Stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia could deliver another successful breakaway. There’s a punchy finale set to shake up the race before the final mountain stages. The 168-km route from Fai della Paganella to Pieve di Soligo heads east through Trentino and into the hills of the Prosecco region. Plus, Friday and Saturday are going to be bruuuutal, so the GC riders will probably want to lay low and let some opportunists go for a dub.
The opening half of the day rolls across uneven terrain before the riders tackle the category-three climb to Fastro. The decisive point, though, comes much later with the brutal Muro di Ca’ del Poggio. That climb averages 12.1 per cent over 1.1 km and crests just over 10 km from the finish. So it should be a good spot for a few riders to launch.
A tough finale
That climb is expected to distance many of the pure sprinters. So that means the stage is perfetto for punchy attackers and smaller groups. A rider such as Jhonatan Narváez, could thrive on the explosive finale into Pieve di Soligo. Could the Ecuadorian take another stage for his UAE squad? After a terrible start to the Giro, where the superteam lost three of its riders, Narváez has certainly salvaged something for the WorldTour team, taking (so far) three stages.
One rider who won’t be in the hunt in the breakaway is Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides, Que.’s Nick Zukowsky. The aggressive and tough rider from Pinarello-36.5 had been having a great Giro–and Spring and was always in the moves. On the run-in to Milan he was on leadout duty due to the reduced bunch when disaster struck and he got caught in a crash at 65km/h. Scans at the hospital seemed positive–and he had a rest day following.
He managed to finish Tuesday’s tough stage, but persistent rib pain meant he had to abandon the Giro. It’s a bummer because he had to do the same last year–although much earlier, and plus, he’s always one of the key animators of so many races this year.
Hopefully the former national champ heals up fast and we can see him in action once more.
You can tune into the live broadcast at 7:05 a.m. EDT on Flobikes.com. And don’t forget, we are going to have a little bit of Giro overlap, as the women’s edition starts on Saturday, also on Flobikes. So much Giro!
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