Biella – Canale, 190km
After the relatively subdued Opening Weekend, this year’s Giro d’Italia did in fact begin to roar into life in its third chapter. I speak of High Romance and the Giro d’Italia interchangeably: to simply point to unexpectedly thrilling stages such as these is why. It is the Monday grind, this is when the “real life” 9-to-5 attempts to drag us away from the drama in Italy. O! But leave it to the Giro to make such a prospect so absolutely laughable. Ah! Yes, yes, the Giro has always had a knack for throwing-up the most unbridled of unbridled transition stages—no sleepy and quiet Mondays here at the Giro d’Italia! It was one of those stages all hoped would be exciting…and then their greatest hopes and expectations were unanimously exceeded.
Perusing the profile of Stage 3, all saw a quiet and flat first half to the race, but there was hope for some action in the stage’s second half. Inside the last 70km of the stage was one Category3 and two Category4 climbs, with a last little additional uncategorized climb that did have a “sprint” point at the top of it containing 3, 2, and 1 Bonus Seconds for the first three riders across. Having gotten our first look and measure of the sprinters yesterday on Stage 2, the question for Stage 3 was if we would get a similar bunch sprint for a second day in a row. If the stage was ridden easy, then it was presumed most of the sprinters would be there for the tricky and technical finish. O! But anyone with an eye for action looked at that final 80km and saw there were some pivotal 15% ramps on the climbs and in the run-in. Yes, these rooting for carnage hoped for two things: brutal conditions and a ballsy team or two to pulverize the peloton on the climbs for that last 80km to put as much pressure on the pure sprinters as possible. To the first, rain threatened all day, but never seemed to significantly materialize. To the second, yes, yes, the man and the team we thought mostly likely to shatter the peloton set to work and did just that.
Just as they did time and time again throughout the 2020 Tour de France, once again the Bora-Hansgrohe Band of Brothers took up the pace-making duties halfway through the stage to shred the peloton for their team captain and leader the mighty Rockstar Peter Sagan. Yes, yes, this was the carnage we hoped for. Yesterday in the full-bunch sprint Sagan finished in 5th place. Yes, on paper Peter Sagan finished about where he should, at this point there are many who have more pure speed. Ah! But after a hard day of high-tempo racing, then who is faster than Sagan in a sprint? Which pure sprinters can even keep pace with Sagan over the smaller catqgorized climbs? Such questions would be answered on this day. How many faster pure sprinters could the self-titled Band of Brothers shed for captain Sagan before the final sprint? And the answer was Many. Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was struggling early on the initial climb. He mightily fought to hang on, but finally had to pull the plug amidst the pair of Category4 climbs. Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Vimsa) could not handle the pace. Yesterday’s winner Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) wearing the Ciclamino Jersey was shelled out the back on the climbs. And the European and Italian Champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) fought like a cliffhanger for the longest time—holding on for dear life by a fingernail; but eventually even his legs gave out too, and he was dropped. The brutality of a Bora Band of Brothers “Sprinters-Execution” paceline is not something to discuss lightly. It was such a regular practice at the 2020 Tour in service of Sagan that they now seem almost commonplace, but please understand they are not. Remember, remember, this is supposed to be the quiet transition stage with only a fine sprint at the end to send us home happy. With such a flat final 15km, even the purest of pure sprinters are fully motivated to dig extremely deep if need be to get over a Category3 and two Category4 climbs. To be shelling out as many riders as Bora did on the pair of Category4 climbs was quite a feat. With 20km to the finish, Bora still had 6 Brothers in a line on the front, the original breakaway had only just over a minute’s lead, and the peloton was half its full size.
