The organizers of the Giro d’Italia announced that they will reroute the 19th stage from Abbiategrasso to Alpe di Mera in order to avoid the ascent in the middle of the race on Mount Mottarone after 14 people, in a tragic cable car accident on Sunday, including at least one child who had died.
“After the tragic events of last Sunday in which the Mottarone cable car was involved – and in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Piedmont region and all the other institutions concerned decided to take the route of the 19th stage of Corsa Rosa to change. “RCS Sport wrote in a statement released Tuesday.
A minute’s silence was observed before the 16th stage on Monday to honor the 14 victims of the cable car accident.
The 19th stage, which is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 28th, will be 10 km shorter. The drivers start in Abbiategrasso before heading north towards Lake Maggiore and ascending to Orta San Giulio, Miasino and Armeno as previously planned, but then the Category 1 Mottarone. The race will instead proceed via the Category 4 climb to Gignese (83 km) before descending to Stresa.
The main field then follows the original route with an intermediate sprint in Baveno (107 km), an ascent over the Passo della Colma (127.4 km), another intermediate sprint in Scopetta (151.5 km), before reaching the summit of the Alpe di Mera (166 km) ends).
The route was originally designed for the ascent over the Mottarone, a 5.6 km long ascent with an average of 6.5 percent, which reaches the 85 km mark on the stage before going on the shores of Lake Maggiore to Gignese and then to Stresa falls off.
There is a popular cable car in the area that takes tourist passengers from the resort of Stresa to the top of Mottarone Mountain.
The accident with the cable car happened on Sunday around 12:30 p.m. local time. However, the cause of the incident remains unclear. Local reports suggest that the cable may have dropped out about 300m from the top of the mountain, with the hut falling 20m into the wooded area below.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has opened an investigation into the crash, calling it a “tragic accident”.
“I express the condolences of the entire government to the families of the victims, with a special thought for the seriously injured children and their families,” he said in a statement, the BBC reported.
