Whereas just the one climb yesterday created difficulties for most of the GC guys not named Contador or Hesjedal, there will be three climbs into the stage final today, which should provide the basis for some more exciting racing.
The Course
Going off the Giro's mantra of varying the challenges, riders will have a long, flat run into the final three climbs where the stage will be decided. Long in particular is the word, with the stage a formidable 236 kms long, which means that fatigue will play a huge factor, especially with all the racing that has gone on before. St Barthelemy (16.5 kms, 6.7%) is the first climb summitting with 79 kms to go, and the descent from there leads directly to the base of the St Pantaleon (16.5 kms, 7.2%) which is the hardest climb of the day. A sharp descent from the summit again leads directly to the foot of the next ascent, the Cervinia (19.2 kms, 5%) which is where the stage finish is located.
It's going to be some poor weather for the cyclists today, likely to be rainy and quite cold.
Going off the Giro's mantra of varying the challenges, riders will have a long, flat run into the final three climbs where the stage will be decided. Long in particular is the word, with the stage a formidable 236 kms long, which means that fatigue will play a huge factor, especially with all the racing that has gone on before. St Barthelemy (16.5 kms, 6.7%) is the first climb summitting with 79 kms to go, and the descent from there leads directly to the base of the St Pantaleon (16.5 kms, 7.2%) which is the hardest climb of the day. A sharp descent from the summit again leads directly to the foot of the next ascent, the Cervinia (19.2 kms, 5%) which is where the stage finish is located.
It's going to be some poor weather for the cyclists today, likely to be rainy and quite cold.
The Tactics
Astana seems to be heavily invested into going for stage victories and they will probably commit to controlling the composition of the break and then bringing it back so that Landa or Aru can go for the win. Where they decide to make their initial attack is yet to be seen, but you would think that their GC ambitions are stable at this stage, and rather than attacking Contador, they will be looking purely at the strategy that gets them the best chance of a stage victory. I think they'll probably go with their normal whittling down tactics, and play the one-two punch with Landa and Aru at the end. The other riders will probably have to pre-empt the attacks of Astana if they want to join, as they have looked a deal stronger than the riders not named Contador.
Astana seems to be heavily invested into going for stage victories and they will probably commit to controlling the composition of the break and then bringing it back so that Landa or Aru can go for the win. Where they decide to make their initial attack is yet to be seen, but you would think that their GC ambitions are stable at this stage, and rather than attacking Contador, they will be looking purely at the strategy that gets them the best chance of a stage victory. I think they'll probably go with their normal whittling down tactics, and play the one-two punch with Landa and Aru at the end. The other riders will probably have to pre-empt the attacks of Astana if they want to join, as they have looked a deal stronger than the riders not named Contador.
The Contenders
Alberto Contador showed his supremacy at the top of the standings by
Alberto Contador showed his supremacy at the top of the standings by