Giro 2018, Stage 15: Tolmezzo - Sappada, 176 kilometres *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles

Giro 2018, Stage 15: Tolmezzo - Sappada, 176 kilometres.
Sunday, 20 May 2018 - On the road from Tolmezzo to Sappada the riders face four intermediate climbs. The 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia is played out in the Dolomites, while the route amounts to 176 kilometres.
Departure place Tolmezzo was a minor player in the 2017 Giro d’Italia when the riders passed through it in the 19th stage. Tom Dumoulin cracked on the last climb and Nairo Quintana took over the pink jersey (only to lose it on the ultimate day).
After leaving Tolmezzo the 15th stage opens with a false flat. A first (non-KOM) peak is crested after approximately 20 kilometres before the route continues to the base of the Passo della Mauria. The steepest stretch at 9% appears 4 kilometres up the slopes. The Mauria amounts to 8.8 kilometres and is averaging 4.4%.

Back in the valley a false flat of around 40 kilometres leads to the Passo Tre Croci. The ascent begins in Cortina d’Ampezzo, host to the 1956 Winter Olympics while the Giro last visited the town in 2012 with Joaquim Rodríguez taking the stage honours. The climb is 8.1 kilometres and averaging 7.1%.

The (long) Tre Croci-descent leads to a beautiful mountain lake near Auronzo di Cadore, where the riders tackle the Passo di Sant’Antonio. The lower and higher slopes are doable, yet the middle section is a tough task. Starting at kilometre 1 the climb is averaging 9.4% for 5 kilometres. The full climb amounts to 8.3 kilometres with its average gradient at 7.5%.

Next up is an unprecedented climb in the Giro. The ascent to Costalissoio is short and sharp – 10.6% in the first 2.5 kilometres, while it flattens out to 5.6% in the rest of the climb. When the riders move through Costalissoio they have 16 kilometres ahead of them.

Roughly half of it is on descent, while the route follows the Piave river in the last 6.5 kilometres. The average gradient is 3.8%, but there is still one more tricky stretch – from 4.5 kilometres until 3.5 kilometres the road points uphill at 8.2%.

In 1987, Stephen Roche won the Giro basically in Sappada. That day, he put almost 6 minutes into his leader Roberto Visentini and took the maglia rosa. It was the start of the most successful year of his career. That same season, Roche went on to win the Tour de France and the rainbow jersey.

Profile:-


Map:-


Finish:-




TOLMEZZO

Historical major town of the Carnia and “2017 Alpine City “, Tolmezzo is a town featuring an evocative historical centre that has still some traces of the old town from the XV century. The city historically belonged to the Patriarchs of Aquileia and later became an ally with Venice. In 1866 it became an Italian city.
MAIN SIGHTS
Chiesa di Santa Caterina (18th century) and the buildings of the Borgat neighbourhood, Piazza XX Settembre with the Town Hall, Palazzo Garzolini and Duomo di San Martino (18th century), Palazzo Campeis (home to the Museo Carnico delle Arti Popolari, Popular Art Museum).

HISTORY
Population: 10,000
Foundation: Middle Ages
Ancient name: Tulmentium



Lovely local blue cheese.

Lovelier local red and white wine.


SAPPADA

Sappada is a town in the province of Udine at the easternmost extremity of the Dolomites. The town is at an altitude of 1,250 m and has about 1,500 inhabitants that increase in the number during summer and winter. The town extends across the valley, from east to west, and is flanked by the Piave river, with its source in the same district.
MAIN SIGHTS
Ski area (20 km of slopes), Nevelandia (amusement park), the Piave River springs, Ethnographic Museum (Cima Sappada).

Population: 1,300
Foundation: Late Middle Ages
Ancient name: Sapata





Favourites 15th stage 2018 Giro d’Italia
*** Matej Mohoric, Alexey Lutsenko, Robert Gesink, Giulio Ciccone, Jan Polanc
** Jarlinson Pantano, Koen Bouwman, Valerio Conti, Giovanni Visconti
* Miguel Ángel López, Tom Dumoulin, Chris Froome, Thibaut Pinot, Simon Yates

above_the_cows

I love flying over those huge meltwater riverbeds, they look immense from the plane. Where's our resident geologist to tell use more?

Anyway some local wildlife:



Post-stage massage...



Post-stage sleep...



Some of our dairy friends...

RichN95.

A fast start on this stage has the potential to cause some splits and catch some GC riders out if they haven't recovered from the Zoncolan effort

It's also Froome's birthday so maybe he'll get some presents.

Bo Duke

Bit of a key day amongst the GC favourites.....

maddog 2

will Froome have a go at a long range attack? I'd love to see that.

If he wants to win this thing, then he's going to need more than a few seconds over Yates/TomDum...

milton50

Think quite a few of the big teams will try and get someone in the break today.

rick_chasey

Friebe suggesting in the Tour the final 3 climbs would be cat 1 or HC.

