From Etna yesterday to one of the most northerly points in Italy today, with a mountain time trial on the Plan de Corones. Travelling between distant locations never has been an issue in the MG world, all that matters is how fast these 13 kilometres can be climbed.
Early Riders
This is a stage 19 mountain time trial, with riders setting off in reverse general classification order. It goes without saying then, that the early riders are not going to be a threat - and are hardly worth noticing.
Some useful insight can be drawn though. Mikhail Ignatiev has only 66 MO, but as he goes through the first checkpoint he is in 2nd place. 4 seconds behind Heider, 3 seconds in front of Affonso, and 6 up on Sergis. Fellow time triallist, and even weaker climber Fiedler was through the check point only 13 seconds behind Heider.
These gaps are much changed by the finish. Heider is eventually 14 seconds faster than Affonso and 15 seconds faster than Sergis. Ignatiev was 1'06 behind the Puma rider, Fiedler 1'23.
So it's clear that time trial stat does have some influence, at least in the first half of the stage - but the second half is certainly all about climbing skill.
The first impressive time came from the former maglia rosa Vosekalns. He now finds himself in 57th overall, having been hindered by a crash and injury after his spell in pink - but now seems to be back towards his normal condition. He beats the all previous finishers by more than a minute.
43rd overall Brown got inisde a minute, but still 54 seconds behind. 42nd overall Maillet was closer, but still at 28 seconds.
38th overall Kennaugh was at least 17 seconds up on Vosekalns at the first checkpoint (unsure on exact amount) - but he too was slower at the finish, by 19 seconds. With Carthy at 29 seconds, and Ablenado at 52, the Latvian leads as we go into the final 35 riders.
35 to 30
The next 6 riders on GC are currently placed as:
30
Nikita Novikov
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 39'46
31
Tyron Giogieri
Moser - Sygic
+ 40'17
32
Volodymyr Dzhus
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 41'21
33
Vegard Stake Laengen
Aker - MOT
+ 42'03
34
Benjamin Dyball
Jayco - Cobra9
+ 42'12
35
Sigurd Nesset
Aker - MOT
+ 42'39
Two riders from this selection stood out today: Nesset and Giogieri.
The Norwegian and Albanian were the only ones to come close to Vosekalns - and in fact they did beat him. Nesset is the new stage leader, 3 seconds ahead of Giogieri and 5 seconds ahead of Vosekalns.
Canty at 40 seconds, Laengen 58, Dzhus 55 and Novikov 56. Aker teammates Nesset and Laengen now swap positions on GC, while Giogieri is up into the Top 30 at the expense of Novikov.
29 to 24
24
Tobias Ludvigsson
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 30'40
25
Rafel Majka
eBuddy
+ 31'00
26
Thomas Lövkvist
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 34'14
27
Petr Ignatenko
Tinkoff Sport Academy
+ 37'08
28
Patrick Konrad
Gazelle
+ 37'28
29
Borislav Ivanov
Podium Ambition
+ 38'11
Nesset's time continues to hold up against the next 6 riders. Lövkvist and Ignatenko aside, the four others have gained time (or avoided losing time) by being in breakways or mid-stage attacks. So it is perhaps no surprise that they are a little slower than others behind them on GC, who are better climbers, just haven't been extended those some freedoms.
Ignatenko the fastest of these riders, going 4th at 13 seconds, nearly catching Konrad who finished at 1'15.
Lövkvist went 6th at 28, while there were losses of 42 for Ivanov, 51 for Majka and 57 for Ludvigsson. Some changes in gaps then, but no changes in any of the GC positions.
23 to 19
The next five all have their targets set on the final two positions in the Top 20, which is likely to be the highest available to them. It is close between them all, except for Kirsch, with a 4 minute jump then to 18th.
19
Fabio Aru
eBuddy
+ 26'27
20
Richard Antonio Carapaz
Hugo Boss
+ 26'54
21
Yuriy Vasyliv
Festina - Dexia
+ 27'10
22
Paolo Scarponi
Nemiroff - ABBYY
+ 27'25
23
Alex Kirsch
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 30'22
Kirsch, Scarponi and Vasyliv all register very similar times - three, two and one seconds slower than Nesset.
If Carapaz were here as a team leader, he would probably be better than 20th right now - but Hugo Boss have had the race lead responsibility for a long time now, and so the Ecuadorian's race has been devoted to his South American teammate. No surprise to see him take the lead then, by 17 seconds.
Carapaz is actually only the fourth best '2nd rider' on the standings, and one of those better than him is Fabio Aru. He is 16 seconds slower than Carapaz today.
So Carapaz slightly pushes out his advantage for 20th spot - and now moves to 11 seconds behind Aru for 19th.
18 to 14
The next five riders all look secure in the Top 20, but will need to surpass previous riders if they are to really threaten the Top 10 - so the Top 15 may well be their sensible target.
14
Steven Kruijswijk
Gazelle
+ 18'23
15
Gianluca Brambilla
eBuddy
s.t.
16
Daan Olivier
Aegon - Lavazza
+ 19'21
17
Sergei Kolesnikov
Ferrero - Samruk
+ 20'50
18
Davide Formolo
Gazelle
+ 22'36
All four of the others will feel they ought to be finishing ahead of Kruijswijk, with the Dutchman there thanks to breakaways. He, along with Kolesnikov, are the rare climbers who have a very good flat stat amongst climbing skills - and they are showing why that is so valuable.
Formolo started brightly, but has slipped back a little in the GC. If he becomes Gazelle's breakaway rider tomorrow then he could be a dangerous option. Today he goes 2nd, 3 seconds behind Carapaz.
