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2019 Giro d’Italia: Stage 13 Preview

  • Ron 

It’s not a Grand Tour without mountain-top finishes, and Stage 13 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia does not disappoint, with the riders tackling 1196m of climbing to the above category Nivolet and the town of Lago Serru on Friday.

The climb to to the summit comes after what will amount to 45km of uphill in their legs, plus a category 1 and 2 climb ( Pian del Lupo, new to the race) over the course of the stage’s 196km.

The stage climbs almost directly out of Pinerolo, and the riders will be tackling the 1131m Col de Lys starting at the 40km mark. After 14km of climbing, it’s 64km of mostly descending before the road tilts up again to the peak of the Category 2 Pian del Lupo. The road dives back down for 17km before the massive climb to Lago Serru.

At 2247m, Lago Serru is higher than the high point of last year’s race, and the road goes up from there to the summit of Nivolet, though the race will not travel into the protected park region.

Photos of the area are showing that there is still quite a bit of snow at the finish.

The finale is in the Gran Paradiso national park. It’s Italy’s oldest national park, originally intended to protect the alpine ibex. It’s also a protected area for Golden Eagles, which will limit TV coverage as helicopters will have definite no-fly zones in order to not disturb the nests of the eagles.

This stage will, of course, be one for the GC contenders. After today’s GC shakeup, it’s nearly certain that Primoz Roglic and Vincenzo Nibali will be looking to make a move. While Simon Yates has really yet to make a showing, it could be a day for him to make some sparks as well.

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