Preview: What you need to know about stage 13 of the 2022 Giro d’Italia
Preview: What you need to know about stage 13 of the 2022 Giro d'Italia
Date: Friday May 20
Start: San Remo
Finish: Cuneo
Distance: 150 km
By this point the riders are getting close to Italy’s mountainous northern reaches, where the hardest stages lie in wait. But stage 13, which starts in the iconic San Remo, isn’t particularly tough.
The Colle di Nava (10.3 km at 6.6%) is the only real difficulty for the day, but that comes within the first third of the stage. It seems likely the sprinters will be keen for a shot at the finish in Cuneo (a gradual, uphill drag) so a bunch sprint of some variety seems the most likely outcome.
Who’s it for: Probably the sprinters.
CyclingTips picks: This feels like a potential repeat of stage five, where Arnaud Demare’s Groupama-FDJ teamed up with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux and Alpecin-Fenix to get rid of Mark Cavendish and Caleb Ewan on an early climb, paving the way for Demare’s victory. The Colle di Nava is no joke, but it’s too far from the finish for a climber to find it particularly useful. Look for the teams with sprinters who can climb (a bit) to make it difficult. That means it’s a good stage for Demare, Fernando Gaviria, or even Mathieu van der Poel.
It’s the last chance for all sprinters for a while, though. So Cavendish and his team are likely to put in a serious chase to get back to the front. Whether they’re succesful is the big question.
