2021 Giro Stage 19: The Anticipation Holds, No Questions Answered

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.

2021 Giro Stage 18: The Cowboy of the Four Hills (Written)

Rovereto—Stradella, 231km

It was the last and longest transition day on the 2021 Giro d’Italia. The stage was 231km and finished in the south of the Lombardy region. Yes, yes, south Lombardy. We now not too far off from Milan where the Giro shall finish, and not far off from Turin where the race began a lifetime ago. And yes, southern Lombardy is in that Nebraska-flat Po River Valley…yes, this is the fourth time this Giro we have crossed the plain. But, but, for this last transition stage a few hills and lumps were thrown in for the finale. With two mountain stages and the final time trial still ahead, the GC teams wanted nothing to do with this tricky finale. Thus, the day had “breakaway” written all over it. It was the usual fierce fight for the breakaway, but once it was away only 19 men were left in the running for the stage win. The peloton would slog their way through the long day and save all of their powder finishing 20 minutes behind the gunslingers in the breakaway up front.

Yes, the breakaway consisted of 19 men, a few of the teams like Androni Giocattoli and Team DSM had numbers with three men each. Surely they and many other teams came with a plan for how to execute a tactical masterpiece to win this stage. But no one’s plans would start before 35km remaining, because it was simply pan flat until then: all rode tempo and did a fair contribution. In the final 35km, there were four sizable and beautiful Lombard hills to be tackled—one of them was classified as a Category4 climb, and the others could have been too. As the break hit 30km to go, the initial attacks began. Two or three clipped off the front, a team with numbers clawed them back into the fold. Instantly, someone else would counterattack. Then minutes later they too would be brought back. Ah! Ah! I was daring enough to attempt to write all of these moves down, but with still 27km to go, I figured this was going to become unruly chronicling if this continued to the line. And then my fears dissipated.

As soon as yet another pair of escapees were reeled in, the Frenchman Remi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quickstep) smashed the metaphorical gas pedal harder than anyone has done this Giro. The attack was in no way subtle, but no one, no one, had a prayer to be able to say with him. Remi Cavagna, on the move, hunting yet another solo Grand Tour stage win. We have seen him take a brilliant stage at the Tour of California in such a matter, we saw an even more thrilling showing at the Vuelta, now it was time to grace the Italians with such a performance. What obviously must also be stated for those unfamiliar, in recent years Remi Cavagna has proved to be a Top Five Time Triallist in the world. EF’s Alberto Bettiol and DSM’s Nicholas Roche were looking strong this day, and mixing it up in all those initial attacks; not Cavagna. Cavagna had one simple plan to win this stage. No messing around shotgunning attacks and hoping to whittle and shed down the breakaway in ones and twos. No, Cavagna had only one bullet to use. No plastering shotguns, only a powerful well-aimed sniper rifle. He attacked on that first of the four hills, and made sure he was solo so that he could do a makeshift time trial alone and at his “leisure”—in the loosest of senses. Cavagna has been nicknamed the TGV of Clermont Ferrand. Clermont Ferrand is his hometown in central France, a TGV is one of those sleek supremely fast passenger bullet-train locomotives. Ole! Ole! The way this Cavagna flew away, ah! surely he is aptly nick-named. Within 3km he had a solid 20-second lead. As I saw him launch and pry open such a gap, I figured the plot of the day was already done and dusted, so long as Cavagna did not crash. But this was by no means assured. This TGV of Clermont Ferrand seemed to seek out every risk possible. The roads were pristine, but narrow and twisting in between the green Lombard vineyards being kissed by the sun. It would have been picturesque scenery to bask in, but instead we were forced to hold our breath every time Cavagna threw himself at breakneck speed into another corner. With 16km to go, his lead had increased to 28 seconds on the chasers, despite his rivals actually cooperating and working together to chase him down. So why was he taking so many risks, why was he throwing himself so recklessly around all the corners?

Yes, yes, usually part of the fun of the finale of breakaway transition stages is to see the lesser-known riders play tactical games in combination with whatever strength they had left—much as we saw on the Game Theory Stage 12 breakaway day—but it had seemed today Cavagna had thrown tactics out the window, and he would win with just brute strength. The TGV of Clermont Ferrand was away flying to the finish and would not be caught. Truly, I tell you, I was extremely close to begin looking at the coming mountain stage profiles indepth-ly. I was going to prepare some musings about the special character of what traditionally is and always should be a mighty tail-stinging third week of the Giro d’Italia. But on that third of four hills, the time gaps were coming back in: this stage was not done and dusted. Yes, yes, the reasons for TGV Cavagna’s risk takings were becoming clear. There was a Cowboy amongst the pack.

