It’s been three years since Imola hosted the Giro d’Italia. In 2015, the 11th stage ran from Forlì to the town on the river Santerno. In fact, it was a hilly race with a finish on the famous car-circuit Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. The stage concluded with three laps of 16.9 kilometres, all taking in the Tre Monti, a 4.3 kilometres climb at 4.2%.
In 2015, Ilnur Zakarin took the stage win. He outperformed a breakaway with Steven Kruijswijk, Beñat Intxausti, Ryder Hesjedal, Diego Rosa and Carlos Betancur and eventually soloed to victory.
The finale of stage 12 in the 2018 Giro d’Italia is played out on the same circuit, and also features the Tre Monti climb. Yet, the route will be not be as hilly as three years ago, so fast men will be eyeing up this one. The toughest climb of the day wil be the aforementioned Tre Monti. But instead of three times over the top as in 2015 the Tre Monti is included only once. At the top it’s 7.6 kilometres remaining, mostly downhill.
Following the start in Osimo the riders travel to coastal town Ancona. Along the Adriatic Sea the route continues north until Rimini, where Italian hero Marco Pantani died in 2004, only 34 years of age. The route turns inland and after 30 kilometres the Giro moves through Cesena, where Il Pirata was born. With 193 kilometres done the riders pass the line on the race circuit of Imola.
The first three riders on the line win time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the last of two intermediate sprints (at kilometre 102.1 and at kilometre 162.0) comes with 3, 2 and 1 seconds.
Read also: results/race report 12th stage 2018 Giro d’Italia.
Giro d’Italia 2018 stage 12: Route maps, height profiles, and more
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