problems to the leader's group than the ascent. A ballsy descent can be tough to deal for less capable descenders but after it there is a roughly 6,5km transition through the Adige valley which should calm down the potential situation for a short while.
During the descent from Bordala riders will pass through two villages of Castellano and Pedersano. Castellano is home to a former manor house Castello di Castellano from at least X c. which was later an importand Austro-Hungarian fortress partly destroyed during WW1. It had a long story of rivalry with Castel Noarna in Noarna near Pedersano. Castel Noarna was home to one of the last witch trials in Trentino in XVII c. The descent ends in
Villa Lagarina where the first intermediate
sprint is located on Via Antonio Pesenti at the end of a 420m straight.
Castel Noarna.
From Villa Lagarina riders will go through the Adige valley via SP90 (and a new fancy tunnel) alongside Autostrada del Brennero (A22) and across Adige on SP59 which will lead to Calliano (just over 20km south of Trento and 7km north of Rovereto) where the last big climb of the day starts. This flat transfer is roughly 7km long. It should be a fine spot to catch some breath after Santa Barbara and Bordala. I hope the peloton will be limited to like 20-30 people.
In
Calliano riders will enter the Venetian Prealps and go uphill to Altopiano di Folgaria – home to a couple of passes like Vezzena, Sommo, Coe, Valbona and technically the Altopiano di Lavarone known from my Giro del Trentino finish in Bertoldi. Lavarone and Folgaria were very important during the WW1 so expect a lot of forts and other defensive structures from that period. The ascent to Passo di Sommo on SS350 is the main west entrance to Folgaria.
I mentioned this particular stage a lot previously as it used mostly the same route as the last 100km of this stage.
That particular stage from 2002 was rather peculiar as i guess the heat and maybe bonks resulted in some crazy results on Passo Coe. "The sheep" Savoldelli showed better climbing than on the famous 1999 stage over Fauniera completely destroying the field while Cadel Evans (then maglia rosa) and Dario Frigo (2nd place) seemed to climb slower than the grupetto. I know that Evans and Frigo's presence on the finishing straight of the Giro (stage 17) was shocking but loosing 17' and 10' respectively on a 13km (when they lost the contact with the leaders) long climb is an achievement. If back then such things happened then i wonder what kind of potential this stage has as it's harder than the 2002 one.
Profile of the Folgaria stage from Giro 2002.
I guess the irregularity of the ascent also added to the challenge. The first part to the town of Folgaria and
Passo di Sommo is roughly 12,5km long at 7,5% with the hardest part of 3km at over 9% (max 12%). This part alone is similar to the previously seen Pratonevoso. At the top of Passo di Sommo the road splits. The main road goes to Altopiano di Lavarone while the road i'm taking goes to Passo Coe. From a short false-flat in Folgaria to the top of Passo Coe is 6km at 7,4% (max 10%). Overall,
Passo Coe is
19km at
7,4% which basically means the hardest side of Col du Glandon. While the 2002 stage finished here this time, like Croix de Fer it's not the end as the race continues on to Passo di Valbona.
Profile of Passo Coe.
Altopiano di Folgaria on top of Passo Coe.
After a roughly 2km long and shallow descent from Passo Coe the climbing to
Passo di Valbona continues for the next 4km. While they're not that hard with an avg. 6,2% they're irregular with patches of 9-10%. The whole ascent is
25,5km at
6,3% and it's obviously a cat. 1. It can be compared with either Croix de Fer or Madeleine north.
Profile os Passo di Valbona.
I'm allways forgetting about the 2010 Madeleine stage where Contador and Andy Schleck completely trashed their opposition (it was like 2 minutes or so) but very resilient Sammy Sanchez. Even the finish is similar to that Tour stage but on that later on. Considering the 2002 and 2010 results i know this climb can deliver so it will mainly depend on the riders and the GC situation.
