Giro 2021:- Stage 7: Notaresco – Termoli 181 km **Spoilers**

blazing_saddles
blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
Stage 7: Notaresco – Termoli 181 km

Friday, May 14th, 12.50 CEST




The riders travel from Notaresco to Termoli, a small town on the southern Adriatic coast that’s famous for its beaches, fortifications and narrow streets.
A flat start, then a hilly middle to the stage with a flat finale. After a short stretch in the hinterland, the route follows the Adriatic coast up to Chieti (KOM). A brace of bends and undulations then leads back onto the coast, all the way to Termoli.



The Catagorised Climb:



Final kilometres
The last 3 km are raced on urban roads. After leaving the coastal road, the route takes in a 200 m kick with 10-12% gradients, and then continues on a slight incline all the way to the finish. The route takes in a few sharp bends, and narrows briefly at the ‑800 m mark, eventually merging onto the home straight on tarmac road.





What to expect:
With the hardest climbs in the first part of the stage, around Chieti, with more than 100 kilometres remaining, a sprint finish is the most probable outcome in a race. With only the single climb counting in the KoM competition, expect there to be a modest breakaway.
However, an uphill kick of 12% appears inside the last 2 kilometres, which will surely stir up a chancer or two, who will try to upset the sprint outcome.

Favourites 7th stage 2021 Giro d’Italia
*** Caleb Ewan, Giacomo Nizzolo, Peter Sagan
** Rémi Cavagna, Diego Ulissi, Patrick Bevin, Fernando Gaviria, Enrico Battaglin
* Davide Cimolai, Tim Merlier , Valerio Conti, Gianni Vermeersch, Andrea Pasqualon

Notaresco

Notaresco is a town and comune in the Teramo province in the Abruzzo region of eastern central Italy. It has population of just under 3000. The layout of the town is typical of a medieval settlement which includes thick city walls accompanied by high and narrow windows.



Termoli

Termoli is the main coastal town in Molise. It stretches over ten kilometres of coastline and is undeniably one of the key urban areas in the region thanks to its economy, which focuses on three core areas: tourism, industry and fishing. The town is home to about 33 000 people, and its main feature is the old quarter which looks out over the wide “Sant’Antonio” beach from the top of a fortified promontory.



One of the real reasons for visiting Termoli is undoubtedly its cuisine, typically based around seafood. These are some typical dishes: “Pappone”, a frugal dish made with the fish that remained unsold after the fishing boats returned to the port, the fishermen would share out what was left and take their portion home (this helping was called “scaffetta”). Pappone is made with boneless fish and bread which isn’t too fresh, the fish used can include skate, mantis shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, monkfish, sea snails, octopus, poor cod and whatever fish heads are available, all cooked up with tomato, garlic, onion and green peppers.



“U scescill”, another recipe that harks back to days gone by: oval balls made of eggs, cheese and stale bread, cooked in a tomato sauce. “Secce e pesille” (cuttlefish and peas) is a speciality, as is “Polpi in purgatorio” which is octopus prepared with onions, hot chilli pepper, parsley and extra virgin olive oil (literally “octopus in hell”!),



and finally, “Triglie alla Ngorda” (gluttonous mullet!), red mullet cooked with breadcrumbs, oil, garlic and salt.








"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
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Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,547
    That octopus dish looks like a plate of worms!
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,547

    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?

    Could be carnage on the right hand bend just before it with everyone trying to get into position.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,205
    Pross said:

    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?

    Could be carnage on the right hand bend just before it with everyone trying to get into position.
    It's short and sharp, but yes, all the sprint teams will need to be at the front there, it's likely to be manic for the last 10km.

    If there's any wind coming off the sea, it will be crazy with the GC teams needing to be at the very front as well.

    Fun last hour, I reckon.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,679

    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?

    Well he got over the Poggio alright.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,547
    This is that corner into the climb at 1.5km to go, fairly tight and starts climbing as soon as they are into the side street. The apex of the bend doesn't look great unless they done a bit of work since September and if it's wet I don't fancy the drains. I assume this will be barriered off but that will make the corner tighter.






