A stage for the breakaway.Stage 18 Review: a win for Tim Merlier. Jonathan Milan was out of position and was closing in but Merlier got the positioning and timing better and won.The Route: 157km and a dash north into the Carnic Alps. Three features in the first 100km, the small climb to Forgaria; the intermediate sprint in Peonis should be near the monument to Ottavio Bottecchia; and Tolmezzo, the claimed birthplace of Jonathan Milan and Tiramisu.The Passo Duron is 4.4km at close to 10%, so short but selective. Theres a descent to Cercivento and then the Sella Valcalda, underrated as a third category climb as its 5km at over 7% but perhaps its because its the easy route from west to east the other way is the Zoncolan.The Finish: a long steady climb up the pass, a big road and the profile shows the steeper parts, this is the profile of the Passo Sappada but the race goes beyond the pass and rides into town the veers off to take a narrow cycle path and then some backroads behind the town, theres a rise to the flamme rouge then its flat to the line.The Contenders: open to many but Jhonathan Narvaez (Ineos) is the archetypal rider, he can handle the short climbs and finishes well. Alessandro De Marchi (Jayco) is the local contender and will have had today in the diary for a long time, team mate Luke Plapp had other plans for the Giro but could be worth watching.Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quickstep), Andrea Bagioli (Lidl-Trek), Ewen Costiou (Arka-B&B Hotels) all fit the bill. Longer shot picks can include Jan Tratnik (Visma-LAB), Magnus Sheffield (Ineos) and Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale pair Andrea Vendrame and Aurlien Paret-Peintre. Of course theres Tadej Pogaar (UAE) too especially if teams conspire to ride each other down again.Narvaez, Alaphilippe, BagioliPogaar, Costiou, Vendrame, PlappWeather: sunny but a cool 18C on the plains, rain likely later.TV: KM0 is at 1.10pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. The start should be lively or tune in for the Passo Duron at 3.30pm.Postcard from SappadaA lot is made of the Giro-Tour double. Pantani did it in 1998 in unusual circumstances, the Tour had 96 finishers, seven whole teams quit after raids, rousts and rebellions. Pantani beat Jan Ullrich on the Col du Galibier but he was also helped by fate, or at least French customs agents.In 1987 Stephen Roche did the double, were there particular circumstances or did he just triumph outright? Roche started the Giro well with the maglia rosa for much of the first two weeks before team mate Roberto Visentini won the Stage 13 time trial in San Marino to take over the race lead.Two days later Roche went on the attack on the stage to Sappada. He said he was covering a move during a descent but he was sharing the work. Once a gap was established his team told him to stop but he kept going while his Carrera-Vagabond team led the chase. Roche took the race lead by five seconds and kept it, expanding his lead to over three minutes and kept it. He proved the strongest in the race, even without a full team behind him.The 1987 Tour de France had many of the ingredients that make a great grand tour. The yellow jersey changed shoulders nine times and the top four finishers overall each held the yellow jersey at one point, it with a close contest. Along the way Jean-Franois Bernard took yellow on Mont Ventoux but lost it the following day after being ambushed in the Vercors and this put Roche in yellow. However Pedro Delgado was the superior climber in the Alps and looked to be riding away with the race, taking the yellow jersey at Alpe dHuez off Roche.Delgado seemed to have cracked Roche again on the summit finish to La Plagne only for the Irishman to recover and almost catch Delgado on the line, with some memorable video. Roche collapsed and was given oxygen by paramedics but as he lay on the ground he winked to a journalist who clocked this was part oxygen debt, part theatre.The final mountain stage Roche attacked several times by Delgado but he was tenacious and even counter-attacked to take time and close in on the yellow jersey. With the time trial stage in Dijon to come Roche seemed to be everyones pick and while Bernard won the stage, Roche delivered and won his only Tour de France.Embed from Getty ImagesSo while Pantani certainly had a rival in Jan Ullrich, he didnt face the same kind of dense rivalry Roche faced in his golden season. We can only hope this July is as good as 1987.The post Giro Stage 19 Preview first appeared on The Inner Ring.