Yates has Giro lead halved by Dumoulin’s late burstSign up and get The Recap, our weekly email of editors’ picksEmail Barry or tweet @bglendenning to get in touch 11.49am BST They’re racing in Stage 19: The 158-strong peloton rolled out of Veneria Reale, went through the neutral zone and were given the all-clear to start racing and are now 36 kilometres into the stage as they negotiate the first of the day’s categorised climbs - the Cat 2 Colle Del Lys. Androni Giocattoli’s Marco Frapporti has tried and failed to launch an early attack and the group is still together. 11.16am BST From the Giro d’Italia 2018 website: The last summit finish awaits the peloton after a full mountain stage. Shortly after the start, the route climbs to the top of Colle del Lys (from Viù). After dropping into the Dora Riparia valley and reaching Susa, the route climbs once more to the top of Colle delle Finestre. The Colle delle Finestre (Cima Coppi) has a steady 9.2% gradient throughout (with just a short punchy bit in Meana di Susa topping out at 14%). The first 9 km are on tarmac, while the last 9 km is a gravel road, all the way to the summit.Twenty-nine hairpins are tucked in less than 4 km over the first part of the climb (45 hairpins overall until the summit). The descent is very technical as the roadway is narrow and initially unprotected, up to Pian dell’Alpe. As the route goes back onto the ss. 23, the climb is resumed with do-able gradients all the way to the finish. A long uncomplicated climb follows, leading to the Sestriere categorised summit. 11.16am BST Simon Yates leads the Giro d’Italia by 28 seconds from Tom Dumoulin. Italy’s Domenico Pozzovivo is in third place, while Chris Froome is 3min 22sec off the pace in fourth. 11.16am BST Sean Ingle was in Prato Nevosa for the Guardian yesterday and here’s his dispatch from the front line. Related: Simon Yates has Giro d’Italia lead halved by Tom Dumoulin’s late burst 9.51am BST Twenty-eight seconds. That’s the slender lead Simon Yates has in this year’s Giro by after seeing his lead over Tom Dumoulin halved in yesterday’s Stage 18 from Abbiategrasso to Prata Nevoso. Upon being asked if this might signal the beginning of the end of his attempt to win the race, the Michelton-Scott rider from Bury was less than bullish with his response. “It’s a good question,” he said. “I don’t know. I hope not. We’ll see.”We certainly will and after nearly 2,000 miles of racing across 20 days, the outcome of this year’s Giro remains very much up in the air with just three stages remaining. Taking in the Colle Delle Finestre today’s 184km slog from Venaria Reale to Bardonecchia is the most difficult and attritional of the race and could not come at more perfect time – the day after the maglia rosa has shown his first signs of weakness. Don’t touch that dial. Continue readingread full article