This is Kolesnikov's 8th consecutive grand tour, and he has always finished in the Top 22 - with 5 out of 7 Top 20s, and three Top 15s. That included 12th in last year's Giro, and 14th the year before. He is 12 seconds off Carapaz.
Daan Olivier hasn't has a final week to match last year's Giro just yet, but he does set the new fastest time. 6 seconds up on Carapaz.
It doesn't last long, because Gianluca Brambilla chops off another 2 seconds.
Kruijswijk doesn't even finish in the provisional Top 10, losing 48 seconds. He went into the stage level on time with Brambilla, but clearly is losing 14th place today.
And almost losing 15th too. Olivier moves to within 12 seconds of his compatriot.
13 to 10
While it is hard to predict where König and Bongiorno could end up in GC, being 'out of place' after there breakaway success, the next four riders to finish are all targeting that minimum of 10th place - currently held with a bit of an advantage, by Nibali.
10
Vincenzo Nibali
Pendleton's
+ 15'34
11
Andrew Talansky
Podium Ambition
+ 17'03
12
Fredrik Strand Galta
Aker - MOT
+ 17'21
13
Rafael Reis
Porto - Prio
+ 17'36
Reis and Galta have a particularly interesting battle. They are similar riders, and both riding by far the best grand tour of their careers to date. Both being 25 years old too, they are eligible for the young rider competition, and battling for 2nd place there.
Galta started the fastest of the two, being 2 seconds up at the checkpoint. But Reis has the 'carrot-on-a-stick' of nearly catching Kruijswijk at the finish.
It's a new lead time for Reis, 18 seconds ahead of Brambilla. But as with Olivier, the lead doesn't last long. Galta goes 7 seconds faster, extending his advantage to 22.
The new GC will see a rider in between them too. Talansky has ridden a consistent and strong race so far, and although going in with the 3rd fastest time, the 20 seconds lost to Galta is two too many. So the Norwegian now holds 11th.
Could any of the three close down that larger gap to Nibali?
Not today. Nibali is 6 seconds faster than Galta at the finish. For him, 10th place is the minimum acceptable result for the final couple of days, and he hopes to move up on some of those in the next group.
9 to 5
König and Bongiorno jumped up to these positions and now face a fight to hold on.
5
Francesco Bongiorno
Team Puma - SAP
+ 11'39
6
Yonathan Monsalve
Ayubowan!
+ 12'08
7
David Abal
Spotify - Haglöfs
+ 12'38
8
Leopold König
Vesuvio - Accumalux
+ 13'54
9
Mattia Cattaneo
Wiesenhof-Andritz
+ 14'00
Cattaneo showed good form yesterday, and a mountain time trial should favour him. After winning the prologue, he probably envisaged himself being higher than 9th at this point.
And a strong ride today, of course becoming the new leader, 27 seconds faster than Nibali.
He only needed to gain 6 seconds on König for 8th place today, and in the end the Czech rider lost 1'03. It sounds bad, but actually places him between Olivier and Carapaz, so where you would expect him to be. Nibali now just over a minute behind - but there's 3 minute back to 11th place.
Onto the battle for 5th, separated by 59 seconds at the start of the day.
David Abal can't compete with Cattaneo, but does beat Nibali. 19 seconds back.
He has battled with Yonathan Monsalve throughout - with the Venezuelan just gaining a little bit of time yesterday. Today the Ayubowan rider is 1 second faster than the Spotify rider.
Bongiorno almost finds himself getting caught by Henao, as he finishes 1'04 behind Cattaneo - so 1 second after König.
This means that Monsalve is now back into the Top 5. 17 seconds ahead of Bongiorno, with a further to Abal.
4 to 1
1
Jose Alarcon
Hugo Boss
74h40'27
2
Peter Velits
Moser - Sygic
+ 4'48
3
Lachlan Morton
Jayco - Cobra9
+ 6'11
4
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Ferrero - Samruk
+ 7'39
Off the high of yesterday's stage win, Henao Montoya is now eyeing up a podium position. A career high that might not have been expected, following his switch to the PCT this year.
He was 4 seconds slower than Cattaneo at the checkpoint, but fights back on the climb. And he finishes on the same time as the Italian, not losing any time to him - but being given 2nd place, so not quite enough. These small margins could be key, in the battle for the Points classification, if not the podium.
Now for the final three. They were expected to be the big three, prior to the race, and they are indeed holding the podium positions right now.
And just 4 seconds separates the trio at the first checkpoint.
Lachlan Morton went a second faster than Cattaneo.
But Peter Velits was faster - by 4 seconds.
And it was 2nd at the split for Jose Alarcon, 1 second down.
A stage win here would be a big deal for both Morton and Velits - the Slovak having already been 2nd a couple of times. It would be a 4th win for Alarcon, and a great show of confidence the signs of weakness a few stages ago were not permanent.
Here they come to the finish.
Morton beats Cattaneo by 6 seconds.
Velits beats Morton by 10 seconds!
And Alarcon ... wins the stage by 12 seconds!
He will go into the final mountain stage with a 5 minute advantage on Velits, 6'33 on Morton and 8'07 on Henao. He also extends his other leads. Up to 25 on Henao for Points, and 32 on Majka for KoM.
Hugo Boss were the best team today, but with only 16 seconds gained on Ferrero - who remain over 8 minutes ahead of them. Gazelle lost over 2 minutes to both, slipping back a little in 2nd.
So now we look to Stage 20, which is the hardest mountain stage of the race. As we've seen, many GC gaps are a matter of seconds - but minutes could easily be won and lost tomorrow, so there is a lot of action to expect.
