BARCELONA, 23 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Giro d’Italia faces its last week and there is little room for conformism and for going to see them come, with the mythical Mortirolo on his way to the finish line in Aprica this Tuesday, the passage through the Marmolada and the final time trial, with climb including, in Verona willing to be the judges of this 105th edition of the ‘Corsa Rosa’ currently led by Richard Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers).

After the last day of rest, the race resumes with a five-star stage, which many consider the ‘queen’. It will be 202 kilometers with 5,250 meters of accumulated difference in altitude between Salò and Aprica, in a day without an uphill finish but which can, if the peloton wants, be historic.

And it would be for climbing the Goletto di Cadino –absent since 1998 and Pantani’s fiefdom–, the always demanding and necessary Passo del Mortirolo and a climb to Santa Cristina where in the past a Pantani-Indurain duel was seen that was left to the annals of history.

The Passo de Mortirolo (12.6 kilometers at 7.6 percent) will also be climbed from the Monno side, along a road that becomes narrow and steep 3 kilometers from the summit. And after the final climb of the Valico di Santa Cristina there will be a fast and demanding descent to then reach the finish line after a final stretch at 3 percent where the rest will be thrown.

The next day, the seventeenth stage between Ponte di Legno and Lavarone, of 168 kilometers, can be attractive due to its atypical route, divided into two mountainous parts and with a climb at the start, as soon as the flag is lowered. A long descent will take the peloton to the second stage, with three climbs –including Passo del Vetriolo (1st) and Monterovere (1st)– and a final climb up.

In this stage, the Vetriolo pass will be climbed on one side that cannot be seen and the Menador climb will go through its closed curves and typical tunnels excavated in the rock for war reasons. It will be the previous one to the port of Monterovere, where to warm up legs for an arrival where only the strongest will arrive in the lead.

After these two mountain days, the eighteenth stage will be the last opportunity for a clear breakaway or sprint finish, with a day that will go downhill lightly between Borgo Valsugana and Treviso, over 156 kilometres.

The excursion to the Slovenia of the absent Tadej Pogacar or Primoz Roglic will also mark part of this Giro 2022. It will be in the stage between Marano Lagunare and the Santuario di Castelmonte, over 177 kilometers and with a difference of 3,230 meters.

A stage with pitfalls and a high finish –in ‘low walls’ of 14 percent on the ascent to the sanctuary– and with an unprecedented port, the Slovenian Mount Kolovrat, with 10 kilometers at almost 10 percent of average slope and sections various maximums of 15 percent, despite the fact that it includes a flat stretch to breathe.

And the Dolomites could not miss the appointment, which will have a stage to remove the hiccups between Belluno and Marmolada, with 168 kilometers and 4,490 meters of accumulated difference in altitude, which will also be the last top finish of the Giro d’Italia 2022.

It will be a last triptych of climbs with the San Pellegrino Pass (slopes of more than 15 percent after Falcade), followed by the Pordoi Pass (Cima Coppi 2022, the highest peak of the entire route) and, finally, the Fedaia Pass with the famous Malga Ciapela from the front in the Marmolada, absent 14 years in the Giro and who always has slopes of more than 10 percent and reaches almost 19 maximum.

The Giro d’Italia 2022 will end in the city of Verona with an individual time trial of 17.4 kilometers with a fourth category ascent that could change the individual general and be the final judge of the ‘Corsa rosa’, if it is not already decided previously.

The runners will be measured in this last stage to a route through the streets of Verona that includes a 5 percent climb with an average gradient and “steps” with large ramps, which will give way to 4 kilometers of descent to face the last 3,000 meters by the city, until the arrival in Piazza Bra and the Arena.

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