"Nobody seems to take it into much account, but tomorrow's stage will be really tough," warned Chente García Acosta, sports director for the Movistar Team, during stage 17 of the Giro d'Italia, the only 'easy' route in the third week of competition before three demanding, mountain stages starting on Thursday, with 170km from Melide to Verbania.
"Ologno is a steep climb, even more so at this point of the race, and what's left in this Giro will be hard for everyone." The 10km, 9.5% average ascent will still be completed with 36km to go, though without any rest afterwards as the short, sharp climbs of Piancavallo and Premeno, followed by two long descents, will be waiting for the peloton.
The Corsa Rosa's transfer into the Helvetic Confederation did not bring any danger to the Blues, apart from a small incident for Juanjo Lobato as he lost control and crashed with his right-hand knee against his own bike, needing medical assistance on course. The incident did not prevent the Andalusian from sprinting to 7th behind Sacha Modolo (LAM), as the peloton got split on the two final slopes in the last 30k, with Andrey Amador (34th) safely in the bunch to stay in fourth overall.
The Costa Rican remains 56" behind Aru (AST) before tomorrow's intriguing stage, the endurance route - including three huge climbs - to Cervinia on Friday and Saturday's grand finale over Finestre and Sestriere.
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