2013 Giro d'Italia Stage 18 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 18 of the 2013 Giro d'Italia! Our live time-trial times and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
BATTLE AGAINST THE CLOCK\nThe final stanza of the 2013 Giro begins with a punishing 19km cronoscalata in the hills east of Lake Garda. The gradients, an average of five percent and the final 6km at 6.8 percent, look better suited to the specialists than to the thoroughbred climbers. Though the time gaps won't be vast, it's conceivable they will determine the outcome of the race. A minute lost here may not seem a lot but in the context of the Giro, you never know. No question of the tactics, then, just 45 minutes of good old-fashioned suffering.
Stefano Zanatta says: "It's neither long nor particularly steep but a good run on this time trial will make a big difference as regards morale. If the sensations are good, it will give riders a real boost for the days to come and I have a feeling it will be particularly important for Nibali. I don’t expect huge gaps but by now the fatigue is really starting to accumulate."
Get our full coverage of the Giro d'Italia and every race we cover with our mobile app! The apps have over 100 additional exclusive features, including our award-winning Time Machine feature that lets you pause/rewind/replay the entire app to sync with delayed race video, integrated Fantasy Cycling, push notifications, an integrated news feed, live GPS tracking, world-class commentary, and our animated interactive maps and profiles.