Giro Penultimate Stage - Finestre

Catabolic_Jones said:

Wow, quite the photo tour on Pez:

pezcyclingnews.compezcyclingnews.comOpen ↗

Pan down for the monster mud pit. Hopefully they can do something about that before the bikes and motorcade roll through.

It'll rip the dome off!

What were the organizers thinking?
A few weeks ago I think Van de Velde said he and some other teams were there and it was completely unpassable.
Still is rumor is.
How can you grade that without dumping a bunch of gravel.
Van de Velde said the other rumor was that that section might be left out.
So how do you get over the mountain and down the other side?
without going over the pass in the mud?

oh well

Should be fun, though! Roubaix goes uphill!

The 1910-1925 boys would be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought
of these conditions.
Wouldn't be a problem to them.

And they'd do it on their fixed machines !

limerickman said:

The 1910-1925 boys would be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought
of these conditions.
Wouldn't be a problem to them.

And they'd do it on their fixed machines !

I think in that spirit the organizers were just right.
All those fancy carbon super lite wheelsets will be for [censored] on that surface.
Folks will have to use sturdy wheels.

Should be fun

I can`t imagine how that will look! No, it`s not like Rubaix, because there are cobbles! That will be real retro stage!

heh heh, Jean-Marie Leblanc would never introduce a climb like this in a million years! 😎

No don't think so.......would be good for tv ratings etc, also part of the TDF-business!

Dead Star said:

heh heh, Jean-Marie Leblanc would never introduce a climb like this in a million years! 😎

hombredesubaru said:

What were the organizers thinking?
A few weeks ago I think Van de Velde said he and some other teams were there and it was completely unpassable.
Still is rumor is.
How can you grade that without dumping a bunch of gravel.
Van de Velde said the other rumor was that that section might be left out.
So how do you get over the mountain and down the other side?
without going over the pass in the mud?

oh well

The article is dated May 12th and refers to photos taken the week before. This means there are at least 3 weeks from date of photos to stage day, and possibly closer to 4 weeks. That's a lot of time during a time of year when the temperature rises quiet a bit higher. All it takes is a few warm days and steady breeze up there. It will dry it out like a blow dryer. I'd be surprised if it isn't in race shape by race day. The riders are probably a little nervous about it, understandably, because they can't ride it under the same conditions as race day yet. That's the way it goes.

It can also rain that day..

Virenque said:

It can also rain that day..

or snow!!! he he

ask Andy Hampsten or Bob--my heart was beating 15 beats a minute and my core temperature was 89 degrees --Roll. I had beers with Bob and Phil and Paul a few years back during the Giro and asked him. He said it was all true about turning blue and needing everything but CPR. hard core.
probably did brain dmage-no surprise to OLN viewers. love that guy.

Virenque said:

I can`t imagine how that will look! No, it`s not like Rubaix, because there are cobbles! That will be real retro stage!

Ah, but they're talking about chucking gravel down.

Yeah, I'd like to see those boys go up on fixies. 48x16 all the way. :eek:

Also the Stelvio...from velonews...

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana] Snow on the Stelvio?
The Giro d'Italia is slated to plow over the fabled Stelvio on Sunday for just the ninth time in race history.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]And plow could be the operative word, as there's a chance that snow might be in the offing. Forecasters are calling for cool, rainy conditions for much of the weekend in the Dolomites, with day-time temperatures nudging into the 50s.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]But at 2758 meters (9101 feet), rain tends to turn to snow, even in mid-May.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]According to live web cam feeds from the Stelvio summit, there's still plenty of snow left over from the long winter.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]The highest pass in Italy and the third-highest road in Europe, the Stelvio first made its Giro debut in 1953 (a year after Alpe d'Huez made its first appearance in the Tour de France). There have been some epic battles of the dramatic, twisting switchbacks, including Fausto Coppi dropping Hugo Koblet to win a stage to Bormio.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]In 1972, the great Eddy Merckx chugged over the Stelvio en route to the third of his five Giro titles while Bernhard Hinault attacked over the climb to secure the overall title in 1980.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]Since then, the Stelvio has only been raced once with the last occasion in the 1994 Giro. A planned passage in the 1988 Giro was cancelled after heavy snow blasted the Gavia, upon which Andy Hampsten endured the epic conditions to become the only American winner of the corsa rosa.[/font] [/font]

The only problem can be bad weather in next days. 3 more webcams..

Catabolic_Jones said:

Also the Stelvio...from velonews...

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana] Snow on the Stelvio?
The Giro d'Italia is slated to plow over the fabled Stelvio on Sunday for just the ninth time in race history.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]And plow could be the operative word, as there's a chance that snow might be in the offing. Forecasters are calling for cool, rainy conditions for much of the weekend in the Dolomites, with day-time temperatures nudging into the 50s.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]But at 2758 meters (9101 feet), rain tends to turn to snow, even in mid-May.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]According to live web cam feeds from the Stelvio summit, there's still plenty of snow left over from the long winter.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]The highest pass in Italy and the third-highest road in Europe, the Stelvio first made its Giro debut in 1953 (a year after Alpe d'Huez made its first appearance in the Tour de France). There have been some epic battles of the dramatic, twisting switchbacks, including Fausto Coppi dropping Hugo Koblet to win a stage to Bormio.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]In 1972, the great Eddy Merckx chugged over the Stelvio en route to the third of his five Giro titles while Bernhard Hinault attacked over the climb to secure the overall title in 1980.[/font] [/font]

[font=Verdana][font=Verdana]Since then, the Stelvio has only been raced once with the last occasion in the 1994 Giro. A planned passage in the 1988 Giro was cancelled after heavy snow blasted the Gavia, upon which Andy Hampsten endured the epic conditions to become the only American winner of the corsa rosa.[/font] [/font]

It's going to be fascinating viewing.
Today's stage (11) height was 5,000 ft : Sundays is 9,000ft.
Can't wait to see it.

And Saturday`s route is very beautiful too. Definetly good cycling weekend is before us!🙂

Wow! That's amazing. I doubt they'll be able to use their super-lightweight climbing wheels on that one. Should be interesting!

If the weather forecast holds, I don't think this stage will go to the rider with the best fitness; I think it'll go to the toughest climber.

Catabolic_Jones said:

If the weather forecast holds, I don't think this stage will go to the rider with the best fitness; I think it'll go to the toughest climber.

Great to see how they handle it. May be a return to carrying a pump and spare tubs.

Maybe they will carry something practical. Remember last year`s Tour when Voigt was in the break and he had a small bag under his seat! I still don`t know why and what was in it.