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2015 Giro d’Italia – Third week stats

– Alberto Contador took his second triumph in the race, for a total of seven Grand Tours

– The Spaniard became the second rider, after Franco Balmamion, to win the Giro d’Italia two times without a stage victory along the way

– Alberto Contador is the second rider to win all three Grand Tours at least twice following Bernard Hinault

– Mikel Landa was the first rider to take two stages at this edition

– Same Mikel Landa became the second cyclist – after Marco Pantani – to win on Madonna di Campiglio and Aprica

– Steven Kruijswijk is the first Dutchman to pass first on the top of Mortirolo

– Mikel Landa won this year’s Cima Coppi, Colle delle Finestre

– Fabio Aru became the first Italian cyclist to notch the victory on Sestriere

– Philippe Gilbert is the first Belgian rider since Roger De Vlaeminck (1979) to win two stages at one edition of the Giro d’Italia

– Giacomo Nizzolo finished first in the red jersey classification without winning a stage

– Another rider of Trek, Massimo Coledan, is the “maglia nera” of this edition, as he came last in the overall standings

– Iljo Keisse scored his maiden victory in a Grand Tour

– Thanks to the Belgian rider, Etixx-Quick Step has now got a stage in the last eight Grand Tours

– 11 riders have abandoned during the third week of the race

– For Alessandro Petacchi, this was the last Giro d’Italia of his career

– Eduard Grosu and Serghei Tvetcov became the first Romanian cyclists to complete a Grand Tour

– Seven neo-pros came at the start of the Giro d’Italia, five of them finished the race: Giacomo Berlato, Clement Chevrier, Luca Chirico, Eduard Grosu and Riccardo Stacchiotti

– Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec is the team with the most days spent in a breakaway, 14 out of the 19 stages in line

– Four Astana riders came in the top 10 on Sestriere, which hasn’t been done on a summit finish since Panasonic, in stage 1a of the 1987 edition

– Astana, FDJ, Giant-Alpecin and Tinkoff-Saxo are the four teams that finished the Giro d’Italia with all nine cyclists

– For Adam Hansen, this was the 11th Grand Tour in a row that he completed, one shy of Bernardo Ruiz’s record

– 11 teams were left winless in Milan: AG2R, Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, CCC Sprandi Polkowice, FDJ, Giant-Alpecin, IAM, LottoNL-Jumbo, Nippo-Vini Fantini, Southeast, Tinkoff-Saxo and Trek Factory Racing

– This Giro d’Italia had the third fastest average speed of the last 35 years: 39,615 km/h

2015 Giro d’Italia – Stage 21 Preview

What happened on stage 20

Mikel Landa attacked Alberto Contador on the Colle delle Finestre and got a good gap, before other riders made the same thing and let the race leader behind. Eventually, Contador cracked, which allowed Landa to put 1:40 to his countryman in the valley before Sestriere. At the front, a group containing Fabio Aru, Ryder Hesjedal, Steven Kruijswijk and Rigoberto Uran rejoined Landa and Ilnur Zakarin, who was part of the early escape. Back in the Astana team car, Giuseppe Martinelli told Mikel Landa to pull hard for Aru, which the Basque rider did, and this finally led to an impressive attack of the white jersey wearer, that brought him the second stage win in a row. Alberto Contador finished more than two minutes behind, but still has a comfortable cushion and is sure of winning the Giro d’Italia seven years after his first victory.

What comes now

Here it is, the final day of the race, a flat one for the fast men of the peloton, who’ll get another shot at glory. Starting from Torino, the 185-km long route rolls through the Po Valley along entirely flat roads, and reaches Milan, connecting the cities that served (Torino) and serve (Milan) as headquarters for the Gazzetta dello Sport throughout history. The stage course covers wide and mainly straight roads, with just a few city-centre crossings, with roundabouts, speed bumps and traffic islands being the main, “typical” obstacles.

