Giro d'Italia Stage 15 predictions, tips, odds and free bets (May 22, 2015)

Sunday, 22 May 2016 10:27
Written by David Bet

After the huge excitement on the queen stage of the race yesterday, Giro d’Italia Stage 15 returns to the Individual Time Trial (ITT), a 10.8 climb from Castelrotto to Alpe di Siusi. It will be 25 minutes of brutal intensity for the GC contenders.! Don't miss our GIRO D'ITALIA STAGE 15 preview including free predictions, odds, betting tips on Stage Winner, exclusive offers and no deposit bonuses!

GIRO D'ITALIA STAGE 15 BETTING PREVIEW

Stage 15 gives no respite to the riders as it's a 10.8km 'Cronoscalata' or mountain time trial. After a first false-flat drag (1800 metres), the route climbs steadily over the next 9km, with an average 8.3 per cent gradient. The climb is very regular and after a relatively easy start, the gradient stays around the 9% mark almost all the time. The final kilometres run entirely uphill, with constant slopes (avg. gradient: 8.0%, max. gradient: 11%), and on wide, well-paved roads.

Giro d'Italia Stage 15

The Mountain Time Trials often are Grand Tours deciding stages. In 2014 Quintana won the MTT and also won the General Classification while in 2013 it was Nibali who got the same results.

Yesterday, the queen stage confirmed what already seemed to be the case yesterday: that Vincenzo Nibali, Steven Kruijswijk and Esteban Chaves are the strongest climbers in the race.

Vincenzo Nibali is probably the best timetrialist among the climbers. He lost lost 37 seconds to Chaves and Kruijswijk yesterday but impressed with his final 15km. Riding by himself he managed to maintain the gap to those in front. The Shark need to go full gas as losing much more time could cost him any chance of winning his home Grand Tour.

Esteban Chaves and Steven Kruijswijk are the other two favorites for this stage. Both performed superbly yesterday and we expect anotther strong performance today.

Chaves is a pure climber, whereas Kruijswijk has a little more weight on his body. Chaves' time-trial skills are not great – he lost a lot of time on stage 9 but the Colombian is much better suited to short, punchy efforts. Kruijswijk is not a great ITT rider but he has the best form of his life and the "maglia Rosa" give extra motivation.

Alejandro Valverde and Andrey Amador simply do not have the legs to stay with their rivals. Both riders lost over 3 minutes yesterday and it is unlikely they will recover in few hours. Anyway, on one climb Alejandro Valverde can be very fast.

Ilnur Zakarin looked cooked yesterday dropping almost 3 minutes but he is a really good ITT rider and a strong climber too. Rigoberto Uran also is excellent against the clock while possessing strong climbing legs.

Bob Jungels has dropped down the classification in the last two days and we expect him to struggle on this steep climb despite his time-trial skills. Rafal Majka is anorther possible contender but he is best suited for long stages rather than a brutal climb like today's one.

Outsiders? Mikel Nieve won stage 13 and has been climbing well, Michele Scarponi, Tanel Kangert and Jakob Fuglsang will save energies to help Nibali in the upcoming stages, Diego Ulissi is strong on shorter climbs. Sebastian Henao finished 8th in the mountain time trial two years ago at a time when he was not nearly as strong as he is now.

Another interesting rider is Giulio Ciccone. He is a pure climber and should be able to do very well in a mountain time trial.

Primoz Roglic won the long time trial but, he is a pure climber and so he should be excellently suited to a mountain time trial. He he climbs really well and can do well in a short effort. This is our dark horse!

Giro D'Italia Stage 15 preview