As stated, some of what remained of the early day breakaway had been cobbling together a damage-controlling chase, but they were not making any inroads on Remi Cavagna out front. That is all of sudden until this third of four hills. On that hill, in the form of life, EF’s Alberto Bettiol broke away from his chasing companions to hunt down Cavagna alone. Alberto Bettiol is an Italian, but in recent years he has labeled himself as a man of the Northern Classics when he won the Tour of Flanders in 2019. But here he has been for weeks in subjective competition for most valuable domestique at this Giro d’Italia. Day in and day out he has been by the side of team leader Hugh Carthy supporting his GC pursuits. Never, never, before has Bettiol looked so strong in not only the mountains, but even the highest of mountains. Yes, yes, it was he who did the lion’s-share of peloton-shedding in the savage winter-weather on the slopes to the Passo Giau. It was he who nursed Hugh Carthy up the Sega di Ala climb yesterday—in the same way Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez did for Ineos team leader Egan Bernal. Ah! Ah! The Northern Cobbled Classics men are about as bulky as they come in cycling, yet still Bettiol rode that entire hell-of-a-climb up the Sega di Ala by skinny and lanky Hugh Carthy’s side. Flying form. Truly, he is on flying form. There is no other explanation. And now today, on what is likely his last opportunity of his home Grand Tour, he would make the most of his one chance before tomorrow he goes back to super-domestique duties for Hugh. Surely, I thought he had squandered his chance, already done too much, when he followed and tried to make every move from the initial attacks. But I was wrong, today Alberto Bettiol was a chiseled Cowboy. He had, but two weapons or tools of any sort: a shotgun and his trusty lasso. It was time for Alberto Bettiol the Cowboy to wrangle back Remi Cavagna the TGV of Clermont Ferrand.

At the crest of the third climb of the four hills, Bettiol was within 15 seconds of Cavagna. Both blazed like demons down the descent. Ah! Ah! Only one thing was in their minds, in that moment it was their only pursuit: a stage of the Giro. Neither had one, both were willing to give all to claim it. To see frantic chases such as these is a peak of sport. The rest of the world is paused, all that matters is what shall happen today in southern Lombardy after over 200km of boring flat. Alberto Bettiol was not just an Italian eager to win a stage of his home Grand Tour. No! No! Every fiber of his being was willing himself forward in pursuit of this one goal, on the only day he could spare to be away from his leader’s side. He was beyond pinging-on-great-form, ah! ah! to squander it would be the heartbreak of heartbreaks. Today, today, he was the Cowboy in pursuit of subduing a bovine specimen with the power of a locomotive. Meanwhile, Remi Cavagna the TGV in front was doing the same tunnel-vision goal-channeling endeavor, in the Zone all humans are when they do things greater than themselves. He was not trying to just hold off the chasers to add another great result that shall increase the value of his next contract. No! No! He was trying to outrun a tsunami! He was trying to stave off the charging bulls behind. He was being hunted by the wiliest and strongest of Cowboys. He was trying to warp space and time and will the finish line closer to himself.

But the race was not even between just these two men whose whole beings were exceedingly greater than the sum of their parts this day. Though Alberto Bettiol had distanced the chasers on the climb, and had descended like a madman, still a few men also willed themselves forward thinking in this same tunnel-vision only of the stage win. One man managed to bridge to Cowboy Bettiol, the DSM Irishman Nicholas Roche—son of the great Stephen. With 10km to go, Roche caught Bettiol. Completely undeterred, Bettiol was actually glad to have an ally for the next flat kilomters to help him pursue and maybe even wrangle the superior time-trialing TGV Cavagna. On those next few flat kilometers Cavagna edged out a few more seconds’ lead on Bettiol and Roche working in tandem; the TGV of Clermont Ferrand wanted this stage win O! so very much. But one more hill remained, the fourth of four. Alberto Bettiol the Cowboy had chopped Remi Cavagna’s lead in half on the last hill, how much did he have left for this one?

