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Giro d'Italia 2012: Stage 14 Preview - Cherasco to Cervinia 209 kmGiro 2012 Stage 14 map

Giro d'Italia 2012: Stage 14 Preview - Cherasco to Cervinia 209 km

A day for the GC contendors as the race heads in to the high mountains says Geraint Thomas
by Tony Farrelly
Fri, May 18, 2012 23:30
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Some of those who began this year’s Giro with ambitions of a place towards the top of the GC, or even getting onto the podium, will already have fallen by the wayside, but today is the day when the battle for the maglia rosa begins in earnest, the first in the high mountains, and the first big summit finish.

The first 135km or so of todays stage are pretty much flat as the riders pass the outskirts of Turin and head north towards the Alps, but the stage will then explode into life with two big Category 1 climbs. First comes the 22km slog of the Col de Joux, followed by a descent to Chatillon where the road heads uphill again, with 27km to be tackled at an average gradient of 5.5 per cent to the finish in Cervinia.

GT: For sure, this will be a GC day and you’ll see them battling it out on the last climb. It’s not too steep but climbing for that amount of time a couple of weeks into the race there will be some tired bodies around, so it will be tough. Maybe not a stage for someone who can fly up the steep climbs, but a good, strong climber. As for the GC contenders generally, there’s been a lot of talk about John Gadret, if he can get into this last week of the race without losing too much time on the flat days, he’ll be a bit of a threat. Roman Kreuziger seemed strong in Romandie and could have potential for the podium. Christian Vandevelde, I’m not sure how he’ll race here, if he’s going for the Tour, then I wouldn’t have thought he’ll race flat out, but he could go for a stage, likewise Ryder Hesjedal. It’s the same with Frank Schleck, whether he’ll go for GC or just look to get round and maybe get a stage. Scarponi, obviously, and Lampre have a three-pronged attack in a strong team when it comes to the mountains with him, Cunego and Pietropolli. Joaquin Rodriguez – I’d put some money on him being on the podium, and Katusha will have a decent team time trial and won’t lose stacks of time.

For more on this year's race read our full Giro d'Italia Preview.

Giro 2012
Tony Farrelly

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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