Abbiategrasso—Alpe di Mera (Valsesia), 166km
After the yesterday’s interlude battle between the Cowboy and the TGV, it was back to regularly scheduled General Classification (GC) programming to decide the winner of the Giro d’Italia. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) wearing the Pink Jersey as the leader of the Giro d’Italia showed his first signs of weakness on the Sega di Ala climb on Wednesday when he lost 50 seconds to Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange). What caused the falter—the misstep? Was it his now notorious back problems resurfacing due to extreme fatigue, because he is in the third week of a Grand Tour? Bernal stated his back was fine and he had just misjudged his effort on that part of the climb. Alas! Such explanations given in sound-bite press conferences cannot be believe midrace. There is no way Egan Bernal could just openly say: “Ya, the back was the problem. My back problems are back.” He might as well add: “I am vulnerable and a very large target. I’m anticipating blowing this race. Open Season on me, Egan Bernal.” The real story shall have to come out in the weeks or months or years to come. And yet even then at times riders have so bought into reiterated press conference gamesmanship white lies or self-justifying fibs that they come to be that rider’s warped reality. Yes, these questions would be unanswered going into the 3-day Giro finale in the very north of Italy. The first of the three days would come down to a summit finish on the Alpe di Mera Category1 climb: 9.7km in length, an average gradient of 9%, all the steepest parts in the second half of the climb. Yes, it would be another proper test. Would it play to the benefit of the same characters as won on Sega di Ala? Would Bernal still have trouble, or was Sega di Ala really just a one-off hiccup? Would Simon Yates still be on a great day to capitalize on the gains he made on Sega di Ala? How would Dark Horse and fairytale dream Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) fair? What of Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quickstep) who rode up Sega di Ala the fastest to almost win the day, would he set a ferocious tempo today? And what of the others in the 4th to 6th overall range, all 6 minutes behind Bernal? All have proven inconsistent, but who would be on a good day today? Could any fine time on the riders virtually holding the three podium spots? (Bernal, Caruso, and Yates). I tell you, the Alpe di Mera did not give any great answers to these questions today, but really only kicked the can down the road to tomorrow…which for the sake of the Giro was probably the best outcome possible.
The stage was raced extremely fast, with BikeExchange and Quickstep determining their top men (Simon Yates and Joao Almeida, respectively) might now be the best climbers here in the third week, they gave the breakaway no hope. The 166km race was completed in just over 4 hours, meaning the peloton had to average around 25mph or 40km/h in new money—no easy feat with an 11km Category1 summit finish at the end without any hope of an off-setting descent. Yes, yes, BikeExchange and Quickstep drove it all day. Most notably on the hot pursuit to the base of the Alpe di Mera Ineos’ Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez had a mechanical, and if it were not for Grenadier teammate Filippo “Top” Ganna who did a Herculean effort of pacing him back to the peloton—Lieutenant Dan’s day could have been done right there. He lies in 7th overall on GC, but even more importantly, he has proven Bernal’s crucial last/best man this Giro, the MVP of domestiques. Ineos could not afford to lose him.
But soon the peloton hit the climb within 30 seconds of the doomed breakaway of six men. It was Deceuninck-Quickstep who were setting the pace in service of Almeida. One by one they swung off when they could do no more. Almeida’s last Quickstep teammate was James “Hard” Knox who did a particular large amount of peloton shredding this day. It was Hard Knox that caught the last of the breakaway riders with 7.5km to go, but still he continued the lightning pace. In his wheel sat Joao Almeida, Quickstep’s stage winning hope today. Behind Almeida was a quartet squadron of Grenadiers surrounding and supporting Egan Bernal. Then came Damiano Caruso, and Simon Yates after; all the most critical players in this Giro. With 6.9km to go, Hard Knox swung off the front job done and tank completely emptied. Almeida came to the front and continued to set the same relentless pace of his teammates. And the Ineos Grenadiers, next in line, let him go. “Almeida, he is far down on GC and cannot trouble Egan,” we all thought. “Ineos can afford to let him go. But who shall be next? What shall they do if Yates or Caruso attack?”
We did not have to wait long for the answer. Within a few hundred meters, with 6.3km to go, Simon Yates attacked strongly for the second summit finish in a row. Immediately he was followed by Jumbo’s George Bennett, Astana’s Aleksandr Vlasov in 6th place Overall, and Damiano Caruso—second place on GC. The only two riders with a shout to topple Bernal this Giro were attacking together…and the Ineos Grenadiers were letting them go. Only 6km of climbing remaining, two Ineos lieutenants left for Bernal, and over 2 minutes Overall on Caruso, and over 3 minutes Overall on Simon Yates—Ineos could afford to not panic. But of course, this is not what Bernal did two days ago on Sega di Ala. When Yates attacked there, Bernal was instantly on him despite having numerous teammates. Ineos were changing the approach this day—keeping leveler heads and reducing the likelihood of anymore Bernal hiccups or implosions.
