Giro 2019, Stage 16: Lovere - Ponte di Legno 194 km *Spoilers*

blazing_saddles
blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
edited June 2019 in Pro race
Stage 16: Lovere - Ponte di Legno 194kms *****
Tuesday, May 28th

START TIME: 11.40 CEST

FINISH TIME: ~17.15 CEST


Tuesday 28 May - Originally, the 16th stage on the Giro would have tackled the illustrious duo Gavia/Mortirolo, but the first climb is remove due to an avalanche threat. The start remains in Lovere though, while the new route amounts to 194 kilometres. The finish lies at the end of a false flat of 16 kilometres in Ponte di Legno.

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Due to an avalanche threat the Gavia has been removed from the original route. The Passo Manghen – at 2,047 metres and included on stage 20 – will be the new Cima Coppi. The new route of the 16th stage features 4,800 metres of climbing.
The stage start's uphill at Lovere, then negotiates the passes over the Presolana and the Croce di Salven. The route then follows the Val Camonica as far as the town of Cedegolo, where the Cevo, a climb new to the Giro d'Italia d'Italia, begins. At Edolo the route turns towards the Aprica via Santicolo. The descent to Tirano is followed by the Adda valley as far as Mazzo di Valtellina, where the riders embark on the Mortirolo on the classic side with gradients of up to 18%. After the descent to Monno, the route rises for the final 15 km on shallow gradients (3-4%) to the finish line.

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So, with the Gavia no longer included in the stage, the spotlight falls upon the RCS's re-routing and replacement climbs.
The Cevo is a new climb to the Giro, which is kind of understandable, given it's statistics and the alternatives in the area.
It has an extremely steady and unspectacular gradient, constantly hovering around the 6% mark and with just one km exceeding 7%.

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Next up needs little introduction, being the long shallow drag up to Aprica. But for a single, short ramp, early on, gradients are mostly around 3%. Best remembered for Basso's 2006 demolishing of the field (although after Mortirolo) and Gilberto Simoni's post stage ET comment.

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The race descends to the valley of the Adda river to tackle the Passo di Mortirolo. Located at 1,854 meters, the pass was a dust road until 1990, but when it was paved at last the pass became stuff for legends in an instant. The route takes in the ascent from Mazzo, which is the toughest side: 12.8 kilometres and an average gradient of 10.1%. Four kilometres up the climb and the riders tackle ramps up to 18%. It is part of the section between kilometre 3.5 to kilometre 9.7, which is averaging a brutal 12%. The Mortirolo is ruthless without one moment of rest.

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The riders descend into the valley to head to Ponte di Legno on a section of 15 kilometres with shallow gradients.
That prolonged false flat is going to hurt after such hard climb.
Final kilometres The final kilometres in urban Ponte di Legno are played out on narrower roads, with many 90-degree bends leading into wider avenues, heading for the finish. The home straight (300 m) is on 6 m wide asphalt road.

G19_T16_PonteDiLegno_ukm.jpg

Favourites 16th stage 2019 Giro d’Italia
*** Mikel Landa, Richard Carapaz, Simon Yates
** Miguel Ángel López, Ilnur Zakarin, Vincenzo Nibali
* Primoz Roglic, Fausto Masnada, Giulio Ciccone


LOVERE
Inhabitants: 5200

Located on the splendid western shore of Lake Iseo, since 2003 Lovere has been included in the prestigious club of “The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy” thanks to its considerable well-preserved artistic and cultural heritage. It was once described by the English writer Lady Wortley Montagu as “the most beautifully romantic place I have ever seen in my life”. The small town is rich in history and has a certain fascination that over the years has made it one of the most renowned and highly thought of lake resorts in Lombardy. Lovere’s most popular tourist attractions are the 15th century St. Mary’s Basilica in Valvendra, the Gallery of the Tadini Academy rich in work of arts such as the “Stele Tadini” and the “Religione” by Antonio Canova, the imposing Civic Tower with its interior impressive ascent, the Saints Gerosa and Capitanio’s Sanctuary and the marina, among the largest and most modern port structures on a European lake.
Nestled between the lake and the mountains, the town looks like a large amphitheatre with splendid palaces built with good taste and perfect architectural sense. Among these, the most important is undoubtedly the building that houses the Tadini Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts (1821-1826), in which there are some important works by Antonio Canova: the rare terracotta sketch of Religion and the Stele Tadini, among the latest and most beautiful works of this great sculptor.

