Another nasty stage last night. Knowing that it started with a 30 kilometre climb Vicki made sure she did a good warm up before hand. Sure enough the US team drove it from the gun and shattered the bunch.
Vicki is slowly improving. She hung onto the front bunch, looking after her team mate Ashleigh, until the 20 kilometre mark and then, in her own words, popped. I know popping 20 kilometres into a 90 kilometre stage doesn’t sound good but it was 20 kilometres of climbing with some of those 45-kilo-when-soaking-wet climber types driving it.
Vicki found herself in a workman (workwoman?) like group of the same girls she has been climbing with in the last few stages. They were rolling around well until Vicki got the call from the Lotto Director to stop pulling turns because Ashliegh had been dropped from the front group and one of the girls with Vicki was close to Ash on GC. Vicki always feels guilty if she just sits on – her work ethic is just too strong for her own good – but I figure it was probably good for her to have a bit of a ‘rest’.
In the end Vicki finished 25th on the stage, retaining her 25th place on GC.
Tonight’s stage is just insane! It finishes on the Stelvio pass which is one of the most famous climbs in Italy. Sure, the girls are racing the “easy” side but easy is a relative term!! Weather can be a big factor too. Vicki and I were going to reccy the climb a few weeks back whilst I was in Europe but the weekend we had set aside saw blizzard conditions and road closures in the pass. Vicki might be hard as nails but I do this riding malarkey for fun… and that just didn’t sound like fun.
To give you an idea of the climb have a look at this footage.
Two things to note on the video… the first is that, as usual, the camera flattens the climb. If you want to get an idea of the gradient pay attention as the camera is coming to a switchback. If you look at the road coming out of the turn you can see how quickly it gains height. The second thing to note is how the drivers interact with cyclists. If they come up to a cyclist at a place where there is no opportunity to pass then they actually sit behind until it is safe to do so Well sort of safe - they do play chicken with the on-coming traffic but my point is that they don’t just mow the cyclist down as happens all too often here in Aus. I’m missing Italian drivers already!
A great description of the stage can be found on Podium Cafe (it’s where I found the footage).
Tonight will pretty much settle the General Classification for this year’s Giro. I expect that Vicki will finish in the 20s or 30s again and just be glad to have made it. (She has said that she has been enjoying the scenery – obviously not working hard enough!! 
)
God bless,
Dave