The final mountain stage of the Giro made for what will be a thrilling finish to the race. Although the gaps were big between the big favourites all the difference was made in a single kilometers, Astana controlled the breakaway and Ineos pushed the second ascent of Sestriere until the trio of Hart, Hindley and Dennis were alone in front again, caught the remainder of the breakaway and Hart then beat Hindley in the sprint. Pink jersey Kelderman was distanced in the second climb, rode in a group with mainly Almeida, Nibali, Bilbao and Nibali and limited the losses but came down to third. Hindley is the new pink jersey but does not have any lead over Hart, tomorrow the fastest rider in the time-trial wins the race.
Positive: Ineos again rode brilliantly and Hart has put himself in pole position to win the Giro, alongside another stage. Almeida with a brilliant performance putting himself in within the chance of climbing to 4th overall, Valter aswell with a brilliant performance.
Negative: Kelderman was expected to struggle but has lost his chance to win the Giro, Fuglsang whose team worked quite a lot but wasn't even close to contention. I also didn't like how Hindley rode the final climb, Hart put him under pressure, he rode on the wheel of Dennis, attacked with no surprise and leadout the British. Of course, Ineos were the stronger team the last two mountain days and it isn't easy to battle against that, but I think they didn't play their cards perfectly.
The Route
The race finishes with a small time-trial in Milano. It should be a nice spectacle to wrap off the race. The route isn't very technical, fast urban roads into the center of the beautful city of Lombardia, a fitting finish to a glorious race after such a hard year for the region.
The Weather
With an urban circuit and no wind and rain it should be all down to the legs, and technique!
The Favourites
This has been a wonderful race that will have a dramatic finish tomorrow in Milano. As in 2017 the final time-trial will decide the winner of the race, but whilst Sunweb won it that year in that day I'm afraid the opposite will happen. Tao Hart hasn't had good time-trials in this Giro but he is on paper much faster whilst Hindley has very few history in them.
I think in the overall Hart will go through Hindley and Almeida might go through Bilbao, there shouldn't be more changes in the overall.
As for the stage it should be a simple affair which is which of the Ineos riders win! Ok there are some big riders behind them of course, but Ganna has here another time-trial perfectly suited for him and Rohan Dennis has grew in form in great fashion, being without a doubt the most important rider in Ineos' support on Hart and decisive to the team's overall place whichever place it may be.
The other riders that may contest:
Mikkel Bjerg
Josef Cerny
Kamil Gradek
João Almeida
Thomas de Gendt
Chad Haga
Maciej Bodnar
Alex Dowsett
Mathias Brandle
Victor Campenaerts
By no specific order, of course. There's room for surprises, Campenaerts should be the best of those riders but he's not consistent on the time-trials, podium in the stage is quite open to what I would expect to be a battle between these riders.
Prediction Time
⭐ Campenaerts, Bjerg, Cerny, Almeida, Haga, Bodnar, Dowsett
Filippo Ganna won the past two and there's no reason why he wouldn't take a third, the route suits him and he is the strongest time-trialist in the peloton, still riding in great form at this point of the race.
Make sure to let me in on your opinion, and of course follow me on twitter for the latest updates!
Comentários