Giro 2020 - Stage 7: Matera – Brindisi 143 km *Spoilers*
blazing_saddles
Posts: 22,725
Stage 7: Matera – Brindisi 143 km
Friday, October 9th, 12:00 BST
The 7th stage is one of the reasons why all those sprinters show up at the Giro. The 143 kilometres route from Matera to Brindisi is as flat as can be. The route traverses the foot of the Italian boot from west to east.
The stage is very short and on straight and wide roads, with the two intermediate sprints quite close together in the middle of the stage, in Taranto and Grottaglie.
The famous Via Appia has been traveling from Rome to Brindisi for thousands of years.
So the is a perfect opportunity for the pure sprinters to have it their way. Unless… crosswinds change the race into a battle for position, we should expect the fastest finishers in the peloton to arrive with fresh legs in Bridisi. Normally, pure speed will be the crucial factor in the 7th stage of the Giro d’Italia.
The home straight is 1.2 km long.
As the opening line states, this should be one for the sprints, except things may not turn out to be a straightforward as the parcour suggests.
Both tomorrow's forecast wind speed and direction screams......
.....along the whole, run for home stretch.
What this space, as they say.
Matera again and those cave houses.
Taranto hosts the first intermediate sprint. It is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy and an important commercial and naval port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, and food-processing factories.
The islets and the coast are strongly fortified and Mar Piccolo is a naval port with strategic importance. Because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto is also called "the city of the two seas".
The natural harbor at Taranto made it a logical home port for the Italian naval fleet before and during the First World War. Taranto then became naval base for the Italian Regia Marina's First Squadron, during the 1930s.
During World War II, Taranto became famous for a November 1940 British air attack on the Regia Marina naval base stationed here, which today is called the Battle of Taranto, when the Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history. The Italian fleet lost half of its capital ships in one night.
Brindisi
Brindisi is situated on a natural harbour, that penetrates deeply into the Adriatic coast of Apulia. Within the arms of the outer harbour islands are Pedagne, a tiny archipelago, currently not open and in use for military purposes. The entire municipality is part of the Brindisi Plain, characterised by high agricultural uses of its land. It is located in the northeastern part of the Salento plains, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the Itria Valley, and the low Murge. Not far from the city is the Natural Marine Reserve of the World Wide Fund for Nature of Torre Guaceto. The Ionian Sea is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) away.
Food
Brindisi’s cuisine is simple with basic ingredients used, starting with flour or unrefined barley, which is less expensive than wheat.
Drink
In the area of Brindisi are produced Aleatico di Puglia Doc, Ostuni Doc, Brindisi Rosso DOC, Rosato Brindisi DOC and Puglia IGT. Some grape varieties grown in Brindisi include:
Malvasia Nera di Brindisi,
Negroamaro;
Ottavianello;
Sangiovese;
Susumaniello.
Friday, October 9th, 12:00 BST
The 7th stage is one of the reasons why all those sprinters show up at the Giro. The 143 kilometres route from Matera to Brindisi is as flat as can be. The route traverses the foot of the Italian boot from west to east.
The stage is very short and on straight and wide roads, with the two intermediate sprints quite close together in the middle of the stage, in Taranto and Grottaglie.
The famous Via Appia has been traveling from Rome to Brindisi for thousands of years.
So the is a perfect opportunity for the pure sprinters to have it their way. Unless… crosswinds change the race into a battle for position, we should expect the fastest finishers in the peloton to arrive with fresh legs in Bridisi. Normally, pure speed will be the crucial factor in the 7th stage of the Giro d’Italia.
The home straight is 1.2 km long.
As the opening line states, this should be one for the sprints, except things may not turn out to be a straightforward as the parcour suggests.
Both tomorrow's forecast wind speed and direction screams......
.....along the whole, run for home stretch.
What this space, as they say.
Matera again and those cave houses.
Taranto hosts the first intermediate sprint. It is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy and an important commercial and naval port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, and food-processing factories.
The islets and the coast are strongly fortified and Mar Piccolo is a naval port with strategic importance. Because of the presence of these two bays, Taranto is also called "the city of the two seas".
The natural harbor at Taranto made it a logical home port for the Italian naval fleet before and during the First World War. Taranto then became naval base for the Italian Regia Marina's First Squadron, during the 1930s.
During World War II, Taranto became famous for a November 1940 British air attack on the Regia Marina naval base stationed here, which today is called the Battle of Taranto, when the Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history. The Italian fleet lost half of its capital ships in one night.
Brindisi
Brindisi is situated on a natural harbour, that penetrates deeply into the Adriatic coast of Apulia. Within the arms of the outer harbour islands are Pedagne, a tiny archipelago, currently not open and in use for military purposes. The entire municipality is part of the Brindisi Plain, characterised by high agricultural uses of its land. It is located in the northeastern part of the Salento plains, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the Itria Valley, and the low Murge. Not far from the city is the Natural Marine Reserve of the World Wide Fund for Nature of Torre Guaceto. The Ionian Sea is about 45 kilometres (28 mi) away.
Food
Brindisi’s cuisine is simple with basic ingredients used, starting with flour or unrefined barley, which is less expensive than wheat.
