Its time to get your Brocon weather permitting.High Five: where to begin? That was the question everyone was asking yesterday morning with bad weather in the mountains and varying accounts of the severity.The CPA union said their riders would refuse to go over the Umbrail, a decision taken on the eve so discussions in the morning were reduced to alternatives. The belated plan was move the start of the race to the foot of the Stelvio by convoy but only after having the riders sign-on in Livigno and then do a 20km parade. Only the riders had no inclination of doing a neutralised spin in the rain and stayed in their team cars leaving the mayor of Livigno looking forlorn with a flag at the start line. We didnt miss any sport because of this but its more than a footnote in the history of the sport as this was a rider strike, an unspoken one.The circumstances and conditions were different to Aostas missed start last year, but once again it could help if a rider could come to the microphone to explain things at the start and apologise to fans whod come to see more.The racing started in the valley road and Julian Alaphilippe went up the road in a move containing Mirco Maestri and others. Movistar were chasing hard for no obvious reason; Nairo Quintana is at best a diesel climber who needs a long ascent. Perhaps they were just cold?Alaphilippe tried a solo move, but its notable hes having to go long for someone who used to excel in sharp climbs like the one at the finish. He was hauled back and overtaken by on the climb out of Ortisei by Guilio Pellizari, Ewen Costiou and Christian Scaroni, Pellizari notable for form in the third week from the youngest rider in the race.Sure enough Pogaar attacked and that was that. Although the most interesting moment came as he seemed to hesitate when passing Pellizari, perhaps a hint he would not mind riding together to the line. But Pogaar looked back and saw Dani Martinez was not far behind and pressed on. The Colombian and is now up to second but this was the only change in position on the day among the top-16, Bardet and Zana notably lost time but not places.With five stage wins Pogaar can match past winners Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault who each took five wins on their way to the overall win, of course he can surpass them he wins more on his way to Rome. But he wont beat Learco Guerra who took ten stages on his way to the win in 1934, nor Alberto Binda who managed 12 out of 15 stages in 1927. Not this yearThe Route: 159km and 4,100m of vertical gain. If this isnt the Queen Stage its a Crown Princess day. It starts with the Passo Sella, straight up out town to 2244m where it will be cold but dry. Theres 8km to the top with the 5km of steeper climbing at 7% to finish and the Cima Coppi prize awaits at the top, its been reallocated here. Then a long descent in two parts, the pass proper to Canazei and then the valley road to Predazo.The Rolle is long at 20km with three parts, the first third at 7%, then a flat middle section, then up again and all on a smooth road.The Gobbero is a small pass, 5km at 6% with a series of hairpins and this takes the race over to Canal del Bovo and foot of the Brocon. Its first climbed from the north, arguably the best side if you want to visit. Its 15km at 5.5% with a steeper first half that eases by the top. The descent is down the other side of the pass, the main road to the valley.The Finish: its back up the Brocon but on a different route, a back road which is steeper 12km at 6.5% but 4.5km at 9.6% before the 2km to go banner, then it eases a bit, kicks up again at 10%, before easing again to the line.The Contenders: yesterday could have been for the breakaway but the move was closed down by Movistar. Today the breakaway has a better chance of staying away, normally almost certain but this Giro is paradoxical because if Pogaars presence means theres less chance for all the other teams, in turn this means if they miss a move one day theyll chase because they might not get another chance which sets up Tadej Pogaar (UAE) for the win.Normally today is for a climber and Michael Storer (Tudor) is a pick again as he can out-climb the best but sometimes, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) another pick but Ben OConnor has eyed this stage and might want every help possible, if not to win then to try and reclaim lost time.Nairo Quintana (Movistar) came close the other day and todays course suits with repeat climbs, he might find it hard to win from a group late on the final climb, colleague Einer Rubio has a bit more punch. J-P Lopez (Lidl-Trek) is back to the kind of roads he won the Tour of the Alps on even if the form isnt as sizzling now.Pogaar, QuintanaLopez, Storer, VPP, Fortunato, RubioWeather: 2C at the Sella at the start but dry and partially sunny with temperatures up to 15C in the valleys. Rain is expected later in the stage and itll take a few degrees of the temperature.TV: KM0 is at 12.30pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in at 3.30pm for the first time up the Brocon.Postcard from the Passo BroconBrocon, or broccone, is a local flower that grows in the meadows. The Giro visited in the Passo Brocon in 1956 on the stage to Monte Bondone. Yes, this was the day ravaged by bad weather where Charly Gaul started the day 24th overall, 17 minutes down on GC and rode through a snow storm to win the stage, take the maglia rosa and keep it. Different times of course.Yesterdays postcard told some of the history of the Stelvio, it was built 200 years ago. The Passo Brocon today is just over a century old. But like the Stelvio it was built when the region was part of Austria rather than Italy and also for military reasons. The Italians had built a large fort the south and this gave them command over the nearby valleys. So the Austrians wanted to respond in kind and the Passo Brocon was the solution, paving a road from the south up to the mountains for a vantage point to the south towards the Italian fort.The road used today from Canal San Bovo, the first ascent of the Brocon is a highly engineered road that lifts the race up a steep mountain side. Its steep but regular and the hairpins are wide, suitable for horses to haul cannons up the mountains. With the war between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire raging in the Alps, the White War, the Italians took the mountain 1916.The Brocon and the South Tyrol region stayed with Italy ever since but the border between Italy and Austria was long disputed and times violently so. This was settled politically in 1992 with a deal between the two countries that sees power shared and rotated between Italian and German speakers among other things.One upshot of this settlement is the Tour of the Alps race held in late April ahead of the Giro. Previously branded the Giro del Trentino, today it is a race shared by Italy and Austria with stages in both countries. This probably explains the generic name, it is not meant to be the tour of a defined region, not Trentino nor Tirol but an open space. Two nations sharing a bike race rather than pointing cannons at each other sounds better, but exploiting the very roads built for the same cannons.The post Giro Stage 17 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.