Very much! With 7.5km to go, the three men and the other close chasers behind were all climbing with their greatest of strengths, but once again Bettiol proved the best among them. Ah! Ah! He could have shotgunned 100 attacks today, his legs were stuffed with three billion bucks, no clay pigeon in the world could outfox him. Nicholas Roche, a leaner man which is better for when the road pitches up, was once again dropped by this Cowboy, Alberto Bettiol. With 7.2km to go, Bettiol could see his target Cavagna—they were within the same motorcycle camera view. Ah! Ah! At last, it was time for Alberto Bettiol to latch onto a TGV at high speeds. Finally it was time to break out his secondary weapon, the quintessential item of all Cowboys: the Lasso. Already long ago the knot was tied. He had unlimited cache of shotgun-shell attacks for the day—his legs really were just that good—but his beloved Lasso he still reserved for the most solemn of situations: never before had he tried to subdue a 20th Century locomotive. Bettiol had Cavagna the TGV in his sights, and he hurled his metaphorical Lasso. Around the nose of the sleek TGV it caught and tightened, Bettiol reeled Cavagna in. Cavagna, Cavagna just could not escape this shotgunning and lassoing Cowboy on these climbs. With 6.8km to go, Bettiol was firmly onto Cavagna’s wheel. It was the Italian versus the Frenchman today, two of the greatest of great cycling nations. Almost to the top of the climb were they, but not yet. Bettiol came to the front of the pair to continue driving his relentless pace. How would this all play out? What would be the strategy for each of them? Who does one back in a sprint if it were to come down to it? As the scenarios raced through our heads, within seconds:

SMACK!

Remi Cavagna the TGV of Clermont Ferrand had blown a gasket, or perhaps a dozen. Ah! Ah! His energy was sapped. His body wreathed and writhed in pain. He had reached his physical limit and he could do no more. He was subdued and surely to be hog-tied. He pedaled squares, Roche behind flew past him still vainly hoping against hope to catch Bettiol again up ahead. But Cavagna was done, and reality was coming back to him. He was in Italy, he would not win the stage, a stronger man had roped him to the ground. That Cowboy would take the day. Cavagna the TGV had given his all, but it was not enough. It has been a long Giro, but the TGV shall have to try again in Sunday’s final day Time Trial in his very last opportunity if he has the strengthen. Today, today his one-bullet powerful sniper-rifle attack was not powerful enough. So strong was the shotgun-attacking Alberto Bettiol the Cowboy this day, none could out distance him. Just as a great basketball player can score on you every which way, in such a class was Bettiol today. It did not matter how: Come hell or high water, victory could not be denied to Alberto Bettiol, wrangler of trains. He crested the climb with over 15 seconds on Nicholas Roche and less than six kilometers to go. He floored down the descent and did not let up until the final hundreds of meters. Roche could not put any more dent into his lead, Bettiol won by over a dozen seconds and was able to post up and cheer with the crowd as he crossed the line. To say he cheered was an understatement, he looked like a top Gladiator having emerged unscathed from a great melee out numbered 20 to 1. All the other breakaway opponents trickled in across the line in tired defeat as if they had just been branded by this illustrious Cowboy.

It was another blinder played by the Giro, for such a long and flat profile this was the best show they could have asked for. For Alberto Bettiol, he has taken a deserved win. He has worked hard for Hugh Carthy and he shall again tomorrow, but today it was endearingly satisfying to see him gain glory for himself on his only opportunity. Ah! ah! Alberto Bettiol, how does it feel to chase down every attack like cattle on the ranch? How does it feel to pepper 10,000 clay pigeon into oblivion with the spray of shotgun pellets? How does it feel to lasso and wrestle a locomotive into the ground? How does it feel to achieve the goal every cell in your body fought to achieve for 230km? You have been one of the selfless stars of this Giro, it has not gone unnoticed; today was only the culmination of it all for you. Yes, yes, surely you shall never forget the day, over the course of Four Hills: you, the shotgunning Cowboy, wrangled the Giro d’Italia into submission.

2021 Giro Stage 17: This Giro is Not Yet Over (Written)

Canazei—Sega di Ala, 193km

The day was almost 200km long, and it would come down to two fierce Category1 climbs in the last 50km of the stage. The peloton would tackle the Passo di San Valentino climb, followed by a long descent, and then they would climb for a summit finish up the Sega di Ala which has never before been used in the Giro d’Italia. It was a large breakaway of 19 men, but they were kept on a short leash by Simon Yates’ Team BikeExchange. The weather was finally beautiful for a change, and apparently BikeExchange were clearly confident in Yates’ prospects today to potentially bag the stage or take significant time on rivals. The Passo di San Valentino climb proved rather uneventful besides that the breakaway shrunk down to just 4 elite men riding for their lives already to stave off the peloton. The 4 riders were Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), Gianni Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers) on home roads, Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), and Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R) wearing the Blue Jersey. Bouchard was the one at most pains to keep up with the pace Dan Martin was setting, but Bouchard was the first over the top to take the maximum King of the Mountains Points. It was actually the descent of the Passo di San Valentino that proved more eventful.