One by one on the pointy-end of the spearhead arrow that was the peloton, the Bora Brothers emptied their tanks. Yes, yes, each did their part, their finish lines were no longer the actual finish line: their job was to ride as hard as possible in the service of Peter Sagan to not only drop all the faster riders, but also to assure they could not come back. Perhaps the analogy is crude, but in this instance they were sportsmen kamikazes: setting an infernal pace they themselves could not long handle in order to take faster men down with them. They had already claimed the big scalps of Ewan, Groenewegen, Merlier, and Nizzolo—three of whom beat Sagan the day before. There were only two massive sprinting names left that on paper could really trouble Sagan in the sprint: Italian Elia Viviani (Cofidis)—third on yesterday’s stage—and Fernando Gaviria (UAE) who looked good yesterday as well until his own teammate almost sent him into the barriers in the final 200m. Yes, yes, Viviani was at the back of the peloton which was surely a sign of fatigue, and yet Cofidis had him well supported; meanwhile Gaviria was glued to Sagan’s wheel. With 15km to go came the big “Sprint” Point that really functioned as more of a King of the Mountains Point. What remained of the breakaway would sweep up the time Bonus Seconds so those became inconsequential to any pertinent plot, what mattered was if the Bora-Hansgrohe Band of Brothers could shake off Viviani and Gaviria, Sagan’s chief competition left. Ah! That last climb was brutal for the quick men. Sagan was slyly sliding back from the front of the peloton to the middle, measuring his effort on the climb—and Gaviria was doing the same; but Viviani was struggling and hanging by a thread. Tony Gallopin (A2GR) and Guilio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) attacked on the steepest 15% ramp and then went over the top filled with high hopes of entrepreneurial ambitions to catch the remains of the breakaway and steal a march on the peloton. And just like that, they were over the top with a few seconds gap while Sagan, Gaviria, and even Viviani were still all together in the peloton as well.
The final 15km would have two or three uncategorized short but steep rises, but other than that it was a slight downhill run-in all the way to the finish with a technical last kilometer. Presumably, Viviani’s Cofidis and Gaviria’s UAE teams would have that time to regroup for the final sprint while Bora still continued to drive the pace. This would be a great sprint, this was everything we hoped the day could be. It was watching Frenchmen Tony Gallopin and Italian Guilio Ciccone striking out on the attack that I and, I presume, most of the viewership remembered the existence of the early day breakaway of riders. At one point they were 8 riders strong and had a gap of over 6 minutes. With 40km to go, that gap had already been reduced to just 2:00 with the full weight of Bora-Hansgrohe chasing as they shelled out the pure sprinters behind. With 30km to go, the gap was only 90 seconds, and as mentioned like clockwork with 20km to go the gap was at about one minute with Bora still charging like bulls ever ramping up the pace.
With Gallopin and Ciccone eating up their gap further, and the peloton only giving them a short leash as well this looked like an all too familiar doomed breakaway in its last gasps. Only two men were really left out front, purely for the purposes of increasing their fame but a little I recorded their names before they would be caught: Swissman Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Dutchman Taco Van Der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux). Ah! It is not often we talk of these two smaller teams so wherever the chances arises, surely we must. Androni is one of those classic second division Italian teams that everyone likes: they always animate the Giro breakaways, their elderly manager Gianni Savio is a white-haired slimmer but jolly Italian Santa Claus, and their jerseys are perennially the busiest mess of sponsor titles and logos—so busy are they even a large page of coupons would raise an eyebrow upon inspecting them. Meanwhile Intermarche’s jerseys are dominated by white torso and dark blue shorts…and an offense violent highlighter green around the shoulders and helmet; they are the newest team to the World Tour, but thus far this season they have extremely lacked results. Thus I wrote down the such teams and names for such opportunities do not come frequently. With 10km to go, Simon Pellaud and Taco Van Der Hoorn had a 26 second gap on the chasing Gallopin and Ciccone, and a 38 second gap on the reduced peloton.
