With ‘all climbing’ we mean an elevation gain of almost 4,000 metres. Most of it is packed together in the last 90 kilometres of action. So you have to be a strong climber to cross the line in Cogne in first position.
The recipe for the breakaway is straightforward. Open up a proper gap on the flat run-up to the mountains and eliminating the competition one by one in the mountains. In order of appearance the ascents are 12.3 kilometres, 13.8 kilometres and 22.4 kilometres long, while the average gradients sit at 6.9%, 7.1% and 4.3%, respectively.
There is an intermediate sprint for time bonuses with 3 kilometres remaining, and obviously, there are 10, 6 and 4 seconds up for grabs at the finish line. This could be an incentive for the GC riders to go for it, but as said, we doubt it. A breakaway day in the high mountains is more likely, as far as Cyclingstage.com is concerned.
Favourites 15th stage 2022 Giro d’Italia
*** Bauke Mollema, Simon Yates, Giulio Ciccone, Wout Poels
** Davide Formolo, Lennard Kämna, Thymen Arensman, Alejandro Valverde
* Hugh Carthy, Lawson Craddock, Koen Bouwman, Rein Taaramäe, Anthony Perez
Another interesting read: route 15th stage 2022 Giro.