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BMC Racing’s Philippe Gilbert proved the strongest on the Category 4 rated climb of the Monte Berico as he powered away from his rivals on the steep ascent to finish three seconds ahead of Alberto Contador and Diego Ulissi.
Stage 16 Results – Top 10:
01. Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing Team
02. Alberto Contador of Tinkoff – Saxo
03. Diego Ulissi of Lampre – Merida
04. Simon Geschke of Giant – Alpecin
05. Enrico Battaglin of Bardiani – CSF
06. Paolo Tiralongo of Astana Pro Team
07. Ion Izagirre of Team Movistar
08. Carlos Betancur of AG2R Le Mondiale
09. Jurgen Van den Broeck of Lotto – Soudal
10. Mikel Landa of Astana Pro Team
The 2015 Giro d’Italia has already seen its fair share of dramatic breakaway victories, so will the break also snatch Stage 12 out from under the peloton’s noses? Join The Roar for live coverage from 10:30pm (AEST) to find out.
Embarking on a 190-kilometre journey from Imola to Vicenza, the stage can be divided in to two distinct and separate sections.
First up is an easy, flat 130-kilometre stretch through the Po Valley, then the terrain undulates for the remaining 60 kilometres.
The peloton will ascend three climbs, two categorised and one uncategorised, before finishing on the Category 4 rated Monte Berico. Relatively short hills compared to some of the Dolomite giants still to come, these will be punchy ascents that challenge even the likes of Alberto Contador due to their steep gradients.
Beginning with the Category 4 rated Castelnuovo, 130 kilometres in to the stage, the climbs will only become harder. Officially the longest of today’s climbs at 5350 metres, the Castelnuovo’s average gradient of 5 per cent disguises several tough sections with gradients of up to 11 per cent.
Lasting for approximately 12 kilometres, the deceptive, undulating descent which follows disguises a mid-descent ascent to Rovolon. After the descent the journey to the foot of the Category 3 rated Crosara continues along a short, approximately 12 kilometre long, pizza-pan flat section.
Beginning 159.4 kilometres in, the ascent of the Crosara is the second longest of today’s climbs at 3700 metres in length. Climbing the Crosara will force some splits in the peloton early on with an average gradient of 12.7 per cent in the first 2500 metres, with some sections as high as an agonising 17 per cent. The final 1200 metres is a more tolerable average of 5.5 per cent, giving the climb as a whole an average grade of 9.1 per cent.
The succeeding 7.4 kilometre-long descent and 3.8 kilometre-long flat section will deliver the riders to the foot of the uncategorised Perarolo climb. Even shorter than the Crosara, the Perarolo’s slope measures 2850 metres at an average gradient of 7 per cent. However, outside a short beginning sector of 4.6 per cent and short sector near the summit of 2.6 per cent, the rest of the climb actually hovers around 8 per cent in gradient, with some spots maxing out at 11 per cent.
After cresting the summit of the Perarolo just 12.8 kilometres of the stage remain, a demanding descent lasting roughly 6-7 kilometres is followed by a flat section of roughly 4-5 kilometres, bringing the riders to the beginning of the Santuario Monte Berico.
The punchiest of today’s climbs at a length of just 1200 metres, the finish on the Monte Berico will be very demanding. Featuring an average grade of 7.1 per cent and a maximum gradient of over 11 per cent, the majority of the final 1000 metres will be at gradients of around 8 per cent or above. With a second continuous day of rain forecast to dog the Giro, tire traction could play an interesting role during the ascent.
With the teams in the peloton clearly either unwilling or unable to cooperate with each other to catch the breakaway before the finishing line even on days where multiple teams have vested interested, today is another day for the break. The nature of the finish means that whoever wins today’s stage will either need to have a sizeable time gap or be either an explosive puncheur or climber.
Despite the tough nature of the finish a number of pseudo-sprinters, riders who can sprint on flatter stages but can obviously climb as well, and puncheurs are being bandied about as favourites. The favourites are Michael Matthews of Orica-GreenEDGE, Juan Jose Lobato of Team Movistar, Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing, Diego Ulissi of Lampre-Merida, Tom-Jelte Slagter of Cannondale-Garmin, and Carlos Betancur of AG2R Le Mondiale.
In the favour of the peloton catching the breakaway will be a forecast 18-23 kilometre per hour headwind, with the chance of precipitation at 70 per cent. However, given some of the stages the peloton have managed to carelessly throw away to the breakaway lately, nothing is assured.
With the general classification contenders still looking to test each other, the likes of Diego Ulissi might have some high-flying GC riders competing for the stage, if the breakaway doesn’t go all the way again.
While Astana’s Fabio Aru and Mikel Landa would ideally like more time ahead of the individual time trial the joker in the pack could be Alberto Contador – aggressive racing is a Contador trait when he is on form.
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