With 8.7km to ride, Taco Van Der Hoorn attacked this Simon Pellaud, his breakaway companion and unofficial makeshift teammate for the day. Ah! Such are the realities of cycling: after working together all day, still it comes to infighting at the end. Taco’s attack seemed one of last-gasp desperation; surely, it would have been wiser and more beneficial for the two to stay together to the finish as a unit, and sprint it out between them for the win. Ah! But what was this? Behind the time gaps went slightly back out: 28 seconds to Gallopin and Ciccone, 44 seconds to the peloton. And with 7.2km to go the gaps extended: already Taco had 12 seconds on Pellaud, now 42 seconds on Gallopin and Ciccone, and a full minute on the peloton! All realized then: this last man of the routinely-doomed breakaway actually had a chance. What was going on? Bora had been shredding the field and putting all to the sword for 50km already, how was the early breakaway not mopped up yet? Is Bora still driving the pace? Have they sat up, because no other teams were helping them? It seems by this point most of the Band of Brothers had already pulled the plug long ago and there were not many left to chase, let alone many who had the strength to pull back this mighty Taco Van Der Hoorn on the greatest ride of his career thus far.
Ah! But with 5.6km to go there came one of those brutal rises I spoke of earlier, O! how etched with pain was Taco’s face. His legs must have been screaming and screaming with pain by this point! And no matter how much his heart and mind were solely focused on pulling off the fairytale ending on this thrilling transition stage: the body has its limits. His momentum slowed, his cadence approached a “pedaling squares” scenario, surely all the chasers behind would eat into his gap now! But in an instant he was over the top on a descent and doing the most aero of legal tucking positions left to him. It was a moment of micro recovery before a last 4km road-Pursuit. But behind the chasers were in fact finally eating into his advantage: Gallopin and Ciccone closed to within 17 seconds, the peloton to within 33 seconds. To see Taco struggle and ride his heart out was one of those classic moments where we were all watching more than a bike race. It was one of those classic points where all with any human heart—no matter how much they love Sagan, Gaviria, or Viviani—were now vocally willing on Taco Van Der Hoorn from their couches. “Come on, Taco! Come on! Go!” The man had been out in the breakaway all day, and this breakaway had been doomed for the past 50km! O! But it was getting closer and closer—all coming back together! Gallopin and Ciccone were caught with 2.2km to go, and Taco’s lead was now only 19 seconds. By this point, though most of the Bora riders were spent, Sagan was still in the mix while Gaviria’s UAE teammates and Viviani’s Cofidis teammates were finally contributing to this final chase. O! It was something else to see the faces of pain and determination on the UAE and Cofidis teammates that were burying themselves to catch this lone rider. It was like watching rabid hounds chasing down the fox.
But finally, Taco came under the 1km to go banner, and he still had a 14 second lead. The technical run-in would be to Taco’s advantage for the peloton could not keep accelerating through the tight turns—though they would still try coming out of them! Taco took the righthander gracefully keeping his speed, but also keeping safe to stay upright. A few seconds later he took the narrow chicane in the road with optimal precision. He rode it all the way out, but with 200m he allowed himself a look behind to see if he had it over the ferocious peloton still ceaselessly bearing down. The road had a gentle rise for the last 200m, but Taco emerged over the little horizon in view of the finish line knowing he did have it. Then came one of the best victory salutes I have seen in a long time. Taco took another look back, then turned around covering his jaw-dropped mouth with his hand, and then laughed in disbelief at his own accomplishment. Yes, yes, it was one of the best breakaway fairytales in years. The 27-year-old Dutchman, on one of the smallest teams, in his first Grand Tour pulled off this upset. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the day? Was this tale not everything I initially hyped it up to be? Truly, we had hoped the Band of Brothers would put the sprinters to the sword, but none dared hope the breakaway could stay away if Bora went to work. It wasn’t until less than 10km to go the breakaway even factored into the equation. Do you see what I mean whenever I announce there is more than just a bike race going on here? Do you see what I mean when I speak of the romantic unbridled racing that dazzles us at the Giro? And I absolutely loved that cherry-on-top celebration where Taco Van Der Hoorn laughed with the rest of us in shock and in exhilaration of his own accomplishment—no author and artist could have contrived such a beautiful ending touch. Yes, yes, a Giro transition stage at its finest, after some early exposition chapters the Giro is now roaring into life.
Cycling Odysseys 