MADRID, 21 (EUROPA PRESS)
The organization of the Giro d’Italia, following the guidelines of the Extreme Meteorology Protocol commission of the ‘Corsa rosa’, and after meeting this Tuesday with teams and riders, has decided to neutralize the stage and avoid passing through the Umbrailpass, the point highest of this Italian round, due to bad weather conditions.
The intense cold, rain and snow in what should have been the Cima Coppi (the highest mountain pass on the route) has led the organization, after several meetings and some disagreements with the cyclists, to have chosen to neutralize the ascent to the Giogo di Santa Maria, also known as Umbrailpass and crowned at 2,498 meters above sea level.
A few minutes before the scheduled departure, the weather conditions worsened even more and it began to snow in Livigno, at 1,915 meters, so the Commission decided to opt for this neutralization.
Now, the stage will have its start and typical procedures in Livigno. From there, a march will begin towards the Munt Raschera tunnel and cyclists will stop and change clothes (if they choose) before crossing the Swiss border. The real start will finally be in Lasa, with a 118.4 kilometer stage.
Before opting to neutralize the stage, the organization (RCS) and the Association of Professional Cyclists (CPA) agreed on three options; The first, the one ruled out almost from the beginning, was to continue with the stage along its original route.
The second option was that three vehicles would distribute rain and cold jackets to runners who requested them, in order to give additional support to the runners through a broom car and race direction cars.
In this case and if the weather conditions worsened, a parking area would have been created at the top of the Umbrailpass pass (after 50.2 kilometers of the stage) to give cyclists the opportunity to change clothes, with a neutralization of 3 minutes of time.
However, despite the fact that this option was chosen – against the cyclists – this morning, the worsening of the weather led to the third option being chosen: In case of extreme weather conditions, the stage will be neutralized to a place where safety conditions are met.
2024-05-21 10:30:41
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