Enjoyed the Giro so far? Whatever we’ve thought of the race so far today is a big change with the distance, high mountains and also the arrival of bad weather… although Pogačar could just extend his lead.

Stage 14 Review: Filippo Ganna won. Predictable… but there was suspense. Magnus Sheffield started fast but began to fade, and then crashed. Tadej Pogačar was matching the Italian champion on the course for the first half but the second half suited the bulkier specialist and the race leader finished second.

In the “fight for pink” Pogačar extended his lead by a minute, with Geraint Thomas now his closest rival at 3m41s as the Welshman surpassed Dani Martinez. Thymen Arensman was third on the stage and the big gainer on GC, overtaking climbers to go from 10th to 6th overall. This hardly puts him in a winning position but he’s back as a second card to play for Ineos when it comes to the podium or even a long range move to scare UAE.

If the outcome was expected, the win was special to Ganna, his first Giro stage win since 2021; he was beaten by Evenepoel in the opener last year and then left the race. He broke down in tears on TV trying to explain what it meant to him and the gratitude to the crowd and his team was sincere.

The Route: 220km, the longest in the race and 5,400m of vertical gain. On paper today is the biggest stage of the race although the way the climbs are spaced apart makes it a marathon, a test of endurance.

Up the valley up the start before the climb to Lodrino, “only” a third category climb today but a mountain pass all the same and the Cocca di Lodrino has some steeper sections midway to help the breakaway go clear.

The Colle San Zeno is a tiny road whose road isn’t the steady slope the profile suggests, it’s irregular and hard going. The descent is a bit wider and more regular and leads to the valley floor and then there’s 60km up the valley.

The Mortirolo is tackled via the “easy” side from Monno but it’s still a very tough climb and this means the harder side has to be descended. The climb is often with double-digit gradients and twists and turns up. The descent is steep and irregular but this far out from the finish hopefully nobody feels compelled to risk things.

The comes more valley roads and then the Foscagno climb. This is a very regular climb on a wide road, the odd one out among the climbs today.

The Finish: The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially “Milano-Cortina” but Livigno is in on the games too and the freestyle ski and snowboard events will happen here, more precisely on the Mottolino ski piste. Once at the Passo di Eira theren’s a turning onto the ski run. Is it a road? There’s tarmac but it looks like a truck fell over spilled asphalt spilled down the slope, the steep pitch brings to mind the Planche des Belles Filles but at over 2,000m and on the flanks of the mountains there’s a touch of last year’s Tour finish on the altiport at Courchevel.

The Contenders: Tadej Pogačar (UAE) is the obvious safe pick today, a stage win today leaves him going into the rest day in a very comfortable position. However his team won’t have it easy to control things all day and the breakaway has a great chance of making it to contest the win.

Climbers with a shot at the win include Michael Storer (Tudor) who can ride for himself but he’s 11th overall so Bahrain and others might chase if he starts to pull away, even more so for the likes of Romain Bardet, just eighth at seven minutes.

Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) is half an hour down on GC but could be saved for helping leader Ben O’Connor. J-P Lopez (Lidl-Trek) has been ill but is feeling better now. Giulio Pellizzari (VF), Jefferson Cepeda (EF) are climbers with an outside chance while Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain) is the local pick hailing from the start but his team are fully committed to Tiberi’s cause so he may not be able to play his card.

| | – | | | Pogačar, Storer | | | VPP, Cepeda, Rubio, Lopez |

Weather: sunshine at the start but rain forecast for later. 17°C in the valleys, colder higher up.

TV: KM0 is at 10.40am CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. This could be a slow burn day but tune in from the start and think of having it on in the background.

Postcard from Livigno
Livigno is often used for altitude training camps by a range of athletes from footballers to swimmers but for cyclists it’s the summer only given the wintry weather from November to May. Tadej Pogačar came here to prepare for the Tour de l’Avenir while an amateur and he’s been back with the UAE team since.

Sitting at 1,816m above sea level Livigno is roughly at the useful starting point needed; there are higher hotels to stay nearby and a range of roads above 2,000m including some flat ones for time trial training.

Altitude training is still an inexact science. The original thinking was that altitude creates hypoxia from the “lack of oxygen” or more accurately the reduced partial pressure and so the body responds by producing more red blood cells. This allows an athlete to transport more oxygen and so their aerobic abilities increase. This is still the case, but these gains can take three weeks and once the athlete leaves altitude the stimulus stops and the precious red blood cell count drops off. These gains vary too, some respond more than others.

However the altitude training is now seen to have much wider benefits. The ability to handle “lactate” or hydrogen ions can be improved by altitude training. There are efficiency gains too in the muscle cell’s ability to handle the reduced amount of oxygen available, the body learns to do more with less. Also riding at altitude trains riders for racing at altitude as well, the ability to deliver efforts at altitude improves. This matters as a the key moments in grand tours, particularly the Giro and Tour de France, are often at altitude.

This helps explain why altitude training camps play an important role even if riders can use “altitude tents” at home (although they are banned in Italy). Tents can help boost red blood cells but the wider benefits from altitude and can last longer than the blood values which explains why doing a camp weeks long a grand tour can pay off in the final week of the race. Camps also mean riders are under direct supervision and the ascetic environment means there are few distractions. So while Pogačar races to Livigno today he could well be back in June as part of his bid for the Tour de France.

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