Verbania—Valle Spluga-Alpe Motta, 164km

It was the penultimate day of this Giro d’Italia, and only two men had a real chance to unseat Egan Bernal the Grenadier who would be primed to take victory in Milan tomorrow if the General Classification (GC) time gaps held. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) began the day 2:29 down on GC to Egan Bernal; Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) 2:49 down to Bernal. Tomorrow is the 30km flat Time Trial into Milan, to have a chance to unseat Bernal one of these men would have to get at least within a minute on GC and then still hope Bernal does a bad ride against the clock tomorrow to just have a hope of taking Pink. Or, based on the design of this penultimate stage, one or both of them could attempt to go for the Ineos jugular today. Today was a 164km stage that ventured across the Swiss border. 75km of valley flat. Some 30km of climbing all together for the 6% average San Bernardino Pass—a no brainer Category1 climb if ever there was one this Giro. A 10km descent, followed by 10km of slightly downhill valley roads. An 8.9km Category1 climb up the Splugenpass averaging 7.3%. Over the top, the race will have crossed back into Italy for a long 20km descent to the base of the final climb of this Giro d’Italia: the Alpe Motta. Never before been used on the Giro, the Alpe Motta was yet another Category1 climb at 7.3km with an average gradient of 7.6%. Judging from such a race profile, for Caruso and Yates to have a chance at victory, they would have to marshal their soldiers from very far out. They could not leave it all to the last Alpe Motta climb to put major time into Bernal: it was too short, Bernal’s gap was too large. Caruso and Yates would need to attack early in an attempt to shell out Bernal’s teammates in a hard chase, then once Bernal was isolated his top rivals would have to play on the fatigue he has been showing in this final week. This is all much easier said than done, and there is an obvious risk: Caruso and Yates themselves could work too hard to force something and blow up themselves and lose their podium places as well. With the stakes stated, let us discuss the chess-on-wheels we saw today. Yes, yes, like Generals waging war on expansive battlefields these teams did duke it out today; it was a full-scale decisive battle to chronicle for this last road stage of the Giro d’Italia.

As has been the case for this whole last week, Team BikeExchange and Deceuninck-Quickstep took the reins of the peloton for the first half of the stage to set an honest and hard pace: BikeExchange in hopes of softening up the Grenadiers for their Yates’ overall chances, Quickstep in hopes of setting up their top man Joao Almeida for the stage win he has been O! so close to multiple times this week. There was a small breakaway up the road, but halfway up the San Bernardino climb with only 70km to go in the stage their lead was only 4 minutes; with such demanding territory still left, such a gap was surely not big enough. But the tactical maneuvers of the big teams began before the giant San Bernardino was finished. Unexpectedly, massed on the front came probably the whole of Team DSM in service of their GC leader Romain Bardet. Bardet began the day in 6^th place on GC at 7:32 behind Bernal, and almost 5 minutes behind Simon Yates who sat in the last podium position. What were Team DSM playing at today, surely Pink and even the podium were both out of reach? Ah! Ah! A joy of bike racing. Just like in chess when a Grand Master will make a move that the layman cannot comprehend, sometimes a cycling team will attempt a similar trick-up-their-sleeve move such as this. But where cycling exceeds chess is that such moves fully depend on the energy levels of the riders and their rivals—which is hard for the individuals to determine mid-stage for themselves, impossible to decipher for their top rivals. And where cycling also exceeds chess—(Sorry, but an Author’s Note: To clarify, I do love and highly respect Chess. But anyways:)—And where cycling also exceeds chess is that to make a move does not require simply moving a wooden piece across some black and white squares. No, no, to see teams and individual cyclists make moves are often heroic affairs requiring hefty sums of strength and, many times, impressive amounts of courage. Thus was the case with this Team DSM drilling, but on they drove the peloton, evaporating the breakaway’s lead and their foolest of fools’ hopes. Down the gap tumbled as they approached the top of the high pass. They were driving the pace high above snowline. The conditions were not ideal. There was precipitation, but nothing major compared to the other horrendous days of this Giro. At the top of the climb, in the last kilometer before the crest it was really only a false flat, but the breakaway faced a massive headwind, and behind DSM was still gobbling up the road in between. The riders passed a frozen lake or was it a bona-fide glacier—ah! ah! in the wild they still seemed despite being so closed to the end of the three-week odyssey. The riders were throwing on and zipping up their coats for what would be a chilly and perhaps even wet descent. And of course, whenever it is spotted, it must be mentioned: Groupama’s Rudy Molard had the whole sports section of newspaper ready to stuff down his jersey to insulated himself for the descent: ah! ah! the romanticism of this sport is not yet wholly dead. As the breakaway went over the top, DSM had cut their lead down to a mere 42 seconds.

