This is the new route for stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia 2021
The route had to be changed due to very poor weather on the Passo Fedaia and Passo Pordoi
The 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2021 has had to be shortened from 212km to 153km, taking out two of the three massive climbs that were meant to be used.
RCS, the Giro organiser, confirmed the decision to change the profile of the stage due to heavy snow and rain on the mountains that are over 2000 metres high. This means the stage will only have two climbs in it, La Crossetta and the new Cima Coppi the Passo Giau.
Originally, the Passo Pordoi was set to be the race's Cima Coppi, which is the name for the highest point in the race, awarding 50 points in the mountains standings to the rider who goes over it in first.
That was to be paired with three category one climbs which give 40 points out to the first rider over the top. Now there is just a single category one climb and the new highest point is the Passo Giau.
>>> Giro d'Italia stage 16 shortened and climbs taken out due to extreme weather
Head of RCS, the race organiser, Mauro Vegni said: "Our first objective is to ensure the riders reach Milan safely,
"The weather conditions could be good but we don't know how the forecast will go. We decided it was more important to do a shorter intense stage rather than face a complex situation, that’s why we’ve cut the two long descents.
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"We can’t cancel all the stage, there’s always some risks involved in racing.
"Now they’ll only risk during the last 10km, on the descent of the Passo Giau to Cortina, we’ve cut out the other long descents and we think we’ve protected the riders and the stage.
"We’re all given up something and the riders have agreed to race the reduced stage.
"The one condition we had during the talks and when accepting the changes was that the stage finished in Cortina. The option of taking the times at the summit of the Passo Giau doesn't exist now. The stage will go to the finish in Cortina."
The new route now misses out a loop that contained the Fedaia and Pordoi and instead continues to climb up to the Giau instead. The race still begins on the category one climb of La Crossetta.
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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.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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