Stage 8: Tortoreto Lido - Pesaro 239 km
Saturday, May 18th
START TIME: 11.15 CEST
FINISH TIME: ~17.15 CEST
Technical Overview:
The longest stage of this edition comes on the second Saturday, and it's a very tricky stage that, while it will very likely not have any implications for the GC guys, they should still be wary of. The stage starts on the coast and stays there for almost 140 km, along which there is not much to note, except for the first intermediate sprint in Senigallia. At km 138 there is the short ramp of San Costanzo, 2 km at around 6%, which leads to another flat section and a short descent to the second intermediate sprint, Calcinelli. Here starts the first GPM of the day, which is also the hardest: Monte della Mattera (GPM3, 9.1 km at 3.9%). It is not much, but it does hide some hard ramps (max 14%). Its descent brings to another small climb, Candelara, which measures roughly 2.5 km at 5%. The following descent leads to the outskirts of Pesaro, where the finishing line is, but the stage is not over. The peloton will not enter Pesaro, but turn west to climb the second GPM of the day, Monteluro (GPM4, 6 km at 3%), which starts with a ramp of 1.5 km at 7% and then becomes a false flat. From here on there are basically no proper flat roads. Yet another descent leads to Gabicce Mare, where the riders will enter the roads of Monte San Bartolo, starting with the last GPM, Gabicce Monte (GPM4, 2.2 km at 5.1%). These roads are extremely tricky, full of turns, ramps and descents. They featured recently in the Giro as the first sector of the Saltara ITT in 2013, where Nibali had the best split and Wiggins threw away his bike, and also the year before, on a road stage to Fano. That is a bit more representative: the finishing line there was much further away, but the peloton still was split thanks to some moderate pace set by Liquigas. That day everything came back together, as there were still 13 km of flat to go, but today there will only be 3. The finish is basically in sight, and this is an extremely dangerous situation for a (presumably) almost full peloton. Dangerous in terms of potential splits and, worse, crashes. As I said in the beginning, GC contenders will have to be very attentive here.
Saturday, May 18th
START TIME: 11.15 CEST
FINISH TIME: ~17.15 CEST
Technical Overview:
The longest stage of this edition comes on the second Saturday, and it's a very tricky stage that, while it will very likely not have any implications for the GC guys, they should still be wary of. The stage starts on the coast and stays there for almost 140 km, along which there is not much to note, except for the first intermediate sprint in Senigallia. At km 138 there is the short ramp of San Costanzo, 2 km at around 6%, which leads to another flat section and a short descent to the second intermediate sprint, Calcinelli. Here starts the first GPM of the day, which is also the hardest: Monte della Mattera (GPM3, 9.1 km at 3.9%). It is not much, but it does hide some hard ramps (max 14%). Its descent brings to another small climb, Candelara, which measures roughly 2.5 km at 5%. The following descent leads to the outskirts of Pesaro, where the finishing line is, but the stage is not over. The peloton will not enter Pesaro, but turn west to climb the second GPM of the day, Monteluro (GPM4, 6 km at 3%), which starts with a ramp of 1.5 km at 7% and then becomes a false flat. From here on there are basically no proper flat roads. Yet another descent leads to Gabicce Mare, where the riders will enter the roads of Monte San Bartolo, starting with the last GPM, Gabicce Monte (GPM4, 2.2 km at 5.1%). These roads are extremely tricky, full of turns, ramps and descents. They featured recently in the Giro as the first sector of the Saltara ITT in 2013, where Nibali had the best split and Wiggins threw away his bike, and also the year before, on a road stage to Fano. That is a bit more representative: the finishing line there was much further away, but the peloton still was split thanks to some moderate pace set by Liquigas. That day everything came back together, as there were still 13 km of flat to go, but today there will only be 3. The finish is basically in sight, and this is an extremely dangerous situation for a (presumably) almost full peloton. Dangerous in terms of potential splits and, worse, crashes. As I said in the beginning, GC contenders will have to be very attentive here.