This stage could have been branded the stage of hairpins, the stage of switchbacks, the stage of tight twists and turns. In the first part of that San Bernardino descent there were too many tight 180-degree turns for my liking. From the air, the shots are always beautiful, but “in the trenches” was another story this day. A few of the corners were a little wet with snowmelt, but more so the road was so narrow and the corners so tight: there was no graceful way for a road bike to maneuver. Chris Hamilton (Team DSM) led the peloton down, seeming in pursuit of the breakaway. I swear there were at least two dozen of these hairpin turns within 10km, and for more than half of them Hamilton’s approach had me unnerved. As said, there was no grace to it, but then I realized why. Hamilton could probably have been more graceful were this a training ride, but this was the penultimate stage of the Giro d’Italia! Team DSM were in the heat of executing a fantastic battleplan. Yes, yes, the purpose of the driving move on the climb was becoming clear:  DSM had set the hard pace up the climb, to have a better chance to snap the peloton apart down it. They were not just on the front of the peloton to have the clearest look at the descent, no they were cleverly sending Bardet up—or in this case down—the road in the most energy-conserving way. With 51km, three DSM riders—the third being Romain Bardet—were within 30 seconds of the breakaway, and there was gap back to what remained of the strung-out peloton led by the Ineos Grenadiers. Between the DSM trio and the Grenadier squad were only two riders: two Bahrain Victorious riders, the Basque Pello Bilbao and…Damiano Caruso. Yes, yes, the fairytale story, the 33-year-old Italian Caruso, who came into this race as a super-domestique for Mikel Landa but now found himself in podium position sitting in 2^nd place on GC. He was not just going to conservatively ride to protect his podium position. No, today, he rode to win.

It was a brilliant move by both DSM and Bahrain Victorious, they took advantage of the almost “given” that Ineos would ride conservatively on the descent to make sure no catastrophic incidents arose, if Bardet wanted to attack and risk it all on the descent in pursuit of a stage win so be it. Even Caruso the Grenadiers would allow to have a sizable gap. Honestly, even the color commentator, the living-legend Sean “King” Kelly, figured Caruso and Bardet were just taking the descent at their own quicker pace, but Ineos would regroup with them at the bottom. But all of a sudden, with 45km to go, the harrowing switchbacks were complete, and Bardet and Caruso and teammates had caught up with what remained of the original breakaway of the day. They were 20 seconds ahead of the Ineos led peloton, and there were still a solid 8km of valley road before the next climb, the Splugenpass. Bardet’s DSM teammates and Bahrain’s Bilbao went straight to the front of this altogether-breakaway to completely drive the pace full gas, forcing Ineos to work hard to close this gap behind. Yes, yes, this was the tactical genius of the day: slipping away on the San Bernardino descent. Top Ganna the Grenadier was already done for the day, and across that valley in pursuit of Caruso and his escapees, Ineos had to burn their next men in the pecking order: all of Salvatore Puccio’s strength went into that chase, and much of Gianni Moscon’s. And the Grenadiers did not even make any inroads into that breakaway’s now 25-second lead. DSM drove on being fueled by the good news that their lead was not disintegrating but growing. Even the men of the original break did a bit to help pacing, because it was their only hope if they wanted to stay away.

