Stage 20 is short and explosive. Perfect terrain for Alberto Contador, but – unfortunately – the title holder skips this year’s Giro to focus on the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espagna.
Quite possibly, battle ignites while climbing up the Colle Della Lombarda. The foot of the penultimate climb is reached with 30 kilometres left, while the climbs itself totals an impressive 20 kilometres. The toughest part is at the bottom. A long way from home, that’s true, but what options do you have when there is time to make up?
Stage 16 offered more or less the same distance and Valverde and Nibali put presure on Kruijswijk from the very start, but the man in pink didn’t blink. Valverde took the stage, outsprinting Kruijswijk, who cemented his overall lead. After his crash on the Agnel the Dutchman is forced to chase and as he is the best climber in the race, we can expect him to launch attacks. Same goes for Vincenzo Nibali, who refound his former self in stage 19 and was never closer to win the 2016 Giro d’Itali than today.
If chasers in the GC are to use Colle Della Lombardathe to launch attacks it will be pure bliss, as it means the Giro d’Italia is going to be exciting until the end. The first 7 kilometres of the climb are at an average gradient of 8.7% before the 8.5 kilometres middle section (at 6.3%) take the riders to the last part at 7.6%. Then a technical descent on narrow roads leads to the 2.3 kilometres closing climb.
Favourites 20th stage Giro d’Italia 2016:
*** Vincenzo Nibali, Esteban Chaves
** Rafal Majka, Mikel Nieve, Alejandro Valverde,
* Ruben Plaza, Rigoberto Uran, Steven Kruijswijk
Giro 2016 Stage 20: Route maps, height profiles, etc.
Click on the images to zoom
Climb details Col de Vars
Climb details Col de la Bonette
Climb details Col della Lombarda
Final kilometres
