Giro 2018 stage 14:S.Vito Tagliamento-Monte Zoncolan 186km

Inquitus

Shamelessly lifted from here

May 19th




Technical Overview:
The penultimate weekend opens with the stage some might consider the queen stage of this year. It is not, mind you, but the Zoncolan always takes the spotlight on the media and in the riders' minds. For this reason, having it at the beginning of the mountain block is by far the best placement for the race as a whole. I'm quite happy with that, despite not liking an MTF on the Zoncolan, on general terms.
Furthermore, the stage itself is quite demanding for a stage 14. Starting from the town of S.Vito, the riders will head north towards the mountains, following upstream the Tagliamento river, with only a few deviations to tackle small but steep climbs. The first is Monte di Ragogna (GPM3, 2.8 km at 10.2%), which will perfectly get the riders in the mood for what's to come, and it will probably determine the composition of the breakaway. After this climb comes the first intermediate sprint, in Forgaria del Friuli, on top of a short uphill drag. With the breakaway already formed, the riders will have a long, relaxing flat stretch, before climbing towards the town of Verzegnis, around 4 km at 5%, which leads to the second categorized climb of the day, Avaglio (GPM3, 4.6 km at 7%). Although the numbers are not impressive here, keep in mind that it features a central ramp of 1.5 km at 13% average (max 15%). After the descent, the riders could just head north to Ovaro and be done with all this. But that would be lame. Instead, they will head east, and make a long counter-clockwise loop to reach Ovaro from the north. The first part of this loop is just a long, gentle false flat on the valley until the second intermediate sprint of the day, in Paularo. There starts the third climb of this stage: Passo Duron (GPM2, 4.4 km at 9.6%) has its toughest ramps (18%) at the very beginning, but even if it gets progressively easier, it always remains very steep. After its descent the peloton will immediately find another climb, Sella Valcalda (GPM3, 7.6 km at 5.6%), at the top of which we, cycling fans, will salute Monte Crostis on the right side (2011 never forget), while the peloton will instead turn left towards Ovaro and the last climb of the day. The famous Monte Zoncolan (GPM1, 10.1 km at 11.9%) is widely considered the hardest climb in professional cycling (or at least, within the GTs), together with Angliru. Its super steep and narrow ramps will in all likelihood decide the winner.

Final km



The Climbs:
Monte di Ragogna (GPM3, 2.8 km at 10.2%)
Short, but very steep, and on narrow roads.


Avaglio (GPM3, 4.6 km at 7%)
The 13% will hurt, but sadly it's way too far from the finish to have any impact.


Passo Duron (GPM2, 4.4 km at 9.6%)
Another super-steep climb. Was featured in the 2010 Giro, that had exactly the same route as this stage from this climb on.


Sella Valcalda (GPM3, 7.6 km at 5.6%)
This one starts and ends with false flats, but its central part is quite hard, with 3.5 km at 8.3%.


Monte Zoncolan (GPM1, 10.1 km at 11.9%)
Since its “discovery” in 2007, the Zonc has soon become one of the most famous climbs in Italy due to its sheer gradient. Its central section of 6 km at 15% average doesn't have many comparable roads in Europe. After that, however, it eases off, the last 2 km being at only 8%, with 2 very narrow tunnels that force all team cars to park in Ovaro and ride motorbikes instead.


What to Expect:
A solo winner? Carnage among the favourites? Well, after what happened in 2014 one can never be sure, but still... That stage was in a terrible placement, while this one is perfect where it is. Riders will be relatively fresh, GC should be open... if not today, when? In any case, don't expect anything before Ovaro. Just hope for some good pace.


Monte Zoncolan

irishrover99

For those that don't like rob hatch, best turn down the sound today. Let's just say he loves zoncalon so much that he wasn't to ride it😀

MPFGLB

Rob Hatch is a God in compared to KIrby !!


Gosh I hope we see some serious action today on the Zoncolon

Someone needs to take it to MScott

Imagine the climb suits Bilboa, Carapaz, Pozzovivo and MAL
Maybe Poels can pull Froome clear ??

Inquitus

Yates needs to take some big time out of Tom today you'd think to have any chance of winning the race, its a brutal steep climb that doesn't suit Dumoulin's style, so the opportunity is there, hopefully Chaves is back on form and can really help Yates out.

neris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr-vVgDMT4U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrLG_3Pc_Sk

neris

Be interesting to see how dumoulins going. Sunweb have every km worked out in power for for him. If he's bollixed I wonder will he keep it up

irishrover99

MPFGLB wrote: »

Rob Hatch is a God in compared to KIrby !!

Couldn't agree more

neris

MPFGLB wrote: »

Rob Hatch is a God in compared to KIrby

Ah but whod win in a commentate off between rob hatch & Ned boulting??

mhiggy09

Anyone have expected finish time so I can can catch the last hour or so

neris

Probably 330-4 The way theyre going. 80km left now

Sam pulling wheelies up hill

Subpopulus

Sam doing wheelies on a Cat 4 time. That Peter Sagan is a bad influence on him.

retalivity

Froome and chaves going backwards already

Paul_Mc1988

He just took a blast of the inhaler:D

pelevin

Yates looks great.

Paul_Mc1988

He's gonna go any second now

irishrover99

I thought floyd landis retired

Paul_Mc1988

Froome on the break..... yeats poker face breaking

retalivity

i forgot how ridiculous aru looks on a bike when he's struggling

irishrover99

Battle of the asthma sufferers

Subpopulus

retalivity wrote: »

i forgot how ridiculous aru looks on a bike when he's struggling

A worthy successor to Tommy Voeckler

Eamonnator

I did not see that coming.

