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It was announced this morning that Pascal Ackermann has withdrawn from the race, but the other 157 riders who finished in Milan have taken to the start today.
The mountain top finish ensures this is one for the climbers, but the opening 25km are flat, so it will be interesting to see which riders manage to get into the breakaway at the start. There are still no less than 17 teams without a stage win at the race yet, and so desperation to do so will be reaching fever pitch in the peloton, and therefore another big fight to get into the break is on the cards.
The riders at the start, for what is another hot and sunny day at the Giro.
Here’s our preview of the stage.
How will Visma-Lease a Bike ride today? While they were intent on bringing the breakaway back last Saturday to set Vingegaard up for the stage win, they’re often happy to cede the stage win to the breakaway on late mountain stages like this, so may chose to take it easy at the font provided no GC threat manages to slip into the break.
The flag has just been waved for the unofficial start, greeted by the usual fanfare of Europop and a fast talking Italian announcer on a mic.
While Vingegaard has a big lead of 2:26 at the top of the GC, the riders immediately behind him are far more closely clustered together. Between Afonso Eulálio in second and Michael Storer in seventh, the time gap is only 2:20, and therefore there are plenty of opportunities for changes in the GC, starting today.
For Jonas Vingegaard, having seized the Maglia Rosa with a crushing win on Saturday, the final week is all about seeing the victory home. He’ll have one eye on the Tour de France, which he intends to ride as fresh as possible, but will still have a difficult final week to negotiate to seal victory here.
To get to the summit finish today, the riders will cross the border into Switzerland to take on a fearsome climb to Carì. Like the stage to Pila last Saturday, and to the Blockhaus during the first…
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