Updated – Giro d’Italia aims to climb and descend Umbrail Pass despite rain and risk of snow
Extra support vehicles and possible neutrꩲalised clothing stop created to help riders
Update - 21st May 12:00 BST
Since the time of writing the Umbrail Pass has been the subject of chaos at the Giro.
After significant pushback from riders and teams due to concerns about racing in freezing rain and snow, race Giro d’Italia organiser RCS Sport has announced that the Umbrail Pass has been removed from the route of Stage 16.
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168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d’Italia organisers RCS Sport have confirmed that Tuesday’s 16th stage from Livigno to Santa Cristina Val Gardena will go ahead despite worsening weather fore🐭casts and a risk of heavy rain and cold temperatures for much of the day.
The 206km stage is due to descend from Livigno to Bormio via the Passo di Foscagno and then climb to 2,498 metres on the Paꦫsso dello Stelvio before turning left and descending the Umbrail Pass into Switzerland for a valley ride to the Val ꦍGardena finish. The summit of the Passo dello Stelvio had already been cut from the stage due to recent heavy snow and the risk of avalanches.
In recent years the riders, their CP🅰A riders association and RCS Sport have argued about riding in extreme weather conditions, sparking protests, tension and disruption to the racing.
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Last year the stage to Crans-Montana in Switzerland was reduced from 199km to just 74km and riders covered the Gran San Bernardo by team bus after 💦a risk of bad weather that never materialised. RCS Sport are keen for Tuesday's stage to go ahead as planned.
Cyclingnews understands that the riders were concerned about descending the Umbrail pass in close to freezing temperatures after being soaked by cold rain on the climb. They were in favour of cutting the Um🌄brail Pass from the stage and travel⛎ling to a new start point by bus after signing on in Livigno.
As per the UCI rules and the Extreme Weather Protocol, a special meeting was held on Monday afternoon in Livigno to av♛oid a repeat of the pol♏emica.
The meeting was attended by the chief UCI commissaire Joey Ermens, RCS Sport race director Mauro Vegni, race safety officer Stefano Allocchio, race doctor Massimo Branca, team representative David McPartland, who is a directeur sport൩if with Jayco AlUla, and Cristian Salvato of the Italian riders association, the official CPA representative for the Giro d’Italia.
However, after a vote, RCS Sport announced that the stage🔥 would go on as planned ‘If weather conditions are deemed normal’.
Cyclingnews understands tha𝕴t the stage will be reduced if the weather proves to be as bad as forecast.
It was also decided that an extra team car would be allowed in the race to better help riders, while the broom wagon and commissaire cars would help distribute extra clothꦕing.&✨nbsp;
A special ‘parking zone’ will be created at the summit of the Umbrail Pass, after 50km of the stage, and the race could be neutralised for t♑hree minutes to allow riders to change clothing.
The official communique from RCS sport sai🌠d: “In thജe event of extreme weather conditions, the stage will be neutralised up to a place where the safety conditions are met.”
There is no detail on how it is decided that ‘extreme weather conditions’ exist, when ‘safety conditions are met' or how the riders will be🙈 protected a𝔍nd transported if the stage is neutralised high on the Umbrail Pass.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.