After three brutal days in the mountains the peloton gets something of a break on stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia, with another mountainous pair of stages still to come after today.
It’s (comparatively) short and sweet today, 144km from Morbegno in Lombardy to Cesano Maderno, and it’s another one of these stages with a few climbs in the first half before a long, flat run-in to an expected bunch sprint.
It’s the penultimate chance for the sprinters to take a win at this Giro, with the last opportunity on the streets of Rome on the final day, so plenty of teams will be particular desperate to get into position today and maximise their chances.
Three categorised climbs are crammed into 50km, with the first coming 29km in. It’s the toughest of the day, the cat-two at Parlasco, 7.6km long and averaging 6.2% with a punchy section topping out at 11%. That’s followed by a pair of intermediate sprints either side of the cat-three at Colle Balisio before another cat-three at Ravellino.
After that the riders head onto a short descent leading into the day’s Red Bull kilometre, another positioned at the top of an unclassified rise, this time at Sirtori.
From there it’s either flat or downhill all the way to Cesano Maderno, terrain that the sprinters’ teams should find easy to control proceedings on - but with this stage so late in the race and plenty of teams still without a win, we could be in for a surprise should an opportunistic breakaway get free.
Route map and profile
Start time
Stage 18 is set to start at 1.50pm local time (12.50pm BST) and finish at 5.30pm (4.30pm BST).
Prediction
Judging by the Giro so far it’s unlikely that any breakaway will be allowed enough leeway to contest the stage win, with the flat final 50km teeing this up for another bunch sprint - although Kasper Asgreen proved on stage 14 that you underestimate the breakaway in the second half of a Grand Tour at your peril.
Paul Magnier’s departure from the race means that Sam Bennett is the biggest name still without a win, but Olav Kooij demonstrated that he’s the man to beat with his blistering sprint on stage 12. We’re backing him to secure a second stage win, with Kaden Groves and Casper van Uden the best-placed of the challengers with one win apiece. Both have the form to take a second too.
