Giro d´Italia 2021 – Stage 19 Preview

By David Hunter

Abbiategrasso > Alpe De Mera 166.3km

Due to the recent cable car accident the race has been rerouted, making it easier than before. Nothing is going to happen before the final climb, which is a shame, but the final climb is another brut.

9.3km at 9% is another tough old climb, the Giro really likes these efforts this year. Not only is it steep, but the road surface is quite rough, which will make the climb even harder. Despite being an “easy” stage, we could still see big gaps.

Weather

Another sunny day.

Tactics

Over to Team BikeExchange. In terms of the race, it was great to see Yates drop Bernal on Wednesday, but can he take enough time considering we have a long TT on Sunday? He’s still way down on Bernal, 3:23 is a lot of time to make up. As most of this stage is easy, Bernal will arrive at the final climb with lots of energy, dropping him will not be easy.

The other issue for the Aussies is that they only really have Kangert and Nieve to make the pace hard on the climb. It is highly unlikely they’ll be able to set a pace that drops the Ineos domestiques. This means that when Yates launches his attack, Bernal will still have riders to set pace and limit the damage. It’s fascinating to think we’re now in a different phase of the race, it’s all about damage limitation for Ineos.

Looking to attack will be Simon Yates, but so will João Almeida. Not only will he have his eyes on a stage win, but a potential place on the podium. He might be 8:45 down, but the TT will allow him to take minutes on some of his rivals. The next two stages will be all about BikeExchange and Deceuninck – Quick Step, I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.

Also looking to get into the mix will be Dan Martin. His climbing performance on Wednesday was incredible, if he maintains that level, he’ll be fighting for the stage win. Caruso would love to win, but he’ll be heavily marked by Ineos, it’ll be almost impossible for him to escape. Then we have Carthy and Vlasov, we’ll have to see if they can recover after losing time on Wednesday. As the stage is only about the final climb, I think it’s possible for them to be back fighting for the stage.

What about the break? It’s likely we’ll see Deceuninck – Quick Step and BikeExchange chase the morning break. Both teams have a lot to gain, and they also have several strong rouleurs who will enjoy the opening 120km. We’ll still see lots of riders looking to get up the road, but I feel that Saturday’s stage is better suited to the attackers.

DS Cycling Mole

Rémi, that was brilliant today, you did us all proud. We’re getting closer to the stage win boys; I can feel it in my bones. For this stage I want us on the front from the start, let everyone know that we’re going to chase the break for João. No messing around and letting the gap go out to 7 minutes, we take it up at 2 minutes. BikeExchange will give us a hand chasing the break, I want it all back together for the final climb. Once on the mountain we let BikeExchange set the pace before Ineos take over. When Yates attacks, Smokin Jo follows. Let him do all the work, then jump him near the end. I can almost taste the champagne!

Contenders

Simon Yates – we’ll all be waiting for his big attack, when will it come? I would hope he goes with around 4km to go, I hope he doesn’t wait too long. It won’t be easy to put lots of time into Bernal, he’ll still have Castroviejo, Moscon and Martínez to ride tempo. He’ll obviously have to contend with other riders who simply want to follow him and then take the stage win. Yates is actually in quite a difficult position; I hope he throws the kitchen sink at Bernal and see what happens.

João Almeida – he’ll be sitting waiting for Yates to attack. He was very close to winning the stage on Wednesday, winning this stage will be his main goal, but moving up on GC will also interest him. Of all the GC riders he’s now sitting in the strongest position. He clearly has good legs, but due to his position on GC he can wait in the wheels until Yates attacks. Once he does go, Almeida won’t be under pressure to work, it’s up to Yates to put time into Bernal. The stage is set for him to win his first pro race.

Dan Martin – we’ll see how much Wednesday took out of him. He went up the final climb faster than most GC riders, it really was an incredible performance. Now that he has a stage win in the bag, I really hope he attacks early on the climb.

Diego Ulissi – his ride on Wednesday wasn’t just the surprise of the race, it was the biggest surprise of the season. I’ve never seen Ulissi climb like that, where did he find those legs from? Can he repeat it?

George Bennett – the “please let me win” pick.

Davide Formolo – the “no, please let me win” pick.

Antonio Pedrero – the “I deserve it more than those two” pick.

Prediction Time

Got to be João Almeida, the way the GC is poised is perfect for him.

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