2022 Giro d’Italia – STAGE 16 preview

After a second rest day, we are entering the final week, the most difficult one. This Tuesday we have a hard mountain stage with three category 1 climbs and 5268m of positive elevation but the finish is a 4,6 km descent to Aprica and 1,1 km false flat to final line.

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Unfortunately, weather probably will be bad, with some rain during the stage. Riders have to be very careful descending the mountains. ( touch wood: no race neutralisation).

The Passo di Crocedomini is a 19.9 km climb with an average gradient of 6.2%. The maximum gradients of 12% are situated at two sections. The first one at the early kms and the second one prior to the final part of the climb.

Mortirolo is a famous climb that features regurlarly. This time the cyclist will be taking the easier, less cruel side of the climb. It is nevertheless short and brutal. The first section averages 7.6 % before s brief after 9 km. But it then kicks up again at 16%  and a regular  final km of 9.6%!

The Santa Cristina climb is cruel. The entry is at 2.9% to gradually increases until the summit. First 2 km with 2.9.%, next five 7.1%, last 6.5 km average 10.1%. The descent is 5.5 km long and could prove to be decisive with the rain .

LULU

Has the rest day been a positive for all the riders and is everybody ready for the racing? Riders respond differently to rest day, most enjoy it to replenish their tank, but a bunch of them find it hard to kickstart the machine again. I see it as a day for a breakaway looking for stage win and of course those interested in  the KOM jersey.

Lennard Kamna, Davide Formolo, Giulio Cicconne, Diego Rosa, Koen Bouwman or some others good climbers could go for a long escape and win unless Ineos Grenadiers, Bora-hansgrohe and Bahrain have other plans and GC contenders come back and win the stage.

CC2004

Richard Carapaz – He lives at high altitude and over 5000m of climbing is the main dish.

Joao Almeida – 3rd in GC at 30sec down and always seem to grow in form in the 3rd week.

Vincenzo Nibali – Currently 8th on GC 2min 58sec down and can produce a great 3rd week comeback. The last descent could be perfect terrain for him to launch something special.

Pello Bilbao – Has not been outside the top 10 in the GC from the beginning of the race and is a good climber  and one hell of a descender.

Jai Hindley – Surprising contender for the GC but at over 5000m of altitude, he might lose vital time.

Mufcfaan

This is a stage that could go either way with an early breakaway of some strong climbers making use of the first climb to lauch an attack. Expect to see: riders that came with GC but are now way too far: Simon Yates, Bauke Mollema, Guilio Ciccone, Hugh Carthy, Arensman, Oomen and Fortunato. Also will be the main aiming for the KOM jerseys, Bouwman and Diego Rosa. If the breakaway manage to snatch enough time, the fight for the win will be between Yates and Ciccone. But if the GC group decided otherwise, seeing how he descends, Joao Almeida will not be in the mix. Carapaz looks the fastest but a cheeky move from Nibali or Bilbao might do it.

Favourites (out of 15) 

9 Carapaz
8 Nibali
6 Bilbao
5 Almeida
4 Kamna
3 Formolo, Hindley, Yates
2 Ciccone