Drink
In the area of Brindisi are produced Aleatico di Puglia Doc, Ostuni Doc, Brindisi Rosso DOC, Rosato Brindisi DOC and Puglia IGT. Some grape varieties grown in Brindisi include:
Malvasia Nera di Brindisi,
Negroamaro;
Ottavianello;
Sangiovese;
Susumaniello.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
5
Comments
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This looks like a route my wife would not complain about - flat and slightly downhill. With good wine.0
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Brindisi, where inter railers used to spend the day waiting for the ferry to Corfu and the rest of Greece.....0
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Wind is forecast at 25-30km/h from the north or NNW. The approach to the second intermediate sprint where they change from briefly heading NE back to due east looks perfect. Build the pace up ahead of the sprint and smash it as the direction changes. There's another chance with the little kink in the route not long after as well. Fingers crossed.0
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blazing_saddles said:
Taranto hosts the first intermediate sprint. It is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy and an important commercial and naval port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, and food-processing factories.
The people of Taranto are famous for their dialogue about pop culture, love of kung fu movies, cartoon violence and using the N word more than white people should even if it is in context.Twitter: @RichN951 -
Only the little ones though. 😉RichN95. said:blazing_saddles said:
Taranto hosts the first intermediate sprint. It is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy and an important commercial and naval port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, and food-processing factories.
The people of Taranto are famous for their dialogue about pop culture, love of kung fu movies, cartoon violence and using the N word more than white people should even if it is in context.The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Is inter rail still a thing ?Dorset_Boy said:Brindisi, where inter railers used to spend the day waiting for the ferry to Corfu and the rest of Greece.....
"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0 -
Obviously not in 2020, but I think it had been making a bit of a come back over the last few years having faded away over the previous 10-15 years.mididoctors said:
Is inter rail still a thing ?Dorset_Boy said:Brindisi, where inter railers used to spend the day waiting for the ferry to Corfu and the rest of Greece.....
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Wonder ( perhaps hope) if this year will see a massive break get away of a mixture of allsorts . Like the 2010 one that porte and wiggins got in . Perhaps If the weather plays a role .0
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Thinking about this again, the best spots for causing echelons are probably where they start heading east again after the two short sections travelling south as it should be easier to string it out with the tailwind rather than into a headwind so prior to the first sprint. That would leave about 100 kms to go so if it happened there would be scope for some serious gaps. Probably nothing will happen but I think there might be some twitchy riders in the early stages and crashes as a result of people trying to move up.0
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The local industries around Taranto, especially the massive steelworks, once made it considered the most polluted town in Italy, or at least its west end. It used to be said that animals weren't allowed to graze within 20 kms of the steelworks because of dioxin pollution in the air from the steelworks settling on the ground within that distance.blazing_saddles said:
Taranto hosts the first intermediate sprint. It is the third-largest continental city in southern Italy and an important commercial and naval port with well-developed steel and iron foundries, oil refineries, chemical works, naval shipyards, and food-processing factories.
It has probably changed, or well I hope so. The island in the middle, with the old town on it, certainly makes the town pretty unique and interestingly different/attractive.0 -
I don't know what you mean about the N word and Taranto, but the grape variety negroamaro is grown a lot in the area.RichN95. said:
The people of Taranto are famous for their dialogue about pop culture, love of kung fu movies, cartoon violence and using the N word more than white people should even if it is in context.
At Brindisi there is even a 5-day long Negroamaro Wine Festival each year, attracting 100,000 visitors. It has live music concerts in the evenings and British band Incognito have played at the festival.0 -
The word for someone from Taranto is Tarantino, as in Quentin Tarantino.jimmyjams said:
I don't know what you mean about the N word and Taranto, but the grape variety negroamaro is grown a lot in the area.RichN95. said:
The people of Taranto are famous for their dialogue about pop culture, love of kung fu movies, cartoon violence and using the N word more than white people should even if it is in context.Twitter: @RichN950 -
Plus this little fellow's name is derived from Taranto.RichN95. said:
The word for someone from Taranto is Tarantino, as in Quentin Tarantino.jimmyjams said:
I don't know what you mean about the N word and Taranto, but the grape variety negroamaro is grown a lot in the area.RichN95. said:
The people of Taranto are famous for their dialogue about pop culture, love of kung fu movies, cartoon violence and using the N word more than white people should even if it is in context.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Thomas de Gendt trying to appear enigmatic by going in the most forlorn break of this Giro."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
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Hey up, that didn't take long.
Echelon alert!
Sound that klaxon.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.1 -
Here we go0
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DQS blowing it up"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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jumbo now working with DQS"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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Awesome.0
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Majka caught out"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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Boom!
Riders all over the place and Simon "last man" Yates already in trouble ford doing what he always does.
Fuglsang and Majka also dumped."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
long way out"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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thats a pretty small echeleon"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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But it's going to be like this all the way and especially in the last 50kms."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
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most of the gc guys caught out"If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm0
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He might be finished, but Sagan never seems to miss a split.0
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The second group is shrinking as wellmididoctors said:thats a pretty small echeleon
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Nibali, Kuijswijk, Keldermann and Almeida the only GC guys in the first group.
DQS, blew it apart, Jumbo and sunweb have joined in.
About 25 seconds or so gap atm."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0
