Giro d'Italia Stage 16 – May 27th, Ponte di Legno-Val Martello **Unmasked Spoilers**

Stage 16 – Tuesday May 27th, Ponte di Legno - Val Martello/Martelltal 139km (*****)

It's the Queen stage of this Giro... let's hope the weather doesn't ruin it (like last year)!

The peloton tackles the Passo Gavio after just 5km, and it's 17.6km long with an average gradient of 7.7%. Anybody targeting the KOM jersey will attack on this climb. Plus some of the GC teams will try and get one of their riders in the breakaway to try and help their team leaders later on in the day. So it should be a very frantic start!

Following a technical descent, next up is the infamous Stelvio. The summit of the Stelvio is the highest point of the 2014 Giro, and there are a whopping 40 KOM points on offer. The ascent from the Bormio side is 21.9km in length, at an average gradient of 7.12%, and a maximum of 14%, albeit only for a short section of road. When the riders reach the summit, the descent that follows is 25km long, containing an amazing 48 hairpin bends.

The final climb of the day to Val Martello may only have an average gradient of 6.4%, but there are plenty of sections that ramp up and over 10%. The final couple of kilometres are very steep, so if the GC guys are still together, big time gaps could still emerge between here and the finishing line.

This stage should suit Quintana and Pozzovivo down to the ground. The Colombian has been improving as the race has gone on, but the cold temperatures might prevent him from attacking earlier than he would like. Meanwhile Pozzovivo showed his first sign of weakness on the climb to Montecampione on Sunday, but the climbs today should suit him better. I don't think Uran will lose much time in this stage. He's been super strong so far, and he should have plenty of help from the likes of Wout Poels in the latter part of the stage. The rider that might suffer the most in this stage is Cadel Evans. He can't keep up with the likes of Quintana and Pozzovivo when they attack, but he has immense ability to claw back the gaps that they create. There are so many other questions to be answered... has Fabio Aru recovered from his win on Sunday? Can Rafal Majka keep up his impressive form? How many Orica-GreenEdge riders will finish?


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See post #2

Passo di Gavio:



Passo dello Stelvio:



Val Martello Martelltal:



Last kms:



Weather - Ponte di Legno: Rain and perhaps a thunderstorm in the afternoon. High 14C. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 kph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around 6mm. Val Martello: Rain, 1.8 - 5mm. Temperature of 3C. Light air.

Stage Betting: Nairo Quintana 7/4; Fabio Aru 7/1; Julian Arredondo 11/1; Domenico Pozzovivo 11/1; Fabio Duarte 11/1.

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