The paradox of a short but not too high mountain stage at the end of a Grand Tour: it’s easy to control for the teams of the GC-riders, but is it worth? Especially,when the next stage is a really hard one.
The first climb of the day is the extraordinary Passo di San Boldo (6,3 km à 6,8%, max. 10,0%)
Why extraordinary? Just take a look at this picture:
The climb is on half way to the end of the stage, and it’s second half is the harder one, with an average slope of 9,4 %.
With 34 km to go comes the next climb, the 4th category Lamon (7,4 km à 3,7%, max. 10,0%). The last climb starts 13,6 km to go. It’s the San Martino di Castrozza, a category 2 ascent ((13,6 km à 5,6%, max. 10,0%), a quite steady one.
As I’ve mentioned before, this stage is a bit short for an escape, on the other hand, the program of the penultimate stage is really hard, everyone, especially the riders of the GC-teams try to save as much energy as it’s possible. Probably there will be a breakaway with a small gap, but when the last ascent begins and the GC-riders start to fight again eachother, this group will simple disappear.
I think, Simon Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) will make a last big attempt on this stage. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) has to attack either, because the gap in the general classification between him and Richard Carapaz (Movistar) is too big already before the last ITT on Sunday. But if Roglic attacks, not only the riders of Movistar, but Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) has to react too.
I suppose, that Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) won’t play a significant role in the fight for the pink jersey anymore, but he has to race carfully, because the other candidates for the white jersey, Hugh Carthy (EF) and Pavel Sivakov (INEOS) are still strong and dangerous for his position.
Take a look at the program of the final weekend:
The General Classification after the 18th stage:
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.