Yates, Bennett, Caruso, and Vlasov had 10 seconds on Bernal and his Grenadiers within a few hundred meters, and they even caught Almeida up front. Then with 5.7km to go, Simon Yates attacked even this group again. In just over a kilometer, with 4.6km to go, Yates had a 12 second gap to the chasing group of Caruso, Almeida, Bennett, and Vlasov; and 25 seconds on Egan Bernal and the Grenadiers. Yates looked very strong out front, the chasers not so much, but Bernal and the Grenadiers still looked comfortable and in control despite the expanding time gaps. Yates maintained the strong pace to build up a 30 second lead by 3.8km to go. But by then the Grenadier Johnathan Castroviejo with his last strength in an evenly measured effort had clawed back the rest of the chasers; Bernal was now back on par with Caruso and Almeida and the rest, save Simon Yates. Thus, with Castroviejo swung off, Egan Bernal was down to just one remaining Grenadier: Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez.
And once again it was a clutch performance from Lieutenant Dan. Ah! Ah! He was worth his weight in gold this day. Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez rode on the front of the group and kept the easy steady pace, and no sense of panic or hastiness could be sensed. Bernal was on his wheel, and also looking comfortable. Caruso was next in line, then Almeida, EF’s Hugh Carthy, Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin, and Jumbo’s Tobias Foss; Aleksandr Vlasov was already dangling off the back. Steadily and steadily Lieutenant Dan on the front brought down the gap to Simon Yates out front, while the other GC favorites dropped one-by-one: Foss, Martin, Carthy, Vlasov. Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez got Bernal and this group to within 20 seconds of Yates, before he took swung off job done with 2.4km remaining as they crested the 14% maximum gradients of the climb.
Thus Egan Bernal in Pink Jersey as race leader came to the front with no teammates left. How would he play this? How was he feeling? It was nothing major, but he kept lifting Lieutenant Dan’s steady pace, and he began to distance Caruso and Almeida! Almeida was able to claw back to him, but Caruso was dangling behind with Vlasov. Meanwhile, up front Yates’ solo job was simple—keep an even high pace all the way to the line—and he still looked good. By 1km to go, Bernal and Almeida worked together and drew closer to within 16 seconds of Simon Yates, and had another 16 second gap to Caruso and Vlasov behind. Yates rode the intense effort out all the way to the line to take a commanding and well-earned stage win. But with 500m to go, Almeida increased his pace even more and actually did drop Bernal who had looked relatively comfortable until that point. Almeida surged in those last 500m to finish 11 seconds behind Yates. While though he did not panic, Bernal certainly struggled those last 500m coming in 28 seconds behind Yates; and only four seconds ahead of Caruso and Vlasov.
Thus today, in addition to the stage win, Yates pulled back yet more time on Egan Bernal. But at the same time, Yates still sits in 3rd place on GC 2:49 behind. The day ends with Bernal not putting 20-more-or-so significant seconds into Caruso either, who still lies in 2nd place 2:29 behind Egan Bernal. Vlasov in 4th is 6:11 behind Bernal, surely he and anyone further down are out of contention for the overall. So the race for Pink is down to three men, and no expert’s opinion can give a good answer about what shall happen in these final two days. Bernal has proven vulnerable, but still he has done the heavy lifting in the first two weeks to have a buffer for moments such as these. If the back really is affecting him, still he can function at a decently high level. But tomorrow is a high mountain day. After 75km of valley flat, they will then take on 30km of climbing up the Passo San Benardino climb, followed by a descent, then into a 9km Category1, another descent, and then a summit finish up another Category1 climb 7.3km in length. Surely, surely Yates and Caruso will have to try something from longer range if they wish to claw back significant time on Bernal. But then that is the next unanswerable question: how much time do they need for Sunday’s final stage Time Trial? The time trial is 30-flat-km, it is safe to say on paper Caruso can do a better TT than Bernal and Yates, but who knows how he will do after three weeks of GC racing. Who knows how Bernal’s back will affect him on a TT bike. Who knows how much time Yates can pull back on Bernal tomorrow—if any. Who knows what Caruso’s strategy will be tomorrow. We began this Giro with heavy question marks over all of the favorites. Bernal, and unexpectedly, Damiano Caruso have proven the most consistent; the rest inconsistent. But Simon Yates, in conjunction with an eager Joao Almeida, probed to find chinks in Bernal’s armor in the past few days, and they have strained his safe grip in Pink. Can they rip open the gap tomorrow? Bernal did not look good in the last kilometer of today’s stage; and epic collapses happen more than one would expect. Will this race all come down to the final day Time Trial? Or can Egan Bernal with the help of ALL his Grenadier teammates put this race away tomorrow by matching and maintaining these gaps to his biggest rivals, and then surely hold them off in the TT on Sunday? Anyone that tells you they know what is going to happen is lying, here at the end of Stage 19 there are still far too many questions for comfort.
Cycling Odysseys 