The Giro d'Italia has been under very bad weather and today's stage has been changed the most. Two times now, the day will have 74 kilometers in length but will still feature a treacherous descent which can be dangerous due to snowmelt.
“The reason we didn't want to do the middle climb was because of the potentially dangerous tarmac on the descent. And then you don't have time to put on extra jackets,” Haig said this morning. The Col de Gran San Bernardino and it's descent were removed from the route, however the worries emerge from elsewhere. Whilst at the summit of Croix de Coeur the heavy rain isn't present as was the case at the initially planned start of the stage, the new modest tarmac and extensive patches of snowmelt which get the road wet at different points will make it difficult to handle.
The Australian, who sits 11th in the overall classification, will have today a key day in understanding his true GC ambitions and despite the more than half of the stage being cut it will still feature very hard terrain where big gaps can be opened. Haig isn't too happy with the situation, the riders will be on their rollers before the new start of the stage at the base of Croix de Coeur.
“We now start at the foot of the climb, where we will race full and therefore warm up. And then you get a dangerous descent where riders will try to rejoin the group in front of them. So I don't understand the compromise," he concluded.
Given the adverse weather conditions, especially on the Italian side, the Commission decided to meet the athletes' requests by applying the Extreme Weather Protocol. Stage 13 will be shortened with the new km 0 being set at Le Chable, at the bottom of the Croix de Couer. The…
