Well that just blew by, didn’t? Maybe not for the riders, but for us cycling fans. There’s just two days to go at the Giro d’Italia. But before the boys roll into Rome, Stage 20 delivers one last opportunity for the climbers and GC contenders to make a statement.
The 200-km route from Gemona del Friuli to Piancavallo begins relatively quietly. More than 130 km of relatively straightforward roads should allow the breakaway to form. But the real fun is reserved for the last few hours.
The brutal Piancavallo
And that fun is called the Piancavallo. It’s a relentless 14.3-km ascent averaging 7.9 per cent. The ragazzi have to tackle it twice, with the second trip to the summit serving as the stage finish. The first passage comes too far from the line for most all-in attacks, but it should tenderize some gams.
On Friday, Lidl-Trek’s Derek Gee-West delivered a huge ride on the Giro’s queen stage, joining the breakaway, winning the Red Bull Kilometre bonus sprint and finishing second behind Sepp Kuss. The Canadian moved up one place on GC. His teammate was solo, and at one point Gee-West thought the Italian would take the win–something his WorldTour squad desperately wanted. Still, he did secure the mountains jersey.
“It was super hard, I mean, right from the start,” Gee-West said. “I was just going to stay with the GC guys and then Tudor pulled a really good move with Michael Storer jumping and then a bunch of their guys dropping back, pulling him across, so I had to go with that. To be honest, I thought we had the stage when Cicco went on the descent and there was a bit of disorder behind,” Gee-West said.
Still, it was a fine ride by the national champion. One wonders what might have been had he not had bad luck early on, but that’s bikin’.
You can catch the action on Flobikes.com starting at 6:40 a.m. EDT