Cycling: The eleventh stage of the Giro d'Italia has an interesting and varied profile. It is therefore unclear whether an outlier will be able to celebrate the day's victory tomorrow or whether it will be a classic sprinter. The executioners of the day are already in the first half of the race.
Executioner up to Pietracatella
The first half of the eleventh section looks like a tough mountain stage. After that, however, the profile flattens out so much that we can assume a mass sprint. The only mountain classification of the day will be in the small community Pietracatella taken off. But be careful: the climb belongs to the third category and is 8,4 kilometers and an average slope of 5,4 percent definitely a challenge. By then, at the latest, the breakaway group of the day will have formed and some teams could keep the pace high in order to outrun the sprinters who were quick at the end. It's definitely on the 207 km long stage from Foiano di val Fortore to Francavilla al Mare So it's not a classic mass sprint.
Velomotion forecast: Milan strikes again
It's surprising that jonathan milan has so far only won a single stage in this year's Giro d'Italia. Because the experts agree that the Italian is the fastest man in the peloton. Nevertheless, he was beaten twice, first by Tim Merlier, then from Olav Kooij. We can assume that tomorrow won't be easy for him either. But his team could make his job a lot easier by driving Merlier so tired on the climb to Pietracatella that he either doesn't take part in the finish sprint or is at least injured. Good cards should be good tomorrow too Phil Bauhaus have. The German usually gets into better shape in week two and should be able to get through the tricky first half of the race well. The same applies to Kaden Groves, who, with a stage win, would now actually be his turn.
* * * jonathan milan (Lidl – Trek)
** Caden Groves (Alpecin – Deceuninck), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious)
* Tim Merlier (Soudal – Quick Step), Caleb ewan (Jayco – AlUla), Alberto Dainese (Tudor)