Giro d'Italia: Trentin Takes Surprise Win & Stage 19 Preview

Stage 18 Review

In spectacular fashion Italian sprinter Matteo Trentin of Etixx-QuickSTEP surprises the breakaway group as if he appeared out of no where to take the win.

A muscular climb through the narrow cobbled city streets made for great spectating. Gianluca Brambilla and Moreno Moser tussled as they moved clear of the chasing group with the finish only a few kilometers away. However, Brambilla’s Italian Etixx teammate had the strength to make contact and bury the two with a sprint to the line in the famous city of Pinerolo.

Trentin takes a sneaky look back to make sure he's got it in the bag. Photo by Sirotti — Trentin takes a sneaky look back to make sure he’s got it in the bag. Photo by Sirotti

Kruijswijk remains in the pink leaders jersey as he stays three minutes clear of Chaves before the back-to-back mountain stages on Friday and Saturday.

Matteo Trentin on the top step of the podium at Stage 18 of the Giro. Photo by Sirotti

Brambilla and Trentin in the bunch as they leave the city of Muggio at the start of the day. Photo by Sirotti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3O05CUZpR8

Stage 18 Podium
1. Matteo Trentin (Ita) – Etixx – Quick-Step – 5:25:34
2. Moreno Moser (Ita) – Cannondale Pro Cycling
3. Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) – Etixx – Quick-Step
4. Sacha Modolo (Ita) – Lampre – Merida – 0:00:20
5. Nikias Arndt (Ger) – Team Giant-Alpecin – 0:00:30

General Classification after Stage 18
1. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) – Team LottoNl-Jumbo – 73:50:37
2. Esteban Chaves (Col) – Orica-GreenEdge – 0:03:00
3. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) – Movistar Team – 0:03:23
4. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) – Astana Pro Team – 0:04:43
5. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) – Team Katusha – 0:04:50
6. Rafal Majka (Pol) – Tinkoff Team – 0:05:34
7. Bob Jungels (Lux) – Etixx – Quick-Step – 0:07:57
8. Andrey Amador (CRc) – Movistar Team – 0:08:53
9. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) – AG2R La Mondiale – 0:10:05
10. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) – Dimension Data – 0:11:15

Stage 19 – PINEROLO – RISOUL, 162km

The route

This is a high mountain stage featuring a summit finish, and “home” to the Cima Coppi. The route runs constantly uphill (on deceptively flat roads) over 80km, all the way up to Casteldelfino. Here the road starts to climb up Colle dell’Agnello (Cima Coppi, 2744m). The following 40km run mostly downhill and lead to Guillestre, at the foot of the final climb. There are a few tunnels around km 135.

Final kms

The last 13km run entirely uphill, with an average 7% gradient and 15 hairpins. The roadway is very wide and well surfaced. The home straight, 150m in length, on a 6m wide asphalt road, has an 8% uphill gradient.