DeVlaeminck

Profile looks like it would take a risk for a GC man to take time here - last climb the gradients aren't too bad so maybe Yates and Dumoulin will sit tight unless someone else forces them to react. Pozzo may think he's going to wait as he's got a lot to lose, a podium would be a huge result for him, Pinot may think he has the TT and see where he is after that, our hopes of a GC battle today probably do rest on Froome.

slim_boy_fat

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status ... 9900676096

blazing_saddles

Rick Chasey wrote:

Friebe suggesting in the Tour the final 3 climbs would be cat 1 or HC.

Looking at their stats, it's hard to argue differently.
All 1st cats.

kingstongraham

What's the weather forecast anyone? If it's sunny, this should be stunning.

rick_chasey

I’m intrigued to see if we’re gonna see swashbuckling Froome.

I suspect not, but I’d like to see it.

the article don

He might go for some of his crazy downhill action on the final descent.That would be fun

tim000

the article don wrote:

He might go for some of his crazy downhill action on the final descent.That would be fun

was thinking the same

blazing_saddles

Today's weather forecast is exactly the same as usual: afternoon showers.
Currently says rain for the ITT.
Fine and sunny for the Alpine stages.

No_Ta_Doctor

With a rest day before Tuesday's TT how much benefit is there for Yates to make this hard for Dumoulin? Every little counts and all that, but it doesn't quite look like a stage where he can be broken so at the most it's probably going to be a few seconds, possible bonus and a touch more climbing in Tom's legs.

The balance between Dumoulin, Yates and a back in form Froome will be interesting (pretty much ruling out Peanut and Pozzo due to the TT).

The start could be really fast if the main players are trying to put a teammate in the break. And if Froome has anything left today then I can see him trying to get a gap over the top of one of the last couple of climbs and on the descent. St Antonio is only 30k from the finish, Costalissoio only about 16.

rick_chasey

Yes the rest day dynamic is one I always intend to pay attention to but never have the time.

People respond differently to rest days; some do really well, some find the day after really tough.

That will impact performances.

knedlicky

Since today suits a successful break, as well as the usuals (Ciccone, Monteguti and a Bardiani rider), I would think it is an ideal stage for riders who are lower placed than expected (i.e. before the Giro began) to give it a go. I'm thinking of Formolo in particular.
Or those who have moderate but still unfulfilled Giro ambitions – Brambilla.

Tactically, some GC teams could try and get a rider up the road. I'm mostly thinking of Astana (Bilbao), UAE (Conti), Movistar (Betancur) and Bahrain-M (Mohoric) rather than Sky, Mitchelton or Sunweb.

I'd like to see a strong break with Formolo and Bilbao in it.

PS.
I see Brambilla has already tried to get away, before the 10 km mark, with 6 others incl Boaro, De Marchi, and Pantano. But they were soon pulled back in what has been a fast start. Still, maybe an indicator for today.
They've now covered 20+ km, and Ten Dam, Visconti and a couple of others were next to try and escape, soon followed by Henao, Nieve and one other.
But now only Visconti, Conti and De Marchi still ahead.

blazing_saddles

Hectic start. De Marchi and Hermans trying again. On the first climb and no sign of a breakaway forming and the bunch calming down.

No_Ta_Doctor

Wout Poels going for it, this could be very, very interesting.

blazing_saddles

Aru also had a go too. Unsuccessful, like the rest of his race.

No_Ta_Doctor

Poels didn't get away, but I bet that put the wind up Yates and Dumoulin.

Putative break of 2 AG2R, Movi and one other may have got away over the top.

blazing_saddles

Damp descent. MS calm it all down, so Bahrain heat it all back up.

No_Ta_Doctor

Break of four have 23 seconds

1. Q. JAUREGUI (16)
2. K. NEILANDS (94)
3. N. DENZ (14)
4. D. QUINTANA (126)

No_Ta_Doctor

Doesn't look like the peloton is keen on them getting away, it's come down from 40" to 20"ish

No_Ta_Doctor

Big break of 25 or so riders have now got away, peloton has sat up.
Looks like both Yates and Dumoulin have a man in it, but not Froome.

rick_chasey

Well the day of Pentecost (Pinksterdag) shutting all the supermarkets has thrown my day right off.

Meagre meals at chez Chasey tonight.

blazing_saddles

Rick Chasey wrote:

Well the day of Pentecost (Pinksterdag) shutting all the supermarkets has thrown my day right off.

Meagre meals at chez Chasey tonight.

The breakaway is on thin pickings as well.

Another GC day coming up.

knedlicky

No tA Doctor wrote:

Big break of 25 or so riders have now got away, peloton has sat up.
Looks like both Yates and Dumoulin have a man in it, but not Froome.

Breakaway includes, predictably enough, Ciccione and a Bardiani rider (Barbin) as well as four men from the Top 30 of the GC in the break = Cherel (25), Masnada (26), Ulissi (27), and .... Brambilla (30).

RichN95.

Shouldn’t Yates be up riding with his team mates? The last Sky man could let a wheel go and cause all sorts of panic

No_Ta_Doctor

Rick Chasey wrote:

Well the day of Pentecost (Pinksterdag) shutting all the supermarkets has thrown my day right off.

Meagre meals at chez Chasey tonight.

Always pays to keep an eye on the religionists.
Big meal at chez No Ta tonight, BBQ feast with the kids. Panic shopped for it yesterday evening. Fingers crossed no missing ingredient.