2019 Giro d'Italia Stage 15 Live Coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 15 of the 2019 Giro d'Italia! Our live profile and commentary are below, followed by a preview of the technical aspects of the route.
Course Preview
At 232 kilometres, the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia runs from Ivrea to Como. Following a flat opening, the last 100 kilometres are played out on the route of Il Lombardia. The finale is a copy of the editions Vincenzo Nibali won - 2015 and 2017.
Ivrea is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the area is inhabited since the Neolithic era. These days the townspeople love to fight each other with oranges during the Battle of the Oranges, an old ritual of Ivrea Carnival. They also like to watch the Giro d’Italia, but it has been a while since the Italian Grand Tour visited the town in northwestern Italy. The last inclusion was in 2013 when Beñat Intxausti bested Tanel Kangert and Przemyslav Niemiec in a three-up sprint.
The 2019 Giro d’Italia will see a race start in Ivrea before the riders head to Como. Firstly, the route crosses the Po Plain – so it’s mostly flat – but the last 100 kilometres are something else. The Giro takes the shape of Il Lombardia when the race approaches Asso. Via Valbrona the riders drop down to Onno and following a section on the shores of Lago di Como the renowned Madonna del Ghisallo appears. It climbs 8.6 kilometres at 6.2 percent, yet this average is merely an indication. The Ghisallo welcomes the riders with its steepest section of 14 percent right at the bottom, and until kilometre 4 the grades are hovering around 9 percent. Then it levels out only to bounce back to 8 to 10 percent in the last 1.3 kilometres.
Next up is the Colma di Sormano. In Il Lombardia, this is the prelude to the inhumanly steep Muro di Sormano, but the Giro follows the regular road to the summit at 1,124 metres. This way the climb is 9.6 kilometres an averaging 6.5 percent.
Following a beautiful drop to Nesso, the riders turn left and race along the shores of Lago di Como. The route moves through Como for the first time before the final lap takes in two climbs. First, the Civiglio, which is a 4.2 kilometres climb at 9.8 percent with steepest ramps of 14 percent. The descent is technical and leads to the foot of the San Fermo della Battaglia. The 2.7 kilometres climb at 7.2 percent offers its steepest ramp at 10 percent just under the top. The leg concludes with a 5.3 kilometres downhill.
The 2015 and 2017 Tour of Lombardy featured the same finale. On both occasions, Vincenzo Nibali attacked just before the descent of the Civiglio and soloed to victory.
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