Lovere6.jpg

The old town is remarkable and well preserved. Starting from Piazza Tredici Martiri, the most beautiful of the Lombardy lake squares, and crossing the district of “beccarie”, you will reach Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II with the imposing Civic Tower, which recently underwent redevelopment involving the creation of an inside path leading to the top to discover the history of the town and enjoy stunning views of Lovere and the lake from the top. The medieval fortifications still visible in the village include the Soca Tower (sec. XIII-XIV), the Tower of Alghisi (sec. XII-XIII) and the Torricella of the ancient walls. Continuing the climb you’ll arrive at the Church of Saint George (late fourteenth century). In addition, the deserve a mention the monastery of Santa Chiara and the Sanctuary of the Saints Capitanio and Gerosa, destination of many pilgrimages.
The splendid 14th century Basilica of Santa Maria in Valvendra is also located within the Renaissance village. The new Cornasola marina, the largest of the lake, with its modern facilities, provides the perfect and most memorable backdrop to enjoy splendid outdoor activities including swimming, windsurfing, rowing, sailing and canoeing immersed in nature.

GASTRONOMY

Lovere and its surroundings offer typical products for all tastes: from local cheeses to olive oil produced from sun-kissed local hills, from “casunsei” (Bergamo ravioli served with melted butter and sage) to the excellent lake fish (trout, whitefish, bleak, pike and tench) and polenta, served hot or grilled, but always strictly yellow. Here, polenta has a historical record: a captain of fortune returned from the Americas, Pietro Gajoncelli, was the first man who cultivated corn at the beginning of 17th century. He sowed in his field some grains of corn that multiplied so much that it became a widespread cultivation in the territory, that’s why the people of Lovere, since then, are called “pulentì”. The dessert, prepared with cornflour, is the Cake of Lovere.

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PONTE DI LEGNO
Inhabitants 1,729

Ponte di Legno is a small jewel set among imposing mountains of great charm in all seasons. The name of the village – located in Lombardy, in the upper Valle Camonica (province of Brescia), on the border with Trentino Alto Adige – recalls Winter to many people, perhaps because it was first mentioned in 1912 by the Italian Touring Club which described it as “The first Italian resort for tourism and Winter sports “. On September 27, 1917 the village was bombarded by Austrian cannons and razed to the ground in a short time.

ponte-di-legno.jpg

In Summer, Ponte di Legno offers a great deal to road bikers, thanks to the historic exploits of cyclists who have consecrated the names of Passo Gavia and Passo Mortirolo to history. It all started in 1960 with Imerio Massignan who was the protagonist of the first ascent to Passo Gavia, he was the first to ride across the Passo but he lost the stage due to three punctures. This is how the legend of this beloved Passo was born.

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

  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    Shame about the redesigned course. I expect Emanuele Sella fancied his chances on the original profile.
    "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
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Shame about the redesigned course. I expect Emanuele Sella fancied his chances on the original profile.

    Basso.

    Though il Falco has a decent shout if he can hang on. After all, basso doesn’t go down well
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Shame about the redesigned course. I expect Emanuele Sella fancied his chances on the original profile.

    Basso.

    Though il Falco has a decent shout if he can hang on. After all, basso doesn’t go down well

    I was thinking a few days ago that for all the "oooh, Nibs downhill" stuff, he's no il Falco, is he?
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    No but which other GC contender has been ?
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,892
    Rode the Gavia/Mortirolo combo in a sportive a few years ago. The Gavia was a spectacular climb, but the Mortirolo. Oof. No view, no respite, seemingly no air as the forest asphyxiates you as you crawl up the narrow track. Without doubt the hardest 90 minutes I've ever had on a bike.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    No but which other GC contender has been ?
    Samuel Sanchez had a good reputation,although I'm unconvinced it was deserved
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Lovere and its surroundings offer typical products for all tastes ....
    Lovere is well known (to aspiring chefs) as a location offering lots of ccoking courses for those wanting to learn about Italian food culture. My family includes a reknowned chef who in his apprenticeship went and loved it there (both course and location).

    Iseo Lake (Lovere is just about on the lakeside) is where a couple of years ago the 'wrap-artist' Christo installed floating walkways so anyone could walk completely across the lake.

