Giro 2020 - Stage 20: Alba – Sestriere 190kms *Spoilers*
blazing_saddles
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in Pro race
Stage 20: Alba – Sestriere 190kms
The penultimate stage of the Giro is the last uphill test. The route adds up to 190 kilometres and the riders crest the climb to Sestriere three times in the last 50 kilometres.
The new stage 20 will feature roughly 3500m in vertical elevation". From Alba the route goes to Pinerolo across the plain through medium-wide and straight roads. The first 110 kilometres of the route are virtually flat before the route starts to climb at very shallow gradients for tens of kilometres. A false flat that changes gradually into an ascent of 9.2 kilometres at 5.4% before the riders move through Sestriere for the first passage through Sestriere (the riders will not pass over the finish line).
This is my best guess to the profile of the Sestriere climb from the east (9.2km at 5.4 per cent being the final categorised part)
The race continues with two identical laps on a circuit around the ski resort. Firstly, the route descends into Cesana Torinese before returning to Sestriere on different roads. The first part is a false flat and shortly after Rollieres the gradients increase. But in comparison to the original 20th stage it is really nothing. The second (and third) climb to Sestriere is 11.4 kilometres long and the average gradients sits at 5.9%.
These ascents are the final chance for those still in contention for the GC to attack but it is questionable as to how much time can be gained with these gradients and no Agnello or Izoard in the legs.
The last time that the Giro finished in Sestriere was in 2015. Fabio Aru soloed to victory ahead of Ryder Hesjedal and Rigoberto Uran.
Alba
Alba, Creative Cities of UNESCO, is nestled in the hills of Southern Piedmont, not far from Turin and Milan. Alba is as the “capital” of the area, the heart of the gastronomic Langhe Roero district, renowned for its excellent products, increasingly sought after as a tourist destination.
The city and the surroundings provides a rich gastronomic offer: wine cellars, wine bars, farmhouses, inns and restaurants; you just have to choose where to start your journey through the tastes and flavors of the cuisine. The Alba White Truffle is the King of the culinary world.
Important wines, like Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera d’Asti and Moscato d’Asti, are served with local dishes:
countless starters, homemade pasta like tajarin, ravioli al “plin” and agnolotti, fassone tartare, PDO cheeses (i.e. Robiola di Roccaverano), that can be enhanced by an Alba White Truffle shaving.
Last but not least, the desserts made with Nocciola Piemonte PGI, such as the hazelnut cake and the bunet (a traditional chocolate pudding to be eaten by the spoon).
Sestriere
Sestriere has 929 inhabitants and is located on the pass that links Val Chisone and Val Susa, at 2,035 metres (6,677 feet) above mean sea level The village is completely surrounded by mountains, which have been exploited to build one of the biggest ski resorts in Italy.
Formerly, the pass belonged to the municipality of Cesana, but from 18 October 1934 the area was unified with the hamlet of Borgata (formerly belonging to Pragelato) to create the new municipality of Sestriere. The ski resorts at Sestriere were built in the 1930s.
It is also in the legend of great cycling as an alpine location that hosted the arrival of many stages of the Giro d’Italia.
The penultimate stage of the Giro is the last uphill test. The route adds up to 190 kilometres and the riders crest the climb to Sestriere three times in the last 50 kilometres.
The new stage 20 will feature roughly 3500m in vertical elevation". From Alba the route goes to Pinerolo across the plain through medium-wide and straight roads. The first 110 kilometres of the route are virtually flat before the route starts to climb at very shallow gradients for tens of kilometres. A false flat that changes gradually into an ascent of 9.2 kilometres at 5.4% before the riders move through Sestriere for the first passage through Sestriere (the riders will not pass over the finish line).
This is my best guess to the profile of the Sestriere climb from the east (9.2km at 5.4 per cent being the final categorised part)
The race continues with two identical laps on a circuit around the ski resort. Firstly, the route descends into Cesana Torinese before returning to Sestriere on different roads. The first part is a false flat and shortly after Rollieres the gradients increase. But in comparison to the original 20th stage it is really nothing. The second (and third) climb to Sestriere is 11.4 kilometres long and the average gradients sits at 5.9%.
These ascents are the final chance for those still in contention for the GC to attack but it is questionable as to how much time can be gained with these gradients and no Agnello or Izoard in the legs.
