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After rider rebellion at hazardous weather, shortened Giro stage starts / Photo: © AFP
After rider rebellion at hazardous weather, shortened Giro stage starts
The 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia started three hours late on Tuesday after riders' fury at demands they race through snow, for a shortened run of 118.4 km.
Riders were supposed to begin the 202-kilometre mountain stage between Livigno and Santa Cristina Val Gardena at 11:20am (0920 GMT) but plans were changed after hours of discussion, confusion and anger within the peloton and the race began at 2:30pm.
The stage was twice shortened due to the hazardous conditions, after a rider rebellion against organisers who pushed for a full day's racing.
Shortly before noon in Italy, organisers RCS had said that riders were supposed to start a parade around snow-covered Livigno before heading to Prati allo Stelvio, 121km from the finish, where the stage proper would get underway at around 2:00pm.
But there was no-one at the start line despite RCS's insistence on a start in Livigno, where local authorities had paid to have a Giro stage start in the ski resort.
"The riders are united on the issue," Adam Hansen, president of the riders' union, told broadcaster Eurosport.
He said the teams had voted and "they have unanimously stated they will not participate in the stage under the current conditions."
The start was moved down to the valley and pushed back three hours so riders did not have to take the Giogo di Santa Maria pass, where the snow was falling heavily.
The peloton assembled in the shelter of a petrol station before setting off, swaddled in rain gear, for the shortened run.
Organisers face further problems with their route before the Giro ends in Rome on Sunday. There are mountain stages through the Alps and Dolomites scheduled for Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and more bad weather is forecast.
Ben O'Connor, who is fourth in the overall standings, called the Giro "one of the worst organised races".
"This would never happen in 99 percent of other situations," Australian O'Connor told Eurosport.
"It's just a shame that it is 2024 and you have dinosaurs who really don't see the human side of things."
French climber Valentin Paret-Peintre said that the peloton would only ride the full stage if RCS's race chiefs "drive it in a convertible", while two-time world champion Julian Alaphilippe joked that he would spend the day "making snowmen".
Difficult weather and sometimes bitter disputes about whether or not certain stages should take place are a regular feature of the Giro.
Tadej Pogacar leads the general classification.by over six minutes.
P. Hansen--BTZ
