FanPost

Giro Stage Predictor: Stage 14

Saturday 19th May

Cherasco - Cervinia 206km

STRICT DEADLINE = STAGE START TIME 11:35 CET

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Steve's preview at Steephill:

With Stage 14, we have the first of five high mountain stages at this year's Giro d'Italia. All the action on this stage is backloaded; the first 137 km of this 206 km stage after the start in Cherasco are almost entirely flat before two big mountains in the Italian Alps at the end. The two climbs are the cat 1 Col de Joux at km 160 which is 22.4 km long with an average grade of 5.6% followed by the second summit finish of this year's race, the cat 1 Cervinia, which is quite similar (27 km at 5.5%). Both are long grinds and not overly steep by Italian standards


Stage 13 Results

Cav - Kristoff - Renshaw

In a short, flat stage with a straight run-in, Cav was overwhelming favorite. The only moment of doubt arose when he was boxed in against the barriers, but Goss unwittingly released him, and it was all over. With many tired and battered bodies, the rest of the podium had been less certain, and Katusha's youngster Kristoff delivered a fine second place.

KDZ picked up the entire bonus for Kristoff, to deliver a fine solo stage win. Little change at the top of the cappello rosa competition, still led by pablo777.

With a large GC field and no dominant favorite, plus a wide selection of potential stage hunters, the mountain stages of the last week may produce some big bonus payoffs. Nobody is yet out of the running, and there are prizes for the top three places.

Link to spreadsheet with full results history

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via s11.postimage.org


Rules

For each stage, pick three riders. The order of your picks does not matter.

The first three riders on the stage score. The basic score is stage winner 4 points, second place 2 points, third 1 point.

In addition there are bonus points awarded. Stage winner bonus is 24 points, second place bonus 12 points, third place bonus 6 points. The bonus points are split equally among all the DS's who picked that rider.

The entry deadline is the official start time of the stage. Now, people may want to be sneaky and change their picks before the stage starts when they see what other people's picks look like. That's fine, it's a normal part of the game and quite acceptable - but we'll allow strictly one change. You can change all three riders if you want, but it has to be in one new post. If you want to make a change, post it as a reply to your original post. Rule change: In the rare event of a DNS announced in the press before the stage starts, the "one change" rule is waived to allow you to put in someone else - subject to the same deadline.

If you miss making an entry for a stage, no problem, you're still in the competition - you just score zero for that stage. Also, there's no limit to how early you can make picks, so if you're going on vacation, feel free to enter ahead of time for as many stages as you want.