Two gigantic mountains in a race at 162 kilometres. First Col Agnel, the third highest pass in Europe, and then the closing climb up to the French ski-resort Risoul. All in all, riders face 80 kilometres of uphill slopes in stage 19, which is half the total distance.
Steven Kruijswijk has been the best climber in this year’s Giro until now, and there is no reason to assume things have changed. In stage 16 he warded off attacks as if it was nothing, even without the back-up of a team.
For the last three weeks Kruijswijk stood firm, in fact the Dutchman is the only rider without a moment of weakness in he Giro. Or… maybe you could call it a weakness he finished in second on several occasions without winning a stage. The race to Risoul would be a good opportunity to change things and to show once and for all who is the man in charge this Giro.
Yet, is he?
Favourites 19th stage Giro d’Italia 2016:
*** Vincenzo Nibali, Ilnur Zakarin, Steven Kruijswijk
** Alejandro Valverde, Rafal Majka, Esteban Chaves
* Rigoberto Uran, Mikel Nieve, David Lopez
Giro 2016 Stage 19: Route maps, height profiles, etc.
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