The eighth stage in the Giro d'Italia really breathes escapees. Along the way lie two third-category climbs, one fourth-category, and midway the riders must even conquer a first-category climb. Sprinters will see few opportunities today and GC riders won't think they can make a difference here, so there will be about a hundred riders in the peloton happy with this day. We immediately think of Wout Poels, but that has its reasons.

On Saturday, the riders will travel 197 kilometers through the Apennines. The starting gun is fired in Giulianova, which lies on the Adriatic coast in the east of the country, after which the riders head westward to the finish town of Castelraimondo.

The first sixty kilometers of the stage are still relatively easy. This will mean that we'll see a long battle for the early breakaway. Only after sixty kilometers do the riders reach the top of the first climb, as the peloton tackles Croce di Casale (8.6 km at 4.6%). By this time, a breakaway will have really ridden away.

After the Croce di Casale, the riders ride about thirty kilometers over hilly terrain, leading up to the biggest climb of the day: the Valico di Santa Maria Madalena (13.2 km at 7.2%), which goes to a height of almost 1500 meters and is provisionally the highest point in this Giro d'Italia. In the lead-up to the finale then also follows the Montelago (5.5 km at 7%).

Then it gets interesting: most of the elevation meters are behind them, while there are still a good forty kilometers to the finish in Castelraimondo. Differences can still be made on two uncategorized climbs. The first is to Castel Santa Maria (1.3 km at 7.4%) and the second to Gagliole (0.5 km at 11.9%). From this last climb, it's only six kilometers to the finish.

Is this a day for Poels? We already mentioned it in the introduction. The Limburger knows what it's like to win in Castelraimondo. He once won here in the Tirreno-Adriatico, although the finale was a bit tougher then.

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Castelraimondo(Macerata)