The Val di Sole – or Sole Valley – ends on the Tonale Pass before descending to Ponte di Legno, but the riders go the other way in stage 17. The route descends slightly to Lago di Santa Giustina before it goes uphill on the easy side of the Passo della Mendola (8.4 kilometres at 4.5%). Following a long downhill to Bolzano a prolonged false flat of 45 kilometres runs to a short climb to Elvas (3.4 kilometres at 7.6%). A gentle descent and it goes back up again to Terento, which is also a climb with a 7.6% gradient, but this one is longer: 6.6 kilometres. The middle part is toughest.
Commezzadura ligt aan de voet van de Passo Tonale, maar de renners rijden juist de andere kant op. Tot het Lago di Santa Giustina daalt de weg licht en dan gaat het omhoog langs de eenvoudige kant van de Passo della Mendola (8,4 kilometer à 4,5%) om aan de andere kant af te dalen naar Bolzano. Een oplopend vals plat van 45 kilometer leidt naar een klimmetje richting Elvas (3,4 kilometer à 7,6%). Na een lichte afdaling gaat het weer omhoog naar Terento en dat is ook al een klim aan 7,6%, alleen is deze langer: 6,6 kilometer. Het middenstuk is verreweg het lastigst.
The riders fly down to Brunico before the last 27.5 kilometres are all uphill. Not very steep though. The first part is mostly false flat and the last 9.6 kilometres slopes at 5.5%. Which is – to be frank – a biased statistic. Indeed, the final climb is nothing special except for the section between 5.5 kilometres and the flamme rouge. This section goes up 8.2%, while the last kilometre levels out to 3.2%.
The first three riders on the line win time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds, while the second intermediate sprint – at kilometre 153.0 – comes with 3, 2 and 1 seconds.
Another interesting read: results/race report 17th stage 2019 Giro d’Italia.
Giro d’Italia 2019 stage 17: routes, profiles, more
Click on the images to zoom
