The Giro heads into the Alps with a short but very vertical stage.
Stage 14 Review: an early breakaway was joined by a counter-move to put 13 riders in the lead and they had a ticket for the day. There were no big moves on the flat, it was all about the final climbs. Groupama-FDJ had three in the break. They pulled for Josh Kench, shattering the group and when the New Zealdander attacked and only three could follow: Alberto Bettiol, Andreas Leknessund and Michael Valgren. Not bad company for the neo-pro to hang with.
Leknessund then went solo but was paying for it, his cadence dropping like a toy with empty batteries. Bettiol was behind, spinning a low gear and taking the sharpest line through every bend, he was locked onto the Norwegian champ.
He caught Leknessund and jumped passed him with a sharp attack. Solo, there was no catching him. If plenty wanted local rider Filippo Ganna to shine, Bettiol is an adopted local too as his girlfriend Lisa is from the finish town of Verbania and he knew every metre of the final climb.
The Route: just 133km but 4,250m of vertical gain. This is an Aosta city and Aosta valley tribute stage, which owes itself to the fiasco of 2023 when the Giro was supposed to start here on Stage 13 and ride to Switzerland but riders were scared about a descent mid-way. So the compromise solution was to skip the start… but do the dodgy descent. This left local politicians fuming and some swearing the Giro would never be back. It returned last year and is back again so the hatchet has been buried, presumably with the Giro offering a cut-price deal.
The climbing starts in the neutral zone and then tackles the 16km climb to Saint-Barthélémy, and if it averages 6.5% that’s because there’s a flat section a quarter of the way up and a descent halfway, the rest is often 8-9% and all on the south-facing slopes where vines grow amid rocky walls so it’ll be hot from the start too.
This is a difficult start as riders go all out to establish the breakaway while the GC contenders have to keep near the front in order not to lose ground and so there’s a lot of energy spent by all in the first 30 minutes.
There’s a wider road back down to the valley. There’s more climbing and all on the south-facing slopes amid vineyards.
The Finish: a 16.5km climb all the way to the line. Cut out the first 2km that lead away from the valley floor and it’s 14.5km at 7.5% and a tough climb that winds up through plenty of hairpins and where the slope never quite settles down.
The Contenders: Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-LAB) is the easy pick. He’s out-climbed everyone and now finds a stage even more suited. We’ll get a health check, he told Italian TV yesterday evening he was fine… but he coughed before a word came out. The final climb is consistently difficult all the way up, there are almost no points where someone who he’s not worried about can sneak away and build up a lead. It’s also a chance to put the squeeze on others including Thymen Arensman.
Felix Gall has been climbing very well but enough to ride away? We’ve not seen it. But we’ll see if he can regain time on Arensman and the others.
The breakaway has a good chance as Visma won’t, or can’t control the stage from start to finish. The uphill start is also ideal for the eventual stage winners as strong climbers can go clear rather than opportunists.
Enric Mas and Einer Rubio (Movistar) have been riding well and have terrain to suit. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) has used up a lot of energy in his stage-hunting quest so far.
Aleksandr Vlasov is an outside pick, he’s been able to go in breakaways so far but maybe he is on team duty today.
Jefferson Cepeda (EF) and Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) are two of the lightest riders in the race but the form and their results make them harder picks. Harold Martín López (XDS-Astana) is another small climber but possibly more likely to win here.
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Vingegaard |
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Mas, Rubio, Ciccone, Gall |
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H Lopez, Poels, Christen |
Weather: sunny and 31°C in the valley. Much of the stage is on the south-facing slopes and they are often rocky or have stone walls to radiate heat back. The final climb is cooler with more shade.
TV: KM0 is at 13.05pm and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in early to watch the fight for the breakaway and then to see the rest of the stage evolve.
Postcard from Aosta
Today’s finish is in Pila, a ski resort directly connected to the city of Aosta by cable car. The local rider of the day is, or rather was, Maurice Garin, winner of the inaugural Tour de France in 1903.
The Aosta region is bilingual with French but today Italian dominates. But this explains why Garin was named after his father Maurice and not Maurizio when born in Arvier, just up the valley from Aosta. The town of Arvier doesn’t make much play of this, the municipal website mentions Garin but one page says he was born in 1871, another 1872. Plus he left the region early to find work in France as a child. After retiring as a cyclist he remained in France and ran a garage in Lens for almost 50 years. He is buried in nearby Sallaumines. He’s not celebrated there either, although a cycle path is named after him.
Back in the Aosta valley and Garin is a local name, there are several villages called Garin, there’s even a Garin mountain pass too. The city of Aosta has a Via Garin main road but this is not a tribute to the Tour de France winner.
However there is the Via Maurice Garin, a back alley on the edge of town. It’s not hardly prestigious but it does almost tell a story. Garin began a chimney sweep, became a cyclist and ended up running a garage. The Via Maurice Garin today mirrors this with the Termo Team heating and plumbing business at one end, the road, and at the other end the Gallo tire garage. Hardly veneration, but maybe fitting.