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Who will win the Giro di Controversy?

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It’s here, the time anticipated by climbers and bike fans but dreaded by everybody else, the third week of the 2014 Giro d’Italia.

As I write this Stage 17 has just got underway and Colombia’s Nairo Quintana leads, or does he?

Yes, most probably. Well, definitely.

Yesterday was full of controversy. Which is why the team directeurs sportifs, not a collective that ever thinks as one, had a meeting this morning. They came out tight lipped about what was resolved.

Nothing, I suspect.

These are the questions they addressed:

Was the Stelvio descent neutralised? Apparently not. Well, maybe the first three kilometres were.

Did the organisation say it was? The jury’s out. Maybe they did maybe they didn’t. Now they say that the first three kilometres were neutralised. At least I think that’s what they are saying, it could change.

Did some riders believe it had been neutralised? They are saying most definitely yes, at least those who lost time are.

So, what if it was or wasn’t?

There’s a rumour that any time gained by the Quintana group going down the Stelvio might be discounted in the overall standings. But surely you can tinker with a race like that, can you?

I suspect the controversy will do what the riders hoped yesterday’s snow would do, just melt away.

A lot of different views will be expressed in the coming days. What the British police used to call the Shudder Squad, as in you shudder done this and shudder done that, will be particularly shrill.

But one thing is clear, running a bike race on the road in extreme places over extreme terrain is difficult.

It’s what we bike fans want, but it’s still difficult. And so is taking part in one. In fact that’s far harder and something we all need to remember.

So, going forward, everyone involved needs to answer Saxo-Tinkoff’s Michael Rodgers tweeted plea. “Today’s communication mess up is yet another demonstration why road cycling needs clear rules regarding extreme weather conditions.”

Very good. But my Tweet of the day belongs to Cadel Evans. “Today’s racing was so nuts I can’t quite believe it myself…and I was there!” For me that says it all. That’s why I love cycling. I suspect it’s why Cadel does too.

Now, predictions. Before the Giro I said Evans would win. Even better, I said he’d take the lead on Stage 16 or 18.

That’s not looking good now is it? What the heck, I’m still going with it. Evans is down but not out, and I’m not ruling out a Lazarus-like comeback. Logic says Quintana has it though.

What’s ahead? Well today is a long rolling stage that should be uneventful. Tomorrow, stage 18, is a terror with three mountains and the finish on top of the third. It’s hard, 16 kilometres that hardly fluctuate from an average gradient of 8.5 per cent.

Next up is the Monte Grappa time trial; an eight-kilometre ride to the foot of the climb then the gradient tilts up to seven per cent and hardly lets up for the rest of the 19km. In fact, after the series of hairpins in the first half, the gradient increases to nearly nine per cent all the way to the top.

Then it’s the big one, the last throw of the 2014 Giro dice, two climbs then Monte Zoncolan.

What a fitting theatre for the Giro decider.

Zoncolan is a mountain, not a pass, one of several peaks in the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region that are famous for their winter skiing. It is 10.5 kilometres long with an average gradient of 11.5 per cent.

But those frightening-enough figures hide the truth of Monte Zoncolan. Okay, the climbing begins in Ovara, but it only gets steep two kilometres later in a village clinging to a lump of rock called Liariis.

Just outside the village the riders disappear into a forest then go up 900 metres in the next six kilometres. That’s a 15 per cent average of dizzying hairpins and ramp-like straights.

But that awful statistic hides two more terrible truths. A left-hand hairpin with a gradient of 22 per cent after 1500 metres, and a right-hander of 20 per cent 2.5 kilometres later. And the road continues at the same gradient for nearly a kilometre after it.

Finally, after what must seem like an age the torture in the trees ends. The gradient slowly eases where a straighter section of road goes through three rough-hewn tunnels, before a final lunge of ten per cent up some hairpins to the summit.

That’s the Zoncolan, and the overall leader on top of it will win the 2014 Giro d’Italia.

Will it be Quintana? Uran or Majka or Aru or Rolland or Pozzovivo, or somebody else. Or will it be Evans?

I still don’t think Evans will fold, not as much as others will. But I’m probably wrong. What’s certain is the battle will be spectacular, and the winner will be the best in the race. And that’s another reason why a love cycling.

Article link: Who will win the Giro di Controversy?. Written by Chris Sidwells, on The Roar - Your Sports Opinion


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