The route arrives in Milano through Pero and the Expo site, and it enters the final circuit, to be covered seven times, and finishing in Corso Sempione. The circuit is 5350-m long and stretches along wide, well-paved avenues around the Vigorelli velodrome and the Fiera Milano City fairground. It features eight bends and four half-bends, and it crosses a tram-line twice (vertically). The home straight is 1-kilometer long, on 8,5-m wide asphalt road.

First in the red jersey classification, with a 17-point advantage over Sacha Modolo, Giacomo Nizzolo can cap it off in style, by taking not only the jersey, but also the stage victory, his first in a Grand Tour. But it won’t be easy for the 26-year-old, as Sacha Modolo and Elia Viviani will be in the mix at Milan, where also Luka Mezgec will try to go out with a bang, just as he did in 2014, when he scored a big victory in Trieste.

The Corsa Rosa returns to Milan for the last stage three years after Marco Pinotti took the victory in the time trial that run over the cities streets, while Ryder Hesjedal became the first Canadian winner of a Grand Tour. Last time the Giro d’Italia finished here with a stage in line, Alessandro Petacchi finished first, but was subsequently disqualified and the victory went to Argentina’s Maximiliano Richeze.

2015 Giro d’Italia – Stage 20 Preview

What happened on stage 19

It was a mammoth day, won in the end by Fabio Aru, the best young rider in the race, who surged clear from the pink jersey group with around seven kilometers to go and catched Ryder Hesjedal, before leaving the 2012 champion behind and ploughing on to the finish line on Cervinia. The 24-year old scored his fourth Grand Tour victory and climbed to second in the overall classification, 38 seconds clear of Mikel Landa, his Astana teammate, who came in the same group as Alberto Contador. The Spaniard from Tinkoff-Saxo retained the maglia rosa, who now he’ll wear for the 21st day in his career, with just two stages left until the end.

What comes now

This high mountain stage (Saint-Vincent-Sestriere, 199 kilometers) features the last summit finish of this year’s Giro. The first 150 kilometers run across the whole upper Po Valley, and serve as warm up towards the Colle delle Finestre climb. The route rolls through the Canavese area via Ivrea and Rivarolo Canavese, it rolls past Venaria Reale and reaches the Susa Valley, before hitting Colle delle Finestre, which is Cima Coppi (the title given to the highest peak in the Giro d’Italia) in 2015. Colle delle Finestre has an elevation of 2178 meters and was already climbed (with its non-asphalted sector) in 2005 and in 2011. The winner of the stage featuring the Cima Coppi will be awarded the “Trofeo Torriani”, in memory of the legendary race director, who reigned between 1949 and 1993.

Colle delle Finestre (18,5 kilometers) climb features a steady 9,2% gradient, from foot to summit (with just a short spurt in Meana di Susa with a maximum 14% slope). The road is paved over the first 9 kilometers, while the remaining 9 kilometers run on dirt road, up to the summit. The first part of the ascent features as many as 29 hairpin turns in less than 4 kilometers (totalling 45 hairpins up to the crest). In the first part (up to Pian dell’Alpe), the descent is technical, narrow and not protected.

As the stage course goes back to ss. 23, the climb of Sestriere (9,2 kilometers, average gradient 5,4%) ramps up again, with affordable slopes, up to the finish. The last kilometers run along the ss. 23, with wide and well-paved roadway, with just a small roundabout 500 meters from the finish. The 400-m long home straight is on 6.5-m wide asphalt road.

Mikel Landa lies third in the overall standings, but he’ll look to climb back to second at Sestriere, where it all depends on the strategy of Astana and Fabio Aru’s legs, who seems to be going better and is very motivated to finish one place higher than he did last year. Landa can’t attack his teammate – whose resurgence could continue on Saturday – so his best hope is an acceleration of Alberto Contador, whom he can follow without being too concerned about Aru, in case the Italian has another bad moment.

