The Giro d'Italia has already offered us a stunning five days of racing, with Mads Pedersen ruling the Grande Partenza in Albania before claiming the stage 5 win in Matera. Stage 6, though, gives us the first helping of what we might consider a true Italian mountain on the race route.
Stage 6 is long at 226km and is hilly early on before a late climb overlooking the Bay of Naples. The stage begins in Potenza in the Basilicata and heads northwest, taking on two KOMs on the route before unleashing sprinters for the finish in Naples.
The first KOM hits at kilometre 40 and is a long, 19.9km climb to Valco di Monte Carruozzo, with gradients that reach 11%. There is a rolling 50km to the second KOM, a manageable category 3 climb at Monteforte Irpino, with the path to Naples going north of Mount Vesuvius.
With the climbing hitting in the first part of the route, we will expect a real battle between the breakaway and the sprint teams, and little chance of a real fight among the general classification contenders considering the flat 70km into the finish.
We'd back the sprint teams to reel in escapees, but we'll be keeping our eye on the real puncheurs from the start list to see if they find their way into the day's breakaway. If luck is on their side, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) or a breakaway specialist like Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché - Wanty) could well upset Pedersen's dominance.
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Climbs
- Valico di Monte Carruozzo (cat. 2) km. 56.8 (19.9km avg 3.8%, max 11%)
- Monteforte Irpino (cat. 3) km. 145.1
Sprints
- Sprint 1 - Muro Lucano, km. 42.5
- Sprint 2 - Loni, km. 88.4
- Time bonus sprint - Brusciano, km. 174.6
