Cycling: And the next mountain finish at the Giro d'Italia is already waiting for the professionals. On the 17th stage, five mountain classifications must be completed. Will the breakaways prevail or does Tadej Pogacar want to win again?
Just ups and downs
After the snow chaos on today's stage of the Giro d'Italia, tomorrow things will hopefully be a little more orderly on the 17th stage. But it certainly won't be easy, because the 159 kilometer long course from Selva di Val Gardena to Passo Brocon is tough. With the Sella Pass (9 km with 7,3%), the Passo role (19,8 km with 4,6%), the Gobbera Pass (5,7 km with 5,8%), the Pass Brocon (13,6 km with 6,5%) and directly again Pass Brocon (11,9 km at 6,4%) there are five tough mountains on the program. The second ascent of the final climb in particular will cause problems for some drivers with some very steep sections. Because the stage is so short, it will be driven particularly hard and will result in some time gaps at the end.
Velomotion forecast: Outliers sense their chance
If the Giro d'Italia had not yet been decided, the classification riders would probably want to make the decisive difference today. There Tadej pogacar (UAE), which GC leads so confidently, it cannot be assumed that the distance to the outliers in the main field will necessarily be kept small. And even though the Slovenian's position on the podium is extremely tight, his pursuers cannot assume that they will actually be able to fight for the day's victory. Tadej Pogacar is not known for gifts. It is therefore very likely that the day's victory will go to the escape group and that there will be a second race to admire behind them. Daniel Martinez (Bora – hansgrohe) will continue to try Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) to attack. And the teams Bahrain – Victorious and Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale will try everything to somehow get into the top 3. But the stage win is important Damian Caruso (Bahrain – Victorious). Because we think that the Italian will venture into the breakaway group and win the section.
* * * Damian Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious)
** Valentin Paret Peintre (Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale), Dominic Pozzo alive (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè)
* Michael Storer (Tudor), Davide Piganzoli (Polti – Kometa), Simon Geschke (Cofidis)