    Despite what Lady Wortley Montagu advertised in her remark (mentioned by Blazing Saddles), the lake and the whole surrounding area has remained a slightly secret destination, not a big foreign tourist location - at least until now. I hope things don't change too much after BS's exultation of the area!
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,312
    Doubt Savoldelli was so much better than Nibali or Mohoric. The gap between him and the others was probably just bigger. People tend to get better at stuff and learn from previous generations as time goes on.
    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,892
    For some reason I kinda imagined this final week to be more hilly than this, especially given the distinct lack of any hills until they got to Torino on stage 13. Instead of hills every day, it's basically today and the penultimate stage and that's it. Must be one of the flatter Giros of recent times?
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    RichN95 wrote:
    No but which other GC contender has been ?
    Samuel Sanchez had a good reputation,although I'm unconvinced it was deserved

    He did win an outstanding stage in the Vuelta through some bonkers descending. Couldn’t tell you which one.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    phreak wrote:
    Rode the Gavia/Mortirolo combo in a sportive a few years ago. The Gavia was a spectacular climb, but the Mortirolo. Oof. No view, no respite, seemingly no air as the forest asphyxiates you as you crawl up the narrow track. Without doubt the hardest 90 minutes I've ever had on a bike.

    Fair play for riding that combo. Oof.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    I can’t get over Pantani riding and winning on this on 42x23.

    Today Roglic is on 36x32
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,892
    phreak wrote:
    Rode the Gavia/Mortirolo combo in a sportive a few years ago. The Gavia was a spectacular climb, but the Mortirolo. Oof. No view, no respite, seemingly no air as the forest asphyxiates you as you crawl up the narrow track. Without doubt the hardest 90 minutes I've ever had on a bike.

    Fair play for riding that combo. Oof.

    It was very hot that day as well, and quite remarkable in that it had a feed station half way up for drink as well as at the bottom and top, which is perhaps indicative of how long people were taking to get up it. Try and do some of the hill climb events each autumn, and the middle section of the Mortirolo is a similar gradient but for like 8km rather than < 1. I like climbing, but that really was horrible.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    I can’t get over Pantani riding and winning on this on 42x23.

    Today Roglic is on 36x32
    I did it on a triple 30 X 28 iirc. I suspect phreak beat me. I didn't do the gavia first
    "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: 16,646
    M.R.M. wrote:
    Doubt Savoldelli was so much better than Nibali or Mohoric. The gap between him and the others was probably just bigger. People tend to get better at stuff and learn from previous generations as time goes on.
    +1 Descending at a reasonable level is now mandatory. Everyone is better. You still see riders losing confidence and their line goes to s4it. Happens to the best of us at times
    "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
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    phreak wrote:
    For some reason I kinda imagined this final week to be more hilly than this, especially given the distinct lack of any hills until they got to Torino on stage 13. Instead of hills every day, it's basically today and the penultimate stage and that's it. Must be one of the flatter Giros of recent times?

    With now both stages having to have big climbs taken out due to problems.
    Although they have made a better fist of Saturday's finish, replacing the full mtf, with two shorter climbs.
    There is a short section of tomorrow's finish that has a decent gradient and the last 11kms of stage 19 average just over 6%, but yeah, that's about it.

    Still, I think they might have struggled to cross the Gavia, as one Sunday run found out.

    D7isQnnU8AEeUue.jpg
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,892
    M.R.M. wrote:
    Doubt Savoldelli was so much better than Nibali or Mohoric. The gap between him and the others was probably just bigger. People tend to get better at stuff and learn from previous generations as time goes on.
    +1 Descending at a reasonable level is now mandatory. Everyone is better. You still see riders losing confidence and their line goes to s4it. Happens to the best of us at times

    I sometimes think we overlook just how good the pros are at descending. Like we accept they're much quicker than us going up, but assume we can match them on the descent. I've done the Maratona a few times now and they have Strava segments for most of the downhill sections. I'm no great shakes going down, but a guy in our party is pretty fearless and matches the best in the event going down, yet you compare his times to Nibali et al and he's still ~20% slower.
    I can’t get over Pantani riding and winning on this on 42x23.

