A tough mountain stage is scheduled today at the Giro. There are four climbs on the course, two of the first category and two of the second category. The riders will reach the last summit 14 kilometres before the finish, a short descent will take them towards the last flat 7 kilometres.

With four stage wins so far the Giro has already been very successful for Lotto Soudal.

Sports director Frederik Willems said:

“We are definitely over the moon after yesterday’s victory of André Greipel, but that was already the case after the stage win of Tim Wellens, our second victory in this Giro. Then we were even happier thanks to the hat-trick. All other riders are very motivated to get a personal good result as well. Especially now that they have the feeling that they are in such a good shape.

“There are a lot of strong contenders for the top 15 of the GC. As a team we prefer Maxime Monfort would take a risk and join a breakaway and move up in the GC that way, rather than just following the group of favourites and finishing 14th at the end. I expect there will be strong riders in the break today and there is a chance they can survive until the end, especially because of the battle in the peloton between Astana and Movistar. Both don’t dare to take responsibility to control the peloton for the stage win because of the risk that they lose the bonus seconds to each other.”