The last time that the Giro finished in Sestriere was in 2015. Fabio Aru soloed to victory ahead of Ryder Hesjedal and Rigoberto Uran.
Alba
Alba, Creative Cities of UNESCO, is nestled in the hills of Southern Piedmont, not far from Turin and Milan. Alba is as the “capital” of the area, the heart of the gastronomic Langhe Roero district, renowned for its excellent products, increasingly sought after as a tourist destination.
The city and the surroundings provides a rich gastronomic offer: wine cellars, wine bars, farmhouses, inns and restaurants; you just have to choose where to start your journey through the tastes and flavors of the cuisine. The Alba White Truffle is the King of the culinary world.
Important wines, like Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera d’Asti and Moscato d’Asti, are served with local dishes:
countless starters, homemade pasta like tajarin, ravioli al “plin” and agnolotti, fassone tartare, PDO cheeses (i.e. Robiola di Roccaverano), that can be enhanced by an Alba White Truffle shaving.
Last but not least, the desserts made with Nocciola Piemonte PGI, such as the hazelnut cake and the bunet (a traditional chocolate pudding to be eaten by the spoon).
Sestriere
Sestriere has 929 inhabitants and is located on the pass that links Val Chisone and Val Susa, at 2,035 metres (6,677 feet) above mean sea level The village is completely surrounded by mountains, which have been exploited to build one of the biggest ski resorts in Italy.
Formerly, the pass belonged to the municipality of Cesana, but from 18 October 1934 the area was unified with the hamlet of Borgata (formerly belonging to Pragelato) to create the new municipality of Sestriere. The ski resorts at Sestriere were built in the 1930s.
It is also in the legend of great cycling as an alpine location that hosted the arrival of many stages of the Giro d’Italia.
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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The other profile I've seen indicates the last short steepish stretch around elevation 1970 m (which Blazing's does show) has about 100 m length at 9.5%. I've never thought the towers at Sestriere fit in with the mountain landscape (except perhaps in a surreal way), but there is one aspect about them which I do like - they have no staircases to reach higher floors, rather continuous spiral ramps in their core.
On the photo from Blazing's stage preface, one can see that at the white tower, the room windows on the left are lower than those on the right. This is because the rooms connect to the rising spiral ramp at differing elevations.
The spiral ramps in the two towers rise in different directions, that in the white tower rising anticlockwise, that in the térracotta tower clockwise - good to know if you wander into the wrong one after a bit too much apres-ski. (The towers do have lifts too!)
Must have messy to construct (in the 1930s), though, adjacent rooms with different floor and ceiling heights, as well as all rooms with curved inner and outer walls.
And I think Bilbao is more involved in the race for pink that people think.
Check out those suns next week and beyond.
But on a day like today, we get to see them using their strength aggressively to open up the race rather than to shut it down, and it's particularly exciting to see what will happen
I am not sure. You have no chance.
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
3 BOUCHARD Geoffrey (ALM)
7 VENDRAME Andrea (ALM)
38 TRATNIK Jan (TBM)
43 FIORELLI Filippo (BCF)
66 MAŁECKI Kamil (CCC)
71 VIVIANI Elia (COF)
82 BALLERINI Davide (DQT)
84 HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich (DQT)
88 SERRY Pieter (DQT
96 KANGERT Tanel (EF1)
101 DÉMARE Arnaud (GFC)
104 GUGLIELMI Simon (GFC)
114 CIMOLAI Davide (ISN)
126 HOLMES Matthew (LTS)
144 RUBIO Einer Augusto (MOV)
148 VILLELLA Davide (MOV)
153 GHEBREIGZABHIER Amanuel (NTT)
156 SOBRERO Matteo (NTT)
192 BERNARD Julien (TFS)
195 CONCI Nicola (TFS)
206 MCNULTY Brandon (UED)
130kms to go.
Thanks for redirecting
If Almeida isn't just completely cooked (and he looked it) he could make things interesting. Depends if he's managed to recover a bit.
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
I understand we now have to include the toodle from the coaches to the sign on.
Not that riders from other teams help each other mind.
Might suit the big Ineos diesel engines but will also favour the wheelsuckers as not very steep.