From the stage-by-stage analysis: https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threa...4-stage-by-stage-analysis.39775/#post-3032416
If the first stage was this year’s Jaizkibel stage, then this one is this year’s Pike Bidea stage. In other words, time for the GC riders to come out to play.
The route
(side note: am I the only one annoyed by the city being called Ravenna and the province being called Ravenne? It’s almost like trying to francisise everything is silly…)
On the first Sunday, the Tour continues to provide evidence in favour of it being a rehashed Giro by going for some good old Pantani veneration. And where better to do so than in Il Pirata’s hometown of Cesenatico? There honestly isn’t much to say about Pantani that qualifies as news to most of you, but I will point out that it’s rather serendipitous that, of all 26 Tour editions where he has stood as the most recent rider to complete the double, ASO picked the one where he’s most likely to get a successor to visit his turf for the first time.
Oh, and Cesenatico itself? Bog-standard beach resort town, that like Rimini had to be mostly rebuilt after severe damage in the Second World War.
The monument to Pantani in Cesenatico. Riposa in pace.
The first port of call is Ravenna, one of the most important cities in Italy in Late Antiquity. The ailing Western Roman Empire moved its capital here in 402, and following its collapse, the city served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom and then, upon (re)conquest from the East, as the seat of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. All three states contributed to the city’s famed early Christian mosaics and monuments.
We then trade architecture for sport as the race heads for Imola. It’s a significant location from a cycling history perspective, having hosted the world championships in 1968 and 2020, but of course its significance is far greater in Formula 1. A Formula 1 circuit from 1980 to 2006 and again since 2020, it will forever be remembered for its darkest moment, perhaps the most notorious and impactful death in the history of sport in general – Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash in 1994.
…this is a rather depressing stage breakdown, isn’t it?
Returning to the present, Imola is reached via the climbs to Monticino and Cima Gallisterna. The former is the profile below as far as Rontana…
…whereas the latter should be familiar as the deciding climb from the latter of the two Imola WCs.
After hearing down the racing circuit, the riders make for the intermediate sprint in Dozza.
The next section is spent heading straight down the Via Emilia towards Bologna. Just outside the city, there is another detour through the Apennine foothills, taking in KOMs at Botteghino di Zocca and Montecalvo. They skip the final 1.1k of the latter profile.
Then, the riders do finally enter Bologna, where they will do two laps of a circuit featuring San Luca, of Giro di Emilia fame. Will we get another memorable performance by a GT winner here?
Oh, come on, this is the last time that video will be at all topical. Of course I was going to include it.
As for the climb, it’s very similar to Pike Bidea from last year’s first stage overall (2.1k at 9.5% versus 2.0k at 10.0%), but that one was all about the steep final kilometre, whereas the similarly steep ramps here are more spread out.
San Luca is a bit further from the line than Pike Bidea last year (12.6k instead of 9.6k), thanks mainly to the rolling ridge road also used in Emilia just after the climb. There really isn’t much else to say about the finale, it’s very straightforward after the short descent from the ridge.
Bologna, the largest city in and capital of Emilia-Romagna, has been continously inhabited since Etruscan times. It was one of Europe’s largest cities in the second half of the Middle Ages, an era which saw the establishment of the world’s oldest surviving university as well as the construction of its famous towers. The equally well-known porticoes are generally a bit more recent, the one up the San Luca (which is the longest) dating back to the 17th century. By this time, the previously more or less independent city had become a part of the Papal States, whose jurisdiction oversaw a gradual, but long decline from the end of independence in 1506 until Italian reunification. Today, it is one of Italy’s richest cities once more, still boasting a very well-preserved city centre in spite of significant damage in the Second World War.
What to expect?
A lot of GC riders and a number of Ardennes types battling it out, with the first GC gaps being opened up.
If the first stage was this year’s Jaizkibel stage, then this one is this year’s Pike Bidea stage. In other words, time for the GC riders to come out to play.
The route
(side note: am I the only one annoyed by the city being called Ravenna and the province being called Ravenne? It’s almost like trying to francisise everything is silly…)
On the first Sunday, the Tour continues to provide evidence in favour of it being a rehashed Giro by going for some good old Pantani veneration. And where better to do so than in Il Pirata’s hometown of Cesenatico? There honestly isn’t much to say about Pantani that qualifies as news to most of you, but I will point out that it’s rather serendipitous that, of all 26 Tour editions where he has stood as the most recent rider to complete the double, ASO picked the one where he’s most likely to get a successor to visit his turf for the first time.
Oh, and Cesenatico itself? Bog-standard beach resort town, that like Rimini had to be mostly rebuilt after severe damage in the Second World War.
The monument to Pantani in Cesenatico. Riposa in pace.
The first port of call is Ravenna, one of the most important cities in Italy in Late Antiquity. The ailing Western Roman Empire moved its capital here in 402, and following its collapse, the city served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom and then, upon (re)conquest from the East, as the seat of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. All three states contributed to the city’s famed early Christian mosaics and monuments.
We then trade architecture for sport as the race heads for Imola. It’s a significant location from a cycling history perspective, having hosted the world championships in 1968 and 2020, but of course its significance is far greater in Formula 1. A Formula 1 circuit from 1980 to 2006 and again since 2020, it will forever be remembered for its darkest moment, perhaps the most notorious and impactful death in the history of sport in general – Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash in 1994.
…this is a rather depressing stage breakdown, isn’t it?
Returning to the present, Imola is reached via the climbs to Monticino and Cima Gallisterna. The former is the profile below as far as Rontana…
…whereas the latter should be familiar as the deciding climb from the latter of the two Imola WCs.
After hearing down the racing circuit, the riders make for the intermediate sprint in Dozza.
The next section is spent heading straight down the Via Emilia towards Bologna. Just outside the city, there is another detour through the Apennine foothills, taking in KOMs at Botteghino di Zocca and Montecalvo. They skip the final 1.1k of the latter profile.
Then, the riders do finally enter Bologna, where they will do two laps of a circuit featuring San Luca, of Giro di Emilia fame. Will we get another memorable performance by a GT winner here?
Oh, come on, this is the last time that video will be at all topical. Of course I was going to include it.
As for the climb, it’s very similar to Pike Bidea from last year’s first stage overall (2.1k at 9.5% versus 2.0k at 10.0%), but that one was all about the steep final kilometre, whereas the similarly steep ramps here are more spread out.
San Luca is a bit further from the line than Pike Bidea last year (12.6k instead of 9.6k), thanks mainly to the rolling ridge road also used in Emilia just after the climb. There really isn’t much else to say about the finale, it’s very straightforward after the short descent from the ridge.
Bologna, the largest city in and capital of Emilia-Romagna, has been continously inhabited since Etruscan times. It was one of Europe’s largest cities in the second half of the Middle Ages, an era which saw the establishment of the world’s oldest surviving university as well as the construction of its famous towers. The equally well-known porticoes are generally a bit more recent, the one up the San Luca (which is the longest) dating back to the 17th century. By this time, the previously more or less independent city had become a part of the Papal States, whose jurisdiction oversaw a gradual, but long decline from the end of independence in 1506 until Italian reunification. Today, it is one of Italy’s richest cities once more, still boasting a very well-preserved city centre in spite of significant damage in the Second World War.
What to expect?
A lot of GC riders and a number of Ardennes types battling it out, with the first GC gaps being opened up.
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