Preview - Giro d'Italia 2022 stage 18

One final opportunity for the sprinters at the Giro d'Italia. In the 18th day of racing, those who have resisted the mountains so far will be rewarded with a day where they can feast themselves on an almost completely flat stage. Almost…

The distances are small, which may favour a possible breakaway. Over the last few years there have been several occasions where the final sprint stage is battled between an escapee group, and whether that'll happen again or not depends on the strategy from the sprinter teams.

It wouldn’t be a Giro sprinter stage without a trap, and here it is this little climb. Well known, the Muro Di ca del Poggio is very short, only 1.1 kilometers in distance but it is an absolute wall. The run-up up to the climb will be very fast no matter how the race is, as the GC riders at the very least will try to be in the head of the peloton towards the base. It comes with only 49 kilometers to go, which is essentially an hour of racing for a peloton of this level. It is the only place in the stage where the riders will need the small ring, however it can deal so much damage onto the fast men who’ve made it so far into the race.

If not, then it will be hard to prevent a bunch sprint between the survivors. As the riders head into Treviso, they’ll be rewarded with flat and fast roads. It isn’t a technical one aswell, good for an organized chase if necessary, the final straight is essentially 2.6 kilometers long.

CyclingUpToDate prediction:

**** Arnaud Démare

*** Fernando Gaviria, Mark Cavendish

** Alberto Dainese, Phil Bauhaus, Simone Consonni

* Mathieu van der Poel, Vincenzo Albanese, Edward Theuns, Andrea Vendrame