For over a week, attention was heaped upon the Passo Gavia. Would they or wouldn't they? The banks of snow lining the road conjured up romantic images of Andy Hampsten in 1988, but the risk of an avalanche was a stark reminder of why another Gavia stage was cancelled outright at the following year's Giro d'Italia.
On Saturday evening, race director Mauro Vegni ended the suspense 48 hours early by announcing that stage 16 of the 2019 Giro will not tackle the Passo Gavia. Instead, the stage from Lovere to Ponte di Legno will be routed by way of the category 3 ascents of Cevo and Aprica before taking on the fearsome Mortirolo as planned in the finale.
Yes, the Mortirolo. It hasn't gone away you know. With the 2,618m-high Gavia scrubbed from the horizon for this year at least, the wickedly steep slopes of the Mortirolo have come into sharper focus these past two days.
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The original route of stage 16 was 226 kilometres in length with a total altitude gain of 5,200 metres. The stage would have been a slugging match, and by the Mortirolo, the last men standing might have struggled to land a punch.
Now 190km with 4,800 metres of climbing, the revised route is still eye-wateringly tough but, in theory at least, the front-runners will arrive fresher (it's all relative, of course) at the foot of the Mortirolo. It would be inaccurate to say stage 16 of the Giro will be easier in the absence of the Gavia; it will simply be extremely difficult in a different kind of way.
"If they were going up the Gavia, they'd come to the Mortirolo with their legs in a bit of a bad way already and they wouldn't have gone up it as hard," Astana directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli told Cyclingnews. "But the Mortirolo, if you do it really hard, then you'll make the difference up at the top because it's such a demanding climb. If you ride it hard, then the gaps will be counted in minutes."
The route and the weather
Carapaz, Nibali and Roglic
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/infinite-climb-the-giro-ditalia-takes-on-the-mortirolo
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