Mountain stage of Giro d'Italia 2021 changed due to cable car crash
The incident happened on Sunday with the peloton taking a moment of silence before start stage 16 of the race
Stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia 2021 has been changed due to a cable car crash on Sunday (May 25), to keep fans away from the accident site and to keep potential Covid-19 cases away.
The stage was due to go over the Mattarone climb in the middle of the stage, where the tragic incident happened. 14 people lost their lives, one child survived with serious injuries. Therefore the race organisers and other groups involved in the region have agreed upon a new route for the stage, removing the mountain.
In a press release the race organisers said: "The Giro d'Italia Race Direction - following the tragic events of last Sunday that involved the Mottarone Cableway - and in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Piedmont Region and all the other institutions concerned, have decided to modify the route of Stage 19 of the Corsa Rosa."
This comes after pressure from the Turin regional council, reported in Varese Noi: "It is advisable to avoid the passage of the Giro d'Italia, in order to keep curious and possibly infected people with the coronavirus at a distance.
"In any case, at this moment of mourning."
New stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia 2021 profile
The stage was originally designed to celebrate the world time trial champion, Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), in his home region and will still take place in the same region, just over slightly different roads.
The original stage from Abbiategrasso to Alpe di Mera was 176km long, taking in three difficult climbs, including the Mattarone. But not the route, which starts and finishes in the same place is 166km long with the smaller Alpe Agogna being added.
This comes after stage 16 was altered due to extreme weather conditions, taking out two mountain passes of the Passo Fedaia and Passo Pordoi, which both hit over 2000 metres in altitude with temperatures around freezing.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
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