As they hit the Splugenpass, Louis Vervaeke (Alpecin-Fenix) from the original break of the day came to the front of this breakaway group to do a share of the pacing. Why? Perhaps he was just doing a favor for his old DSM team, since he knew he had not the strength to make it with these elite GC riders all the way to the line. Better to not burn bridges, better to empty the tank for DSM on Alpecin’s behalf; perhaps in a race in the future DSM will scratch Alpecin’s back in return. In the course of Vervaeke’s turn, the Ineos Grenadiers were forced to use up the rest of Gianni Moscon and move onto to their fourth-to-last man, Jhonaton Narvaez; and the DSM and Caruso group’s gap extended out to 45 seconds. When Vervaeke swung off, the front group was down to just Romain Bardet and his last DSM teammate Michael Storer the Australian, Damiano Caruso and his Bahrain teammate Pello Bilbao, and Bora’s Felix Grossschartner was still there hanging on by a thread—but he had been in the original break of the day and he was not fated to last much longer. Thus with 34km left to race, Caruso was eating into Bernal’s lead by some 45 seconds, virtually putting him around 100 seconds away from Pink. There was also another danger for the Grenadiers: they were on the penultimate climb of the Giro d’Italia, already second place Caruso was on the attack, but if Yates were to go for the win of this Giro, he would need to attack soon too. The Grenadiers put their trust in strength-in-numbers, and did not panic. Egan did not look bad at all, he looked in control. If he had a mind, perhaps he could have paced up solo to the lead group. But it was safer to stay with his teammates so that no Sega di Ala hiccups would happen again; still he had three Grenadiers to help control Caruso’s gap which was not yet Pink Jersey threatening. Narvaez was able to peg Caruso’s gap to never extend beyond 50 seconds, and when he swung off with 32km to go, Johnathan Castroviejo, the Grenadier’s pen-penultimate man, came to the front and slowly closed the gap to the Caruso group. Up front, Storer for Bardet, and Bilbao for Caruso were doing all the pacing; Grossschartner was dropped. DSM were now in a tough spot, their descent attack was excellent, but if Caruso were not with them it is likely Ineos would have let them go up the road for the stage win. At one point, out of frustration DSM’s Storer gestured to make Bilbao come to the front to work. Bilbao did come to the front, and he proved a strong ally this day for both Caruso and Bardet.

At the top of the Splugenpass, back on the border of Italy, it was the all too familiar grim conditions this Giro. Above snowline, gray skies, droplets of moisture on every camera, solidly wet roads. Towards the top of the climb, all prepared for the very last descent of this year’s edition; with the winter conditions it could prove treacherous. But Damiano Caruso looked on a mission, the veteran seizing his one chance as few have done so well before. He is 33 years old, which traditionally is “over the hump” for cycling, but not by too much, and not at all compared to normal life. Ah! But in everything he did, he oozed veteran experience and expertise: towards the top of the climb, he took off his rain vest and threw on his winter jacket from the team soigneur on the side of the road in one swift motion and looked supremely in control. Yes, this Caruso has played the part of wily-old veteran this Giro O! so well. Perhaps it is his seeming permanently tired-riding demeanor, perhaps it is his triple five o’clock shadow that has never been shaven nor grown into a beard for this whole three weeks, or perhaps it is how his eyes are often unprotected by any sort of glasses vulnerably revealing two windows into his soul. Yes, yes, every time one looks into his eyes they see: a long career of domestiquing for others without ever achieving glory for himself despite having been through so much. Yes, yes, I tell this Damiano Caruso is one of those loyal domestiques that has never himself won a World Tour race throughout his whole long career. But here he was, in his Giro, taking his chance, not only for a podium result, but riding to win the Giro d’Italia after being in the shadows of others for so long. But back to the descent, it was his loyal Pello Bilbao that led the 4 remaining escapees down—truly, one of the top tier descenders of the peloton.

Behind Castroviejo led the peloton to the top of the climb, and thus down the descent, for the steep technical hairpins at the top required no energy. Bernal sat in second wheel behind him, the safest place to be on this wet descent. The top was so technical with infectious hairpins and switchbacks, still above snowline, and wet. I was sure someone’s Giro d’Italia was going to heartbreakingly end on this one last treacherous descent of the entire race. Luckily, I was wrong. Bernal in Pink stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the wet white and gray without any jacket on, it was curious he had no fear of the cold. But all of sudden the technical top of the descent came to an end. The roads became straighter, plunging down into the Italian valley and into sunshine once more—the reason Bernal had forsook a jacket. But, but, the Grenadiers now found themselves in a predicament. Castroviejo the Grenadier and Astana’s Vlasov were flying down the decent at such a good clip only Bernal and Yates could stay with them, and they were within 30 seconds of Caruso’s group. What was the problem with this situation? At the bottom of this descent, Castroviejo would be out of energy and be of little use up the last climb, Bernal would need another teammate by his side in case of incident. But on the top technical wet descent, the Grenadiers’ penultimate man Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez, was nowhere to be seen. He was in a further group back with the rest of the top ten GC favorites descending more cautiously. We have seen Bernal show fatigue and weakness in this third week. And we have also seen Lieutenant Dan’s super-domestique exploits for Bernal in this third week. Thus, at all costs the Grenadiers needed Lieutenant Dan back with Bernal. Today, “all costs” meant Castroviejo sitting up and soft pedaling on part of the descent that was shallow enough to pedal, while Caruso’s gap stretched back out, and Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez paced back all Bernal’s other GC rivals to Bernal himself. Ah! Ah! Would this prove a Grenadier blunder, or exactly what they needed to do this day?

