Giro d'Italia Stage 20 – May 31st, Maniago - Monte Zoncolan **Unmasked Spoilers**

dastardly00

Stage 20 – Saturday May 31st, Maniago - Monte Zoncolan 167km (*****)

It first appeared in the Giro in 2003 when the peloton climbed it from the 'easy' side starting in Sutrio (13.5km at 8.9%). Gilberto Simoni won that day, and described the final kilometre as the hardest section of a climb he had ever encountered. Meanwhile Mario Cipollini used a mountain bike to reach the summit. In 2007 the Giro approached it from Ovaro, and it was described as the hardest climb in Europe and more difficult than the Mortirolo. Simoni conquered the climb that day again while using a 34x27 and stated that: 'The easiest part of this climb is harder than the most difficult you get at the Tour de France'.

La Gazzatta have named it 'The Pink Dragon' and 'The Monster' ......

It is 10.1km long, 11.9% average gradient, 22% maximum gradient ....

It is Monte Zoncolan!

Map:



Profile:



Passo del Pura:



Sella di Razzo:



Monte Zoncolan:



Last kms:



Weather - Maniago: Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. High 20C. Winds SE at 10 to 15 kph. Monte Zoncolan: Sunny with the possibility of light rain. High 14C. Winds E at 5kph.

Stage Betting: Nairo Quintana 11/10; Fabio Aru 9/2; Pierre Rolland 9/1; Fabio Duarte 12/1; Domenico Pozzovivo 12/1; Julian Arredondo 22/1.

Live TV coverage on Eurosport1 from 1.30pm. Highlights on Sky Sports 3 at 8.30pm and Eurosport2 at 10.30pm. Note: Eurosport TV schedule is always liable to change without notice.

Live text ticker here.

Dr. Bre

love the Zoncolan!

TheBlaaMan

If you've never seen this climb in a race, you are in for a treat. The entry to the climb from Ovaro has that 'Welcome to Hell' banner that has been quoted a lot in recent days. When the Giro climbed it in 2010 and Basso won from Evans, I remember being astonished by the sheer number of fans on the upper stretches beyond the tree-line that day, held by the Alpine regiment soldiers, especially on the corners. They reckoned there were one million fans out on the slopes. It reminded me of pictures from the bible with Jesus preaching to crowds.....

A young Dan Martin did really well that day. Hard to see past Quintana for this one, but I hope a few others still have some energy to bring the fight to him on the day.

It's going to be E P I C (I hope).

2010

blobbie

Dr. Bre wrote: »

love the Zoncolan!

As a spectator

Darkglasses

Daniel Moreno

Poll added

Won't be watching this live, hoping it's straight onto eurosport player so I can watch it into the night!

pelevin

Rigoberto Uran

Like Nibali did last year, I'd expect Quintana to want to end on a high, & would be surprised if anyone but a rider in a breakaway granted a lot of time, could beat him here. Aru looked awesome today also but I'd imagine the TT to have taken more out of him than it did Quintana. Never seen the Zoncolan before so looking forward to it. Hope Tinkov puts in a good ride. (In fairness, I don't really care whether he's vain or not, I've no idea of him as a person to have an opinion worth anything on that front, but I do know that to ride the Stelvio on a wintry day, & the climb before it, merits serious kudos for him riding these respect on that front. The opposite of an anal, bureaucrat money-man.)

daramike

Rigoberto Uran

Quintana should win this easily, he is 11/8 to do so which is a great bet. I'd have him 1/2. His big dangers are Aru, Arredondo and Duarte

Pudsy33

Roche up the road with 18 others

Dr. Bre

if Aru is winning the crowd will be going nuts!

Dr. Bre

supposedly a rider yesterday van Emden stopped to propose to his girlfriend. imagine he missed the time cut. the wedding would be off ha

lennymc

Rigoberto Uran

Darkglasses wrote: »

Poll added

where is Oleg?

REBELSAFC

Pudsy33 wrote: »

Roche up the road with 18 others

He's there with Mick Rodgers to help out Majka later on.

blobbie

Dr. Bre wrote: »

supposedly a rider yesterday van Emden stopped to propose to his girlfriend. imagine he missed the time cut. the wedding would be off ha

Worth stopping for

blobbie

Go away tennis

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

The 19 riders out front are:
Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale, Franco Pellizotti & Jackson Rodriguez ( both Androni Giocattoli), Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani), Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida), Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Belisol), Yonathan Monsalve & Mattio Rabottini (bothNeri Sottoli), Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), Simon Geschke & Georg Preidler (Both Giant-Shimano), Pieter Serry (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Maxime Belkov (Katusha), Dario Cataldo (Sky), Michael Rogers & Nicolas Roche (both Tinkoff-Saxo) Danilo Hondo & Riccardo Zoidl (Both Trek Factory Racing)


Nico and Mick Rogers are leading the breakaway at the moment.

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

Dan Lloyd tweeted a few pics of the Zoncolan during this morning. It looks class.

g0g

Stunning aerial view of that dam!

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

Mick Rogers has had some sort of mechanical on the descent of the Passo del Pura.

serendip

Rigoberto Uran

blobbie wrote: »

Worth stopping for

Did he bring those flowers up with him?

blobbie

Interflora motorbike

retalivity

6 mins with a descent to come...decent chance for the breakaway

neris

Rafal Majka

is oleg cycling today?

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

Seemingly some Tinkoff-Saxo riders will be using a 34-28 or a 34-32 on the Zoncolan today! :eek:

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

neris wrote: »

is oleg cycling today?

Yep. Fair fúcks to him.

@tinkoff_saxo: @olegtinkov on his way out on the final tough ride to Zoncolan - #giro pic.twitter.com/yzh7z0WkhO Last day for me , 2,000km!!!

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

Rolland has attacked, followed by Pozzovivo and Majka.
No reaction from Quintana.

lennymc

Rigoberto Uran

Oleg, the full kit banker.

neris

Rafal Majka

this better be a good mountain with the hype the eurosport fella is giving it

blobbie

Here comes the calculation......

spins dial & guesses

lennymc

Rigoberto Uran

neris wrote: »

this better be a good mountain with the hype the eurosport fella is giving it

several km at 15% avg. its going to be savage!

dastardly00

Rigoberto Uran

The breakaway have started the Zoncolan with an eight minute advantage.

blobbie

Wow