Passo di Valbona (or Valico di Valbona) is located in between Cima Valbona north (1864m, not to mistake with a summit in Lagorai Dolomites) and Monte Tonaro (1897m) south. It's the border of Trentino from west and Veneto east. Standing at 1778m it's the southernmost highest asphalted pass of the Eastern Alps. From the top there can be seen some magnificent views into Altopiano di Folgaria west and Val d'Astico east.
Val d'Astico from the top of Passo di Valbona.
The road to the top is of varied quality. To Passo di Sommo it's wide (most of the time 2-lane) on a mostly good surface. It also goes through a couple of very short tunnels. From Sommo the road slightly narrows down and after Passo Coe also the surface is slightly rougher but nothing to pose any bigger problems.
The road up to Passo di Valbona.
Before tackling the descent i guess it should be a good place to write about some sights on the ascent. First thing that comes to prominence is a massive Castel Beseno from XII c. on a hill overlooking Calliano. It's propably the largest castle of Trentino and was the main fortification defending the south entrance to Trento and west entrance to Folgaria. It was also the place of a battle of Calliano in 1487 between Tirol and the Venice Republic which won by Tirol. The main point of the conflict was the possesion of Rovereto which at the time was under the Venetian Republic but it was later included to Tirol.
Castel Beseno.
Next stop on Passo Coe is
Folgaria. This town is a historic capital of Altopiano di Folgaria which for a long time had a farfetched autonomy from the bishop-princes of Trento. It's also a place of past extreme megalomania as calling yourself "La Magnifica Comunita" (to 1805) is emm... interesting?! Thanks Napoleon for changing that. Folgaria is also home to the Folgaria Fiorentini Ski Area with 74km of cross-country tracks all over the plateau.
Folgaria.
The next sight is Forte Sebastiano between Passo di Sommo and Passo Coe. Altopiano di Folgaria & Lavarone were the main battlegroung on the Italian front during WW1 and both sides were still operating on forts. The whole Trentino is full of them. This one is one of the biggest in the area. It was heavily damaged by the nearby Italian Forte Campomolon during WW1. Forte Campomolon is on top of an eponymous climb (1853m) nearby Passo di Valbona. While it was an unfinished project it still managed to host a battery of 280mm's which heavily damaged the mentioned Forte Sebastiano.
Forte Sebastiano.
That's not the last of war monuments. In between Coe and Valbona is a small hut known as Malga Zonta. There are a couple of these in the area. These huts were a hiding place of anti-nazi partisans. Nazis wanted a better control of the roads between Veneto and Trento so they raided the plateau. This raid resulted in 17 casualties (14 partisans) in the night of 12.06.1944.
Finally to the
descent as it may be of similar importance as the ascent. It's very long and difficult standing at 22km at a rather regular 6,6% (similar difficulty to the other side). It leads to the town of Arsiero in Val d'Astico through a crabload of tunnels and turns. After the first 4km the road connects to the Passo di Sommo east road (SP64) on which the descent continues further down. While these first 4km to SP64 aren't really steep (with even small uphill sections) they cannot be underestimated.
Because of the big amount of
tunnels a good knowledge of this descent can be instrumental in trying to gain time especially if the weather will be awful and in the mountains it tends to be random. While the tunnels are short (the longest ones not longer than 150m) but some of them are unlit. At times the road have a tendency to suddenly narrow down from a roughly 2-lane to a 1,5-lane wide. The amount of tunnels progressively increases towards the bottom. The last 6,5km from Tonezza del Cimone are parallel to Val d'Astico. More detailed information of this descent (in Italian) can be found
here.
In
Arsiero there will be hardly any place to take a breath as the descent is immediately followed by the last intermediate sprint of the day on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi at the end of a 220m straight. Arsiero is a town in Val d'Astico which separates the Folgaria and Asiago plateaus. Asiago will be featured in Giro 2017 but from the other side. The biggest sights are a WW1 military cemetery and a monumental Chiesa di Arsiero from XVIII c.