Once Martinez and the other GC favorites latched back onto Bernal’s group, the rest of the descent was a race between two Basques. Basque Bilbao paced the descent for Caruso’s group and on every technical section their gap extended. Meanwhile Basque Castroviejo continued working for Bernal, and on every straight section of the descent he closed in on Caruso’s advantage. It was a very long last descent, for it took them to the foot of the final climb, the Alpe Motta with 7.5km remaining. At the bottom, Castroviejo had Bernal within 38 seconds of Caruso’s group, but his energy was spent, his job was done, his wages well earned. Ahead, DSM’s Storer did a last turn for Bardet before he also swung off job done for Bardet’s pursuit of stage victory. Most of this Alpe Motta climb proved to be hairpins carved within the wooded mountain—yes, yes, I have never seen so many partial tunnels and switchbacks carved into a mountain side. Now it was Bilbao’s turn to empty the tank for his team leader Caruso having his fairytale Giro. They had a 38-second lead, but Caruso would need more time on Bernal if he were to have a realistic chance to overturn the remaining GC deficient in one Time Trial tomorrow. Simon Yates’ attack had never materialized, only Caruso now could wrest this Giro from Bernal. But behind, Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez had come to the front for his Grenadier leader Bernal. The Grenadiers had waited for him for just this very scenario…and Lieutenant Dan proved bulletproof this day.

Bilbao rode his heart out for his team leader Caruso for that next kilometer, but Lieutenant Dan had their gap pegged, or was already beginning to eat into it. With 6.5km to go, Bilbao gently slid over to the side of the road, job done in service of his leader Caruso. As Bilbao slid back even with his leader, Caruso gave him a quick pat on the back before he took over the pacing himself. The pat was extremely quick, but the emotion of it was bottomless. As old Caruso put his hand on his teammate Bilbao’s back, he was doing much more than saying “Thank you” for all his work today. No, in that gesture Caruso was saying: “Pello, you have done a tremendous work for me today and all Giro. I am not used to having others digging deep in service to me. But then again, I am now in a position I could not have dreamed about three weeks ago. I am having the race of my life in my cycling-old-age, never have I done better, never will I do better. And it thanks to you and our other Bahrain Victorious teammates. It is thanks to your unparalleled descending skills and superb climbing we have come so far just today alone. We have fought and rode to win. But with strong Dani Martinez driving the pace behind, I will be lucky just to hold this 38-second gap to Egan Bernal. It is unlikely I will be within striking distance of him for the time trial tomorrow. Ah! But at least we have taken our shot today, no regrets have we. Only 6km of racing to the top of this mountain and my podium place is virtually secured—the result of my lifetime. But also, Pello, by your riding, I am now in a position to fight for a stage win. Perhaps today I shall take the first World Tour win of my career, if I can finish this off. Pello, thank you for accompanying me, and making this fairytale dream come to life.” All of that! Nothing, I just said was a stretch or far-fetched. All of that was in a single pat-on-the-back gesture. Such signs of beloved comradery melt one’s heart, to witness such acts are the correct reasons for why we love to watch sports. And ever the wily veteran, Caruso, with exhaustion gnawed into his eyes, bravely rode on striking out for the stage win and whatever GC time he could find.