  • fleshtuxedo
    fleshtuxedo Posts: 1,858
    Weather luckily dry today otherwise the finish would be almost certain carnage
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,547
    I'm surprised how ugly these finishes are once off the actual beach front. Surely they can find something a bit prettier to showcase their town? I also don't understand why they don't just have the finish on the beach road, they created all the extra twists, turns and hazards to finish on a very bland avenue whilst the road by the beach is dead straight and at least attractive on one side.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,259

    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?

    Well he got over the Poggio alright.

    He's also won on Hatta Dam in UAE
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Ja it's not that long is it? More about positioning that much else.
  • davep1
    davep1 Posts: 837
    Should be some nice helicopter shots from Chieti to Crecchio, although I think it's a dead end in Crecchio itself, can't see the race going in the village. Crecchio was briefly the capital during the war; when the Italians surrendered, some of the Royal family fled Rom, crossed the mountains and stayed overnight in Crecchio before continuing on to Bari the next day.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,205
    It's intriguing that culinary delicacies are made using leftovers and stale stuff. Surely what it's left over from would be the delicacy?
  • davep1
    davep1 Posts: 837

    It's intriguing that culinary delicacies are made using leftovers and stale stuff. Surely what it's left over from would be the delicacy?

    Abruzzo is very traditional, they see themselves as maintaining good old traditions whilst the rich northerners are desperately trying to replace them with new fangled modern ideas. They can't understand shipping cherries or strawberries in from the other side of the world because they aren't in season, just eat what is in season! We've eaten in restaurants that don't have a menu, you get served what they have. Nothing wrong with making the most of everything. didn't think those food items were that typical of the stage, maybe local to the start and end towns.
  • huret
    huret Posts: 62
    Breakaway gone in first km, race situation static for the next 4 hours, turn telly off and get on with other stuff, feel for the commentators on days like this. :D
    Savoie between the Glandon and the Madeleine.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    So Pozzovivo has called it a day after going too deep, yesterday.
    Sounds like he really suffered in the conditions.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,205
    edited May 2021
    Only three in the breakaway, so maybe a half hearted sprint at 2:15 for the 5 points on offer to the peloton.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660

    It's intriguing that culinary delicacies are made using leftovers and stale stuff. Surely what it's left over from would be the delicacy?

    I could make a long post explaining this but basically the stuff it's left over from is usually stuff that ends up being eaten all over the world.

    Think about Burrata about 10 years ago. Everyone was eating Mozzarella, only Puglians were eating Burrata. Ergo, Burrata was the local delicacy.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,205
    I was thinking in this case it's probably just that a perfectly cooked piece of fish isn't going to be a local delicacy because it's a piece of fish and you aren't going to mess with it.

    What you do with the heads is more local.
  • jimmyjams
    jimmyjams Posts: 781

    So Pozzovivo has called it a day after going too deep, yesterday.
    Sounds like he really suffered in the conditions.

    He crashed early on yesterday too, that might be relevant.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    edited May 2021

    I was thinking in this case it's probably just that a perfectly cooked piece of fish isn't going to be a local delicacy because it's a piece of fish and you aren't going to mess with it.

    What you do with the heads is more local.

    A piece of very fresh fish doesn't take a lot of culinary imagination to get right.
    Leftovers lead to a lot more experimenting and when eventually the right recipe is stumbled upon, it gets the tag "creation" or "delicacy".
    The large Italian peasant population, living off the land had little option but to experiment.

    That's my theory anyhow.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909

    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?

    Hard to tell . If they are going fast no problem . Depends on how much speed is scrubbed off in the corner approaching it .. Google Street view time
    "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 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909
    RichN95. said:

    Do we think Ewan can survive that ramp?

    Well he got over the Poggio alright.

    He's also won on Hatta Dam in UAE
    Did he ? That's impressive
    "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 pm
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,205
    Don't think Sagan's going to have any problems with the finish today.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909
    "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 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909
    That's the entrance to.the corner
    "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 pm
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,205

    That's the entrance to.the corner

    You should read this thread :)
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909
    Looking back down the slope ..it's pretty short . If your out of position thou at the corner ... Could be a crash .36 Corso Mario Milano
    https://maps.app.goo.gl/StiHhcEDZo1qBhpGA
    "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 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909
    edited May 2021

    That's the entrance to.the corner

    You should read this thread :)
    I never read the back posts .. well i do sometimes ... But random paradrop posting is more my thing
    "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 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,909
    Lol ...
    "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 pm