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Giro d'Italia: Stage 19 Preview - Treviso to Alpe di Pampeago/Val di Fiemme 198 km

Massive climbs make this a day for the super-light whippet says birthday boy Geraint Thomas

It’s back into the high mountains for the first of two mountain stages that will decide the order the riders roll down the start ramp for the closing time trial in Milan on Sunday, with five categorised climbs including the 20km ascent of the Passo Manghen, with an average gradient of 7.4 per cent but hitting twice that at its steepest point.

That’s the prelude to the main event however, with a tifosi friendly closing circuit that will require the riders to head up the fearsome Passo Pampeago, with an average gradient of 9.7 per cent and a maximum of 16 per cent, not once, but twice. On the second time up, the finish line is some way short of the summit that will have been crested earlier, but that’s cold comfort on what will be a tough day.

GT: There could be an early attack, but I would have thought a full-on GC day, a tough day on the bike. Me and Ian Stannard will definitely have fun today – it's our birthdays! The last climb is typical of Italy, it’s steeper than those in the Tour, so Rodriguez, that type of guy, a super-light whippet, will be flying up there.

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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