Sprinter Sacre

Sometimes you just have to laugh at it all.

Dumoulin did well.

godtabh

fair play racing up that a full speed.

Froome looked good. He must be sick

Paul_Mc1988

Toms got that jersey on his back now.

Itziger

Just realised I can see the L'Equipe TV coverage. Saw the last 3kms!! Now I know for the rest of the race. Interesting little result all the same. Asthma, or no.

velo.2010

Looks like Froome wanted this stage even if he may have had no real expectations of the overall GC victory. Either way, clearly a message of how well he's going leading into the Tour - he's the clear favourite agin if he's free to race in July.

Great ride by Dumoulin considering he had Pinot wheelsucking the whole way up.

MPFGLB

MPFGLB wrote: »

Rob Hatch is a God in compared to KIrby !!


Gosh I hope we see some serious action today on the Zoncolon

Someone needs to take it to MScott

Imagine the climb suits Bilboa, Carapaz, Pozzovivo and MAL
Maybe Poels can pull Froome clear ??

Yep that script was written early

Even Pozzo, MAL, Bilbao went well and Carapaz wasnt far off

retalivity

Sam B last man in @33:49, 90s behind boy van poppel who was 2nd last, and 3mins behind the next bora guy.
Must have struggled on his own up the last climb

Lusk_Doyle

retalivity wrote: »

Sam B last man in @33:49, 90s behind boy van poppel who was 2nd last, and 3mins behind the next bora guy.
Must have struggled on his own up the last climb

In fairness he did it on one wheel.

Lusk_Doyle

Good to see the natural order has been restored today.

godtabh

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Good to see the natural order has been restored today.

Not sure natural was the right choice of words but defo what Froom/Sky will be like in France

Eamonnator

Paul_Mc1988 wrote: »

Toms got that jersey on his back now.

I'm not so sure.
Tom could lose more time in the mountains. For sure he'll get time back in T.T., but may not be enough. A lot to play for still.

py

Just watched the replay of the finish, was there a distinct lack of cheering (or perhaps booing) when Froome crossed the line?

Lusk_Doyle

godtabh wrote: »

Not sure natural was the right choice of words but defo what Froom/Sky will be like in France

It was a deliberate choice of word!

lissard

Great stage. That really is one amazing mountain, relentlessly brutal all the way. And what a class summit. Very impressed with Yeats and Dumoulin. Not sure if Froome would have lasted if the line were another 500 meters up the road. I guess with all his ailments he really has measure out the effort ;-) . Think tomorrow in the dolomites might see a lot of guys crack.

RobFowl

Will the win go to Yates or will there just be an asterix......

neris

With mountains still to go and a TT and maybe staring to find form froome could claw back a heap of time and make things very interesting

lissard

RobFowl wrote: »

Will the win go to Yates or will there just be an asterix......

Questioning the great British Champion* tut, tut. I agree with you, it's nauseating.

CantGetNoSleep

I'd say Froome has been taking it handy for the last two weeks thinking that everyone loves an underdog or a comeback

harringtonp

retalivity wrote: »

Sam B last man in @33:49, 90s behind boy van poppel who was 2nd last, and 3mins behind the next bora guy.
Must have struggled on his own up the last climb

I think we saw a few days ago that when it really counts Sam can climb a little better than that.

When he is not targeting a stage he is often right at the back, isn't he

CrowdedHouse

He was doing wheelies up Zoncolan too

https://twitter.com/ginevragarga/status/997868479331143680

He was at that carry on on the previous climb too

Good to see him enjoying the race though not sure thats right term on that climb.

EDIT: I just spotted that is the broom wagon chasing him ha ha ha

dastardly00

I didn't get to see the race live today... Watching Eurosport highlights now... Absolute bag of sh*te!

They took an ad break at 6 km to go with Poels leading the peloton with Froome, Yates and Dumoulin amongst others there.

After the ad break, Froome is on his own in front, and Yates has gained time on Dumoulin. WTF Eurosport! :mad:

You picked the wrong stream. the uninterrupted one is the one you need or the replay of the race on the ES1 stream. If you're watching the highlights thats bad editing as they didn't cut for an ad at 6km even on ES1 during the live racing.

dastardly00

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You picked the wrong stream. the uninterrupted one is the one you need or the replay of the race on the ES1 stream. If you're watching the highlights thats bad editing as they didn't cut for an ad at 6km even on ES1 during the live racing.

Cheers. The highlights show used to be a lot better. If there was a mountain top finish, they'd show the whole final climb. That's what I was expecting. But when the show was only 60 minutes long, I should have known that would not have been the case.

11214

I really enjoyed today's stage, nice to see Froome coming back into form,

Yates is in outstanding form, what a treat.

CrowdedHouse

https://twitter.com/alexdowsett/status/997909347987525632

CrowdedHouse

No wonder he was last

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status/998104239900676096

Lumen

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

I'd say Froome has been taking it handy for the last two weeks thinking that everyone loves an underdog or a comeback

More likely that he went in deliberately underprepared in order to facilitate a Giro-TdF double.

Lusk_Doyle

Lumen wrote: »

More likely that he went in deliberately underprepared in order to facilitate a Giro-TdF double.

That's quite a dismissive and insulting attitude towards the event and organiser by him if that is the case especially given the large fee he would be paid for being there.