2023-05-19 14:44:43
After the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which will not take place on Sunday in Imola, it is the Tour of Italy which must bow to the dantesque weather and the rains which have been falling for several days in the North of the country. The organization has just announced the modification of the 13th stage, which was to take place between Borgofranco d’ivrea, in the Turin region and Crans-Montana, in Switzerland. The stage will finally start from the foot of the Col de la Croix de Cœur and will arrive in Crans-Montana. It will therefore take place entirely in the country of watchmaking and will only cover 74 kilometers against the 199 originally planned. The first planned pass, the Salita del Gran San Bernardo, will ultimately not be on the program. The departure, scheduled for 2:30 p.m., will finally be given at 3 p.m.
It was the runners, through their union, who asked the organizers this morning to modify the course. The state of the descents worried them. Riders have been riding with rain jackets on their backs for several days now. There have already been many slips on the wet road surface and some favorites have paid the price. On the 11th stage, the British Tao Geoghegan Hart, winner in 2020, was forced to retire after a fall in which the pink jersey Geraint Thomas and the Slovenian Primoz Roglic were also involved.
This Friday, the riders nevertheless took their bikes for the fictitious start before getting into their coach to reach the new place of the real start. However, this cut is not unanimous in the peloton. The Italian from Astana, Gianni Moscon, would have liked to run the stage in its entirety as he confided to Rai’s microphone, “It’s true that there is bad weather, it’s true that ‘we’re tired but I don’t think there were the conditions to shorten the stage. For me, you could run, so if anyone wanted to stop, they could. (…) If we don’t like it, we can change jobs. »
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