You can win (and lose) in many ways: here are the key points where those who want to get king cannot fail. Insured emotions
1) Ninth stop / white roads towards Siena: what is insidia …
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Of course, much will depend on time. Of course, very much will make the struggle accumulated on the group’s legs in the previous eight stages. Of course, the courage and the desire to scratch without too many calculations will count. Having made these premises, the ninth fraction that brings the runners from Gubbio to Cesena could also leave the mark in a final ranking: the approximately 29 kilometers of dirt road (the longest is the third sector, 9400 meters of ups and downs to San Martino in Gravia), are an invitation to the ball not to be escaped. Making “upholstery”, remaining calm in order not to risk, waiting for the move of others, could cost dearly in terms of seconds. There will not be the alien Pogacar, capable of doing and undoing (read in the last white roads, dominated despite the slip) and this makes the fate of the day uncertain. But people like Pidcock (second in Siena behind the alien …) and Van Aert will be able to assert their qualities as cross players and excellent strikers. The last stretch of dirt road will perhaps be the one who decides the winner: 2400 meters that will lead to the top of Colle Pinzuto, a climb that has maximum slopes around 15%. Whoever passes from there first, then will have the road flattened to Siena and perhaps towards the pink jersey. Or it could be the leader of the Giro that governed to shore up his crown. In any case, the dirt roads will be an important test for the aspiring kings, including our Tiberi and Ciccone. Cyclist warned, half saved …
2) Tenth stage / against time there is the risk of strong detachments
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After the dirt and rest. As if to say, arrange yourself. His time trial is already an unknown, capable of annihilating hopes or sensational resurrections. The Giro chose a non -trivial day for the second individual challenge against time (the first is in Tirana): tenth stage, with the a group stopped from 24 hours after the labors towards Siena. The challenge will develop on almost 29 kilometers, from Lucca to Pisa, without great difficulties. In short, it would have been the perfect stage for Filippo Ganna, but useless to talk about the absent. So, one like Roglic becomes the favorite number 1, but watch out for the various Van Aert and Ayuso. Tiberi can do well, Ciccone will try to defend himself, while the most exposed to the showers are the climbers, Carapaz and Bernal in the first place. However it goes, the stopwatch remains an important junction for those who have pink jersey ambitions. The distance is of those that can hurt, especially if the legs will not turn properly. Possible thing with dirt roads and rest to digest in just 24 hours.
3) Sixteenth stage / Brentonic from fearless hearts: poison final
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Up and down to touch the blue. The sixteenth stage is of those that make the path, the climbs to be tackled, the total difference in height (4900 meters) at the mere thought: and already the legs become marble. Those who want to arrive in the squad in Milan, here they will have to stay in front, puffing, suffering, making, attacking, reassembling … whatever tactic it will be fine, the important thing is not to lose ground. Better, if it is possible it is necessary to earn seconds on the most dangerous rivals. We run in Trentino, where the mountains are not lacking. Those chosen by the organizers of the Giro, perhaps do not have the nobility of a Stelvio or a Gavia, but they can hurt a lot: four GPM in sequence, one way after 50 kilometers of heating. And if the first carbonal towards Carbonare does not write the history of the hamlet, already the next one that leads to Candrai could be a nice springboard for a new Braveheart, a impavid heart hunting for prestigious success. Of course, the big names will wait at least until Santa Barbara, when the almost 13 kilometers to 8.3 in the average slope are a nice rise. From the summit, 35 kilometers will miss the finish line of Brentonico: the last 18 will lead to 1315, an ascent broken in three, with the second very hard part and a toxic ending around 9% with tips at 12. The favorites? Rogic and Ayuso will compete in a deadly duel, but many will aspire to the full booty (stage and jersey), including Carapaz and our Ciccone and Tiberi.
4) 5 stages to follow / from Tagliacozzo to Champoluc: obstacles and ascents
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What do Tagliacozzo, Castelnovo ne ‘Monti, Asiago, Bormio and Champoluc have in common? They are the great unexpected events on the road to Rome, the possible stages where surprisingly (but not so much) could go into crisis the pink jersey. Also call them emotions or reversals, but mark these places. To begin with Tagliacozzo (seventh stage), where the Giro planned the first uphill arrival. Certainly not trivial, about 12 kilometers of ascent with poison in the tail: 2000 meters never below 10% slope. It will be a battle between the various Roglic, Ayuso, Carapaz, Ciccone and Tiberi, stay certain. And it will also be battle in the eleventh, the day after the time trial. Just those who have lost seconds in Pisa, will be able to attempt the sortie in the continuous ups and downs (on the Alpe San Pellegrino slopes at 19%), perfect for ambushes. Towards Asiago (the milestone of the fifteenth stage), however, there is the story to wait for the group on Monte Grappa, where the military sacraory of the Great War stands, after 25 kilometers of climb, excellent for testing the condition of the big names. Speaking of history, the recent one of thick cycling has written on Mortirolo, a symbol of the myth of Marco Pantani, who faces himself from the Monno side in the seventeenth hamlet, but quite distant from the arrival in Bormio (almost 50 kilometers). There is no problem in the Alpine tapone that ends in Champoluc (nineteenth stage): five GPM, a difference in height of 4950 meters. Breath, heart, legs and obviously pink jersey …
5) Twentieth stage / Colle Referee Windows of the Giro: there is no appeal
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What day, that day … Saturday 31 May the history of sport is written: cycling and football in a condensed of emotions, with a virtual relay and a witness that flies from Sestriere to Munich. What day, that day: the pink jersey and the Champions League decides, with Inter to challenge the PSG. A few hours earlier, the Giro Scales the Colle delle Finestre, the Coppi Cima at an altitude of 2178 meters. It cannot hide us, one cannot think of getting away if the condition is precarious. Here, without himself and without but, the ranking is decided. Not only the winner, but the entire podium. There is no appeal test: it is the penultimate stage, then it will be only the final catwalk in Rome. But glory must be conquered on this deadly climb: 18 kilometers and 500 meters with the constant slope above 9%. Already so it would be stuff to mozzate the breath, also considering the labors and toxins accumulated in the journey started in Albania. But the hill of the windows has a nice malus capable of sending even the most resilient: 9 km (the last) where the asphalt gives way to the dirt road. Yes, you read that right: a white high -mountain road, with all the difficulties of the case. The oxygen above 2000 meters becomes rarefied, those who are not used can go in crisis without notice. It will be essential to dose the energies and attack at the right time. Considering another factor: to get to the finish line 27 kilometers will be missing, the first eleven are a very demanding descent, with dry hairpin bends where it is forbidden to make mistakes. Then he will go up gently to Sestriere, but the alert in the standings at that point will be crystallized. For sure, there will be a large crowd on the 45 hairpin bends that lead to Coppi Cima, for sure it will be fun, certainly upon arrival the winner of the Giro will be discovered. And a few hours later even those who will raise the Champions League in the sky. We throw it there, Antonio Tiberi and Giulio Ciccone are Inter players: who knows if that day will be their day …
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