Alejandro Valverde believes the next few days of the Giro d’Italia will be harder than they appear on paper and is expecting a gruelling fight for the pink jersey in the final week.
Friday sees the riders crest the Cima Coppi – the highest peak in the race – before a first-category summit finish, while the penultimate stage on Saturday features a further three first-category climbs. However, the Spaniard warns that Tuesday – with two second-category ascents and a short final climb – and Thursday – with a solitary late second-category climb – could be decisive, too.
The main reason is that Valverde has checked out the climbs and reckons their difficulty has been understated by their classification in the race’s roadbook.
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“There are two climbs [on stage 16] that are listed as second-category but I’ve seen them and I don’t know how they’re second-category,” he said on the third rest day in a Movistar video.
“For me they’re clearly first-category. The first one is nearly 16km at an average of almost seven per cent; that’s a true first-category climb. And the second one is 10km at an average of nearly eight per cent. Those second-category climbs are first-category, or more than that even.
“It’s going to be a really tough stage. It’s a short stage but it comes after a rest day, and prior to that we had three really demanding stages."
Valverde on his rivals
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