Mikel Nieve, Ryder Hesjedal, Rigoberto Uran and Steven Kruijswijk can also be contenders, but for this they need a status quo among the main favorites, which isn’t very likely. Kruijswijk will also want to win the mountains classification, but it won’t be an easy task for the LottoNL-Jumbo, as Movistar can play two cards for this, Beñat Intxausti and Giovanni Visconti, who wears the blue jersey after Cervinia.

Sestriere will host a Giro d’Italia finish for the seventh time, and for the first time since 2011. Previous winners here are Eduardo Chozas (1991), Miguel Indurain (1993), Pascal Richard (1994), Jan Hruska (2000), Jose Rujano (2005) and Vasil Kiryienka (2011). The most famous winner is Indurain, but the most spectacular stage was the one of 2005, when Paolo Savoldelli, Gilberto Simoni, Jose Rujano and Danilo Di Luca where the protagonists of one of the best fights the race has ever witnessed.

2015 Giro d’Italia – Stage 19 Preview

What happened on stage 18

Philippe Gilbert became the first Belgian rider since Roger De Vlaeminck, in 1979, to take multiple stage wins in one edition of the Giro d’Italia, after attacking from the breakaway and soloing to the win in Verbania. On the Monte Ologno – the only climb of the day – Alberto Contador went clear after getting notice that Mikel Landa was involved in a crash and was two minutes behind. The Basque rider took back more than one minute, but once he returned to the Fabio Aru group he stopped, as another attack meant that his teammate would have risked losing the third place to Movistar’s Andrey Amador. As a result, Contador increased the gap in the general classification, more than five minutes being at the moment behind him and his Astana rival.

What comes now

This queen-stage (Gravelona Toce-Cervinia, 236 kilometers) throughout the Alps features a total difference in altitude of approximately 4800 meters, that is covered almost entirely over the last 100 kilometers, with three subsequent climbs, measuring up to almost 20 kilometers each. The route winds its long journey around the Alpine foothills through the districts of Borgomanero and Biella, and then it enters the Aosta Valley, where the last 150 kilometers of the day will roll out. The stage course tackles the St. Barthélemy ascent (16,5 kilometers at a 6,7% gradient), St. Pantaléon (16,5 kilometers at a 7,2% gradient) and, eventually, it ramps up the Cervinia climb (19,2 kilometers at a 5% gradient).

The last kilometers run entirely uphill. The route rises with the steepest slope just before, and while crossing, the town of Valtournenche. The climb starts to level out gently three kilometers before the finish. With less than 2000 meters remaining to go, the average gradient is 1,4%. The 450-m long home straight, on 7-m wide asphalt road, has a 4% gradient. Over the last six kilometers, the stage course features two well-lighted tunnels.

The headline of this stage should be the duel between Alberto Contador and Mikel Landa. The 32-year-old Spaniard is still in the hunt for his first ever Giro d’Italia stage and the Cervinia stage will provide him with the second-to-last opportunity to reach this goal, while his fellow countryman will hope to take his third victory at the race and increase his value for the upcoming transfer period, when many World Tour teams will be ready to fight for his signature.

Steven Kruijswijk and Ryder Hesjedal – who have hit top form in the last week of the Corsa Rosa – are two other strong contenders for the win, with the Dutchman being also interested in the blue jersey, which he wants to take home. If an escape will succeed, then look for cyclists like Franco Pellizotti, Carlos Betancur, Stefano Pirazzi, Igor Anton, Darwin Atapuma, Mikel Nieve and Rigoberto Uran, who all hope to get something from the race.

Cervinia will be a stage finish for the fourth time in 98 runnings of the Giro d’Italia, and will return to the race three years after witnessing an historic moment, the first Costa Rican victory in a Grand Tour. In 2012, from a breakaway that got a big gap at the start of the day, Andrey Amador outsprinted Jan Barta and scored his biggest win to date.