Stage 10 :: Tuesday May 18, 2010
220km :: Avellino - Bitonto
Stop me if you've heard this already this year: from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic the riders will be crossing the ankle of Italy tomorrow.
That's right, it's Tirreno-Adriatico Redux (as in, "we've taken Tirreno-Adriatico and added a long winded scene involving a French Expatriate family living on a plantation in Cambodia).
Not much to say about this one, so I'll let the others take over for a moment...
Mi ha colpito con il tuo colpo migliore, Gavia:
Monday will be rideable, even fun in a few spot s, but most breaks will see some sort of funkiness and texture from light (but steady) W-WSW winds.
Swellwise we will have a mix of fading S swell (180-200) and some NW windswell that will pulse up a bit more in the background.
Most spots will be in the waist-chest high range with some rare chest-shoulder high sets showing at the more S facing breaks. The standout S facing spots and the best combo spots will be in the chest-head high range…with the potential for a few bigger waves sneaking in early in the morning.
Your daily lesson in Frinkology:
A water baller we had. With swiss cheese shapes in the peloton.. Go figure that one out.. And our daily portion Echolons... And the daily Sastre time loss... With also again a failing Greipel.. But with 2 sprinting GC man! Vino and Evans.. Evans is pushing his metamorphosis to the ultimate and show everybody a he can sprint b he is serious about winning the Giro.. C We are not going to see him in competitive form in the Tour.
Nice balance after the first 1.5 week Giro. What brings us tomorrow..
Hard to tell. If rabo is in the breakaway we can say it's going to be a sprint.. If they are not.. Who knows? Looots of "mountains" in the first alf of the stage. At the second half less but with a tricky finish. Anybody's game.. So Kirienka and Duque. Eat your hart out
Chris' Calculations:
Action: Nothing much to speak of, apart from a likely breakaway. This is a downhill run from the Tirreno to the Adriatico, a long haul on the day before an even longer haul. Lotta guys earning their pay on this day.Pageantry: The most I can say is that the devil makes work for idle cameramen. Beyond that, Bitonto is renowned for its olives. I like a good olive, but still...
The Plan: If I miss a stage, it's this one. Avellino is one of two spots on the route with family connections, but my grandfather's (detested) sheep meadow will be long gone by the time the TV cameras turn on.
That surf report almost reads like a stage preview up there, don't it.
So there's only one climb recorded on tomorrows stage, the Valico dell'Imbandina at 668m. It's 10km long rising 383m which, surprisingly, makes it average out to 3% :)
Here are the official materials from La Gazetta:
Here's PodiumCafe's Google Earth map file for Stage 10.