Stage 13 :: Friday May 21, 2010
222km :: Porto Recanati - Cesenatico
Nope. Not gonna talk about it. Not gonna talk about what? You know what I'm not gonna talk about :)
222km on route today from Porto Recanati to Cesenatico (can someone educate me? Is that pronounced "CHes" or "Ses" enatico?). We'll have two short, sharp climbs and a whooole lot more beach time. The climbs come a decent way from the stage finish, so they might help a breakaway, but they won't have much effect on GC. Breakaways never have any effect on GC, right :D
Gav:
It's a mostly flat jaunt along the Adriatic coast from Porto Recanati to Chesenatico. Lots of white, sandy beaches for this stage, not much surf. A climb of some consequence pops up at 40 kilometers to race. It's a mostly flat run-in, and in the normal way of things, the sprinters' teams should bring back any escapes. Of course, this Giro left the world of normal some time ago, and in Thursday's sprint stage, an escape of top riders held off the sprinters all the way to the line. Filippo Pozzato won the sprint from the gruppo ristretto. This Giro is no longer especially predictable, so I'll just let you watch it and see what happens. Yew!
Frink:
Phone's ringing dude... "Who is it? Sir" (Because really.. Sir is the word of the day) "Righi sir.." "Who?" "Righi.. SIR" "Why?" "He tells you next time he WILL stand on your dog.."
This call actually happening is as bizarre as what Evans did today. Break leaves. Garzelli, Basso, Nibali, Vino are in it.. Who to blame Sir Evans.. Who to blame. Not the sir who is riding past you.. Even not if he is rinding in your lawn. (WRONG LANE DUDE) Was the proper answer to Righi.. This.. Really disappointed me.. It also recalls me to some Frinkism.. No matter how hard a carrot wants to be an apple... It always will be a carrot.. (Do with it what you think is good)
(So.. Misused my airtime for yesterdays stage..) Tomorrow's stage.. Well.. I think I'm running out of 0.02 cents.. Flat.. Mountain less flat.. What can you say about it? The mountain is harder than today. The flat longer than today.. So.. Breakaway again with a chance (as long as Robo isn't there) Because only Garmin was pacing today, which Millar messed up big time!. Or Liquigas today. With Basso, Nibali and Kiserlovksi they can get something. It's anybody's game now.. I predict.. Breakaway.. With Tossato.
Chris:
Action: Another one for the long breakaway crew. Mostly flat along the coast, this stage features a succession of climbs between 50-70km from the line, including some short, nasty ramps. If someone wants to attack here -- and really, we all know the answer -- the pack won't be overly inclined to chase.Pageantry: Proving the 2010 Giro will leave no tragic stone unturned, it's now time of course to pass through the hometown and resting place of Marco Pantani. The satellite truck will have disembarked from Villa Carla by now to the home of Marco's parents and/or last girlfriend, while the RAI crew checks in with the scientific panel from the University of Cesena to see if they're ready to announce the results of their re-inquiry into il Pirata's mysterious death.
The Plan: There had better be a damn good points competition going if I'm to suffer through the Pantani tributes. Possible skip material. No more effort than what's required to catch the sprint.
Two climbs today, the Perticara and the Barbotto...
- Perticara 665m. Rises 379m over 7.6km averaging 5.0 and maxing at 10%
- Barbotto 514m. Rises 368m over 4.7km averaging 7.8 and maxing at 15% (il ouch!)
Here are the official materials from La Gazetta:
Here's PodiumCafe's Google Earth map file for Stage 10.