Giro 2022 Favourites stage 9: GC clash on Blockhaus

Mountain goats such as Mikel Landa, Simon Yates and Richard Carapaz will rub their hands in glee when looking at the profile of the stage. Shortly after the start the route starts to climb 9.1 kilometres at 5% and with hardly a descent in between the route continues to Roccaraso, which adds another 7.3 kilometres at 6.1% to the mix.

A long descent is interspersed by short uphills before a 50 kilometres intermezzo also serves some inclinations. Just before Pretoro the route climbs 2.3 kilometres at 8,4% and following a short descent the Passo Lanciano makes its appearance. Actually, this is the first part of the Blockhaus, but since the route does not go all the way to the finish yet, it’s a 10.5 kilometres climb with an average gradient of 7.4%.

The riders plunge down to the valley only to return to climbing on the 6.2 kilometres ascent at 4.9% to San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore. No proper descent, as the finish climb kicks in 3 kilometres later. The last 13.7 kilometres rise at 8.5% to the line. The first 3.7 kilometres are the easy bit, as the rest of the climb averages 9.4%.

Long story short: climbers with GC ambitions are given a perfect opportunity to strike on the ninth day of action.

Favourites 9th stage 2022 Giro d’Italia

*** Simon Yates, Richard Carapaz, Romain Bardet
** Wilco Kelderman, Mikel Landa, Jai Hindley, Giulio Ciccone
* Davide Formolo, Lorenzo Fortunato, Vincenzo Nibali, Gijs Leemreize

Another interesting read: route 9th stage 2022 Giro.