    Today Roglic is on 36x32
    I did it on a triple 30 X 28 iirc. I suspect phreak beat me. I didn't do the gavia first

    36x28 I think was my ratio, which in hindsight was far too low. If you're going up it at 10km/hr you're doing very well, so I dare say most of us would need a very small gear to maintain a reasonable cadence at such a speed. Even a 32 tooth on the back would see most of us going up at 60-70 rpm I suspect, which is hard for that length of time.
  • phreak wrote:
    For some reason I kinda imagined this final week to be more hilly than this, especially given the distinct lack of any hills until they got to Torino on stage 13. Instead of hills every day, it's basically today and the penultimate stage and that's it. Must be one of the flatter Giros of recent times?
    I'm sure I'd read somewhere that it was actually one of the hillier versions of recent years, albeit back ended into this final week. Although now they've had to change a couple of stages I guess that may no longer apply.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Couldn't decide between Yates and Carapaz for PTP... Went Yates as he has a bit more leeway, if he goes he might not be marked so hard...
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    phreak wrote:
    For some reason I kinda imagined this final week to be more hilly than this, especially given the distinct lack of any hills until they got to Torino on stage 13. Instead of hills every day, it's basically today and the penultimate stage and that's it. Must be one of the flatter Giros of recent times?
    I'm sure I'd read somewhere that it was actually one of the hillier versions of recent years, albeit back ended into this final week. Although now they've had to change a couple of stages I guess that may no longer apply.
    This stage is still pretty hilly!
  • phreak
    phreak Posts: 2,892
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    Couldn't decide between Yates and Carapaz for PTP... Went Yates as he has a bit more leeway, if he goes he might not be marked so hard...

    The key is having people in the break to help once you descend off the Mortirolo. It's hard to imagine them letting Movistar get people into the break, and I'm not sure MS have anyone good enough to get over the Mortirolo and have enough gas to provide meaningful support to Yates for the rest of the stage.

    It's worth remembering that in both 2015 and 2010 they finished on the climb to Aprica after the Mortirolo, so you could have a select group go clear on the Mortirolo and then duke it out on a climb that was still selective. The drag to Ponte di Legno won't be selective at all I don't think.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,132
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    phreak wrote:
    For some reason I kinda imagined this final week to be more hilly than this, especially given the distinct lack of any hills until they got to Torino on stage 13. Instead of hills every day, it's basically today and the penultimate stage and that's it. Must be one of the flatter Giros of recent times?
    I'm sure I'd read somewhere that it was actually one of the hillier versions of recent years, albeit back ended into this final week. Although now they've had to change a couple of stages I guess that may no longer apply.
    This stage is still pretty hilly!

    Also, Sunday's stage didn't look very hilly on the profile but still ended up being selective. There's a lot of wearing down over the next few days before they get to the big Dolomites stage on Saturday.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,243
    Break of the day
    1
    1#2AMADOR Andrey +50:28
    2#12BIDARD François +59:40
    3#23CATTANEO Mattia +37:21
    4#26MASNADA Fausto +26:53
    5#32BILBAO Pello +51:47
    6#35HIRT Jan +47:30
    7#37VILLELLA Davide +1:21:01
    8#44CARUSO Damiano +42:52
    9#47NIBALI Antonio +2:01:31
    10#67SCHWARZMANN Michael +2:40:51
    11#76OWSIAN Łukasz +1:41:26
    12#78VENTOSO Francisco José +2:01:35
    13#83HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich +2:47:51
    14#94BROWN Nathan +2:05:46
    15#97DOMBROWSKI Joe +14:52
    16#137JUUL-JENSEN Christopher +1:41:50
    17#138NIEVE Mikel +23:28
    18#172BOUWMAN Koen +1:16:42
    19#195HINDLEY Jai +1:16:07
    20#203CICCONE Giulio +25:37
    21#218ULISSI Diego +1:11:05


    Nieve, Amador & Caruso....
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Nibali ;)

    Joe Dom riding well at the moment as well
  • Alejandrosdog
    Alejandrosdog Posts: 1,975
    so is this one going to be worth watching?
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 16,646
    Bahrain Merida look pretty dangerous if they get Caruso over the mototiolo from the break and nibali gets away on the descent. It's wet I believe?.
    "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: 16,646
    Wiggins being entertaining and ranting about jumbo
    "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
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    Sir Brad and BS currently lambasting the Jumbo management for the way in which they dealt with Roglic's mechanical, with Wiggins pointing out that this would never happen at Team Sky/Ineos. Something that I mentioned elsewhere.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    Gallopin and Bagioli have abandoned the race
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,137
    Sir Brad and BS currently lambasting the Jumbo management for the way in which they dealt with Roglic's mechanical, with Wiggins pointing out that this would never happen at Team Sky/Ineos. Something that I mentioned elsewhere.
    Although there have been a couple of issues like this at Sky - Porte needing a wheel from Simon Clarke and Froome needing to take an illegal feed due to car troubles
    Twitter: @RichN95