Arsiero with the hilltop church overlooking the town.
In 2010 the last 10km in the Maurienne valley were flat to barely uphill. In 2017 the 10km run-in to Chambéry also will be flat. Because there's just no space in Arsiero i needed a different finish and while it's 10km further down the valley this time i managed to find an accesible hilly route. During these last crucial 10km there will be at least 3 very short but quite steep hills. First one starts immediately after the intermediate sprint in Arsiero and goes to the nearby villages of Lago, Maso, Meneghetti and San Ubaldo.
The ascent to
San Ubaldo (a temporary name, i just don't know how to name this hill) is
1,6km at
6,7% (max 10% near the top) – quite similar to Cauberg. The road is relatively wide (1,5-lane) but the surface can be slightly jerky at times. Most of the next 5km of this stage are on similar or slightly narrower (Costa di Sopra) roads. The descent is hardly visible at first but it steepens up towards the village of Velo d'Astico.
Profile of San Ubaldo.
Piazza XXIX Aprilie, Velo d'Astico.
The challenge continues with a tiny but steep bump and similary steep descent to Costa di Sopra and later a short but steep hill to Crosare on the slope of Poggio di Curegno (483m). The ascent to
Crosare is
1km at
7,1% (max 10%). The descent from Crosare will lead to a wider SP79 and then just straight to the finish line. I decided to not use a much harder ascent to Padri (Via Prola) as the descent would be barelly a goat track – a bit too much for my liking.
Profile of Crosare.
Road in Costa di Sopra.
Immediately after the (at times steep but straight) descent from Crosare riders will combe back to the wider SP79 and take on the last uphill stretch of the day. It's a very short (
0,5km) but steep (
8% and max 10%) hill up to the village of
Meda. The main sight in Meda is Castello di Meda located on a nearby hill (438m). It's a small fortification/manour house from the Austro-Hungarian times with really nice views of Val d'Astico. The last 3km from Meda to the finish line in Piovene Rocchette are wide and easy.
Run-in to the finish line.
I doubt
Piovene Rocchette was ever hosting a Giro stage not to tell a queen stage. It's a rather small town (8500 inhabitants) at the entrance of Val d'Astico just north of Schio. The biggest sight of this former ancient Roman villa is propably the nearby Monte Simmano (1296m). It's sort of a sacred mountain similar to those in Lombardy like
Varallo and was a place of pilgrimage throughout the middle ages.
Chiesa dei Girolimini from XVI c. on the slope of Monte Summano.
The
finish line is on Viale Vittoria at the end of a 300m straight. As an interesting trivia normally Viale Vittoria is used as a street market on (i think) Fridays so with a stage finish just day after there can be some additional opportunities for a merch sale.
Finish in Piovene Rochette.
This is my last important stage of this Giro. The next one should be just a formality like in most of the GT's. It's a very oldschool design but i think the Formigal ambush was just a one trick pony which should not be repeated for the next 10 or so years. Now this generation knows such scenarios could happen so the first kms should be controlled rather comfortably. This time i hope the recouperation and week form will lead to a significant GC battle on this stage. It's over 2 weeks since Passo Lanciano and Anzio ITT and i hope the leader(s) will have some trouble to maintain the 100% form for straight 2 weeks.
I hope that this stage will test the recouperation and week form of the leaders. I doubt there will be any significant moves until Passo Coe even if the combo of Santa Barbara & Bordala is very difficult. The last climb is at least as hard as Madeleine, Monte Giovo or Criox de Fer north and because it's the last big climb of the whole race i expect serious moves rather early which should ensure rather big gaps at the top. The descent is long, fairly steep and technical and the last 10km in the valley are also not easy which i hope would help to at least maintain the gaps if not significantly extend/reduce them (depends on who lost the ground). I hope the gaps will be at least similar to those on Madeleine 2010, Andalo 2016 or Folgaria 2002.
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