But behind, Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez was doing an equally heroic ride as well. Yes, yes, in this third week he has proved a Samwise Gamgee—the servant of servants—to Egan Bernal’s Frodo. Cool, calm, metronomic, Lieutenant Dan paced Bernal and whatever GC rivals could hang onto them. Bernal looked in good shape in Pink and under little pressure thanks to this Lieutenant Dan who was winning more renown for his great service. On and on, Lieutenant Dan relentlessly drove in the pursuit of Caruso and Bardet. Ahead, Caruso looked much more labored, and behind him Bardet was on the limit just to hold his wheel; Bardet could not even give the old veteran a proper turn. Yes, Caruso was now alone in pursuit of the stage win, it seemed, and he was being hunted by the now famous Lieutenant of lieutenants. Ah! I tell you, Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez even made it look easy: eating into that gap, and simultaneously dropping Bernal’s rivals one by one behind. Jumbo’s Tobias Foss was cooked. Soon Astana’s Vlasov and EF’s Hugh Carthy would fade. Quickstep’s Almeida would yoyo off the back for the entire climb. Even Simon Yates was showing signs of cracking. With 2km to go, Lieutenant Dan had Bernal within 18 seconds of Caruso and Bardet. Ah! Ah! The walls were closing in on Caruso’s stage-winning dreams as they hit that steepest part of the climb. “How could Martinez be so strong? Bernal has not even revealed himself yet all stage,” we all thought.

But as they hit that steepest part of the climb, our wily old-man Caruso did not lose hope: only 2000m stood between him and a stage win now. And he was not alone, ah! ah! in this valley it seems pandemic restrictions are refreshingly over, for the Italian tifosi were out in force. All Italians still grow up admiring all cycling heroes, but the ones crazy enough to still come out to cheer on the high climbs are now only the ones who actively follow cycling—the Italians who were up to date on the miraculous run their compatriot Damiano Caruso was on. O! O! The tifosi were at fever-pitch levels of excitement, encouraging and encouraging this Italian Caruso to ride for the win, never, never to give up! Yes, they cheered for the others, even rival Bernal in Pink, because they Italians are great-natured fans—ah! but Caruso received by far the biggest cheers of all those who passed this day. And Caruso harnessed every piece of goodwill he received. He dropped Bardet. He eked out a couple more seconds’ gap. He stemmed the illustrious Lieutenant’s pressing advantage. By 1km to go, Lieutenant Dan had dropped every single rival for Bernal and they had caught Romain Bardet who was fading fast—alas! the brave DSM ride would not net Bardet a stage. But right below the Flamme Rouge banner, the Red Flame, under the Red Kite signifying 1km left, indestructible Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez swung off job done for Egan Bernal was now only 22 seconds behind Caruso. Bernal solidly and calmly maintained the gap; he was putting further time into all his rivals, save Caruso. And losing 22 seconds to Caruso would not be a problem, 2 minutes’ GC lead for tomorrow’s time trial should be plenty of cushion barring disaster, and Bernal himself was also spent this day. Yes, yes, finally in that last kilometer the deal was sealed: Damiano Caruso was about to take the first World Tour win of his career. I was emotional seeing old Caruso come up to the line celebrating his victory…I’m sure he was too. Damiano Caruso, you warrior of many battles. This day you were the headline hero. This day you rode to win the Giro. It is unlikely you will win it tomorrow—barring Bernal disaster. But you were brave enough to try and leave it all out there, many in your position would not have been so bold. And though a mighty one and a Grenadier team filled with some of the finest Lieutenants in the world will prove a bridge too far to crack, still you have achieved much. Today you have secured your position on the Giro d’Italia podium, your home Grand Tour, the race you have daydreamed and loved since your earliest years. You achieved something here none thought realistic. From the ashes of team-leader Landa’s crash on Stage 5, you valiantly filled the void. By the end of the first week, your far-off podium dream was still intact. Throughout the second week, we attentively followed your progress, and by the second Rest Day all of us dared to dream with you. Ah! Ah! To follow your journey, Damiano, has brought us all heartfelt joy. You are yet another underdog story that we fans love to see so much. We were emotional with you today—almost shedding tears, because today we have seen the culmination of your career. This was your greatest ride. It has netted you your first World Tour win, a stage of your home Grand Tour; and it has secured you the podium of the Giro. Congratulations, Damiano, in making a fairytale come true. And thank you, thank you for letting us share in the joy of your unexpected, glorious odyssey.