We’ve touched the snow in the Giro d’Italia. It was only a matter of time before the race would find the snowy slopes of the Alps but it was still a ‘special moment’ according to Davide Cimolai.

The Italian local hero is slowly but steadily leaving his home region. After a few stages close to his home, the Giro is now heading to the west of the country. “It was amazing to see so many fans around,” Cimo said. “I saw many people out supporting me, many shouting my name and I received a lot of support on social media. It was an emotional and special period of time.”

In stage 18, Dani Navarro tried to make it to the break-away of the day. A few times he had a small gap, but the peloton chased him and his fellow escapees down. Despite a couple of tries, the Spanish climber, unfortunately, missed out on making the group that did get a gap and eventually made it to the line.

Israeli road race champion Guy Sagiv is nearing Milan, the scene of the final stage in the Giro d’Italia. Together with his teammates, including the two mustache-boys Rick Zabel and Matthias Brändle, he easily made it within the time cut.

“It was a long day”, said Sagiv, “It was more than 200 kilometers with plenty of climbing, typical for the third week of the Giro.”

We keep climbing tomorrow. It is uphill straight from the start and the riders will have to get over the famous Passo dello Stelvio (2746 meters).