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Giro d’Italia 2014: preview

The course and pink jersey contenders for the first Grand Tour of the season

Riders will likely need to take full advantage of their final rest day, because the race resumes with the queen stage – tackling the Passo Gavia, the Stelvio and finishing atop Val Martello.

The peloton will reach an altitude of 2,758m on the Stelvio with the summit arriving after after 21.7 kilometres of a grueling ascent which climbs 1,553 vertical metres.

The climb of Monte Zoncolan is among the toughest ascent in Italy and will play a decisive role in the final destination of the pink jersey (Pic: Serafino Centenaro / Creative Commons)

The Stelvio comes after the opening climb of the day, the 16.5km ascent of the Gavia, but the longest climb of stage 16 is reserved for the finale on the Val Martello.

The final section of Val Martello is at an incline of more than nine percent and Thomas de Gendt, now at Omega Pharma-Quickstep, won the stage when it featured two years ago.

Any sprinters still in the hunt for the red jersey will have their chance to shine the following day, if their teams can keep the race together over a punchy route which features plenty of small ramps but none which should cause any major problems to the bunch.

That respite is shortlived, however, with the following three stages set to decide the final destination of the maglia rosa.

Stage 18 finishes atop the Rif. Panarotta, stage 19 is a 26.8km individual time trial up the Cima Grappa – where some of the steepest sections are at a 14 per cent gradient – and the penultimate stage concludes on the Zoncalon.

The fabled 10km ascent includes ramps of more than 20 per cent, with much of the middle section played at an average gradient of more than 15 per cent. With hairpins and switchbacks in aplenty, the winner atop the Zoncalon could well turn out to be the same rider who stands atop the final podium.

Finally, the race concludes with a circuit of Trieste, where the last points towards the red jersey (the maglia rosso) will be swept up and the Giro d’Italia 2014 winner will be crowned.

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