Stage 18 in the 2017 Giro d’Italia. This means we are halfway the series of five mountain stages of the last week. Once again the riders face a series of climbs with illustrious names. In succession, Passo Pordoi, Passo Valparola and Passo Gardena before the route continues via Passo di Pinei to the ultimate climb up to Ortisei aan te vangen. Unlike the past few days, stage 18 is a short ride so we can expect fireworks to detonate early on in a furious race.
The Pordoi, Valparola and Gardena will do the demolition work in the first 85 kilometres. Then the riders descend in almost 40 kilometres to Ponte Gardena, although the downhill pleasure is disturbed by the intermediate climb up Passo di Pinei – an irregular ascent of 4.2 kilometres with steepest ramps up to 15%.
The closing climb is a devious thing. The distance is 9.3 kilometres and the lower slopes look friendly enough with gradient of 4% going up to 6% later on. The cunning section is in the last 3 kilometres of the actual climb. Averaging 9.3%, it’s easy to picture thoroughbred climber Quintana riding away from the field. If he does, he has to reckon with the fact that the 9.3 section continues onto a 3 kilometres false flat before 1 kilometre at 6.2% ushers in the last 500 metres on cobbles.
Favourites stage 18 Giro d’Italia 2017
*** Nairo Quintana, Tom Dumoulin, Adam Yates, Domenico Pozzovivo
** Mikel Landa, Steven Kruijswijk, Vincenzo Nibali, Bauke Mollema
* Ilnur Zakarin, Rui Costa, Davide Formolo, Thibaut Pinot, Jan Polanc
Giro 2017 stage 18: Route maps, height profiles, and more
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Climb details Passo Pordoi
Climb details Passo Valparola
Climb details Passo Gardena
Climb details Passo di Pinei
It was a transition stage yesterday. But today Nairo is going to get the pink jersey back and keep it til the end. Looking forward to today’s stage!