The traditional Emilia-Romagna sprint stage. Theres not much to preview as you can surely already tell from the preview above that its a sprint stage and Jonathan Milan is the pick.. but we can review as well.Al commando: an anarchic stage that saw many attempts to get in the breakaway. No soon had the main move established itself did the attacks fly as the group was too big.Julian Alaphilippe and Mirco Maestri took off with 127km to go. Madness? On paper yes but behind the group was so big and chaotic that every chase attempt doomed itself. If Filippo Ganna took a long turn to help Jonathan Narvaez then others were sitting on for free. The same again and again. If riders attacked hoping to form a smaller group of more committed riders, others closed it down. This chaos went on for hours all while Alaphilippe and Maestri shared the work ahead, often with only a minutes lead but clear of the chaos behind.Further behind Bahrain towed the peloton, again to defend Alberto Tiberis fifth place as Jan Hirt was up the road and gaining time. At one point they accelerated hard to try and exploit crosswinds but it didnt last. It shows the slim pickings behind Pogaar have their value.On the final climb of the day, the hardest, Alaphilippe rode away from Maestri while the chasers were closing in, including Jhonathan Narvaez. Alaphilippe crested the climb solo and stayed away for the win and now has a stage in all three grand tours, among all his other wins. It was a masterpiece of a ride but also marked a change, the rider once able to leave rivals drowning in their own lactic acid up short climbs went long. Peter Sagans raid to Tortoreto in the 2020 Giro came to mind; ditto Philippe Gilberts Paris-Roubaix win.It was a lively day with end-to-end action, but no movement among the GC contenders needed to make it a stage for the age. Pogaars weakness, if he has one, is to come in the very high mountains.The Route: 179km and 150m of vertical gain, a number boosted by bridges over railways and the autostrada. Its as flat as a piadina, the local dish.The Finish: flat of course, but with a series of corners. Theyre not the kind where anyone has to stop pedalling, even braking might be optional but theyll line out the peloton in the streets of Cento.The Contenders: a stage for the sprinters, theres only Stage 18 and 21 left for them so their teams will be keen to get a chance today. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) is the obvious pick, two stage wins and his team are providing a valuable assist. Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) and Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) are running him close and theyll be queuing to be on Milans wheel. If Milan is one of the top sprinters here he could be the most valuable lead out rider ever with his speed and size but of course that would be a step back.Its hard to pick another name to get past all three but as ever things are hectic and well have to see.MilanMerlier, GrovesWeather: sunny and 22C, almost no wind.The race feels far away but northern Italy is struggling with heavy rain and the risk of flooding and the Giro is getting closer to the mountains.TV: KM0 is at 1.10pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in for the sprint finish.Postcard from CentoCento is not famous for much but it does have the Fava factory. Fava? It makes industrial pasta machines, the kind where flour and water go in one end and out come dried fusilli, penne or conchiglie. In the case of Fava, 12 tonnes per hour from their biggest unit. Chances are if youve bought pasta in a supermarket it went through a Fava machine.Cento is a pleasant town, nothing fancy but charming. Its one of those places where if the sun is shining and you add some pink decoration it looks just great. Its the place take a stroll around town, buy a copy of La Gazzetta Dello Sport and stop at the Piazza Guercino to sit down and soak it all in, literally with a coffee.Gazzetta is the house newspaper of the race, owned by RCS which organises the Giro. The maglia rosa is pink because Gazzetta is printed on pink paper. Yet despite all this, coverage in the Gazzetta is brief, typically four pages a day but one is the classifications, half a page is an ad, leaving a two page spread which has big pictures. It can take longer to leaf through the thirty or more pages of football coverage to get to the Giro bit than it does to read about the race once you get their. Plus their chief reporter Ciro Sconomiglio tweets all the transfer gossip so you dont have to buy the newspaper to read the scoops.All this is wistful lament. Itd be ideal if La Gazzetta was required reading and an essential part of the Giro routine for two reasons. First as a definitive account of the race written on the ground, but second because La Gazzetta is the most widely read newspaper in Italy. If the Giro had ten pages then this would signal greater popular interest in the race.Its a subject discussed in yesterdays post-stage Processo alla Tappa show on Italian TV: why did Frances LEquipe put VPP on the front page but when Milan wins he didnt feature on the front page of two of the three sports newspapers in Italy, and on La Gazzetta he just got a small mention (screengrab above). So buy a copy of La Gazzetta but if you order a coffee to accompany your reading, perhaps make it an espresso.The post Giro Stage 13 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.