No camera caught it, but in the very reduced peloton of favorites, probably about halfway down the group, someone crashed on a corner of the descent causing ten or a dozen others to crash or be hung up by it. Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep) was rolled up on a railing, at least two BikeExchange domestiques were down for the count, and at least two Treks as well—one of them being 6th on the General Classification (GC) Guilio Ciccone. Ciccone had to pedal and give it everything on the descent, and especially in the short valley at the bottom between the two climbs. He had sacrificed quite a bit of energy just to rejoin the group of GC favorites, it was a day of rotten luck for him: a mechanical towards the top of the Valentino caused him to begin the descent too far down in position, and thus it was inevitable he would get caught up in anything before him. But Ciccone was not the main story of the day, there were fireworks on this Sega di Ala climb.

Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) won on this Sega di Ala in the 2013 edition of the Giro del Trentino, and apparently it has been called the Mortirolo of Lake Garda—ah! ah! surely a formidable reputation! At 11km long with an average gradient of 10% with unfortunately steep ramps reaching grades of 17% interspersed in the middle of the climb, surely this would be yet another great summit finish. What was left of the breakaway began the climb with less than a 90 second advantage, but Dan Martin was undeterred—he had no choice but to try and give it his best shot. He set to work immediately riding the maximum effort he could measure all the way to the finish line. Martin had lost quite a bit of time in the first fortnight of this Giro, with all GC ambitions shot his biggest desire was to take a stage. Often a star of the Ardennes, Dan Martin has not been to the Giro in many years, but already he has won stage of the Tour and one at the Vuelta as well. If he could take the stage today, he would become a part of that super cool club of riders that have won stages in all three Grand Tours—there are just over 100 members at this point. Only Movistar’s Pedrero could keep up with Dan Martin’s pace for just 1 kilometer of this climb, Martin did not even look back to acknowledge his presence—so laser focused was he on the mission at hand. He knew this was a Herculean effort his breakaway companions were not capable of helping him achieve.  

Behind, most of Yates’ BikeExchange domestiques had hit the deck in the crash and were out of action for the rest of the stage. In the short valley of the descent, it was two Quickstep riders—Pieter Serry and James Knox—who had been dropped from the breakaway leaders and sat up to now ride on the front and empty the tank for their teammate Joao Almeida who had a chance to win the stage. When the peloton of GC favorites hit the climb, it was Astana-Premier Tech that came to the front to work for their team leader Aleksandr Vlasov who was high on GC. But within a kilometer, Astana swung off the front, because Vlasov was struggling already—clearly having an off day. It was the Ineos Grenadiers that then had to take on pacing duties because no one else would. They did not set too relentless of a pace, and that was in the best interests of Dan Martin who was able to maintain his 90 second advantage out front. Soon after Vlasov’s struggles began, Guilio Ciccone joined him dangling out the back for the effort to chase back on after the crash was catching up to him. And soon after this, EF’s team leader high on GC, Hugh Carthy, was also suffering and dropping out the back.

So continued the weeding out process on this climb. With 4km to go, Dan Martin still had a 1:20 advantage on the peloton…until Quickstep’s Joao Almeida attacked. Having lost time in week one, and then having been at the service of ailing Remco in week two, Almeida sat a very distant 10th on GC to Egan Bernal and the Grenadiers’ quest for Pink. So the Grenadiers allowed him to attack, and maintained their tempo as if or because the situation was under control—such is the way of things in the third week of a Grand Tour. Almeida began the day a full 10 minutes down on GC; he could not trouble Bernal, but he could trouble some of the riders in between. Whether it was to neutralize Almeida or just to strike out for time or the stage win or even the Giro overall cannot be known, but Simon Yates was feeling good this day. Soon after Almeida’s attack with 3.8km to go Simon Yates fully launched himself. Though Yates was 4:20 down on him to start the day, immediately Egan Bernal wearing the Pink Jersey jumped onto his wheel despite still having three teammates left. But one of those Grenadier teammates dared to hop over with Bernal, the one who has proven his top Lieutenant this Giro: Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez. With these riders away, the peloton of favorites imploded. Those with nothing left faded away, those with something scrambled to get back into contention while others went into damage control-mode. Out of these not yet named men, Bahrain Victorious’ Damiano Caruso rode the best loss-limiting pace he could—remember 33 years of age, the old Italian, a GC chance like this in his home Grand Tour will not come again! At this point in the climb, the gradients were the most ferocious, though less than a 4km Pursuit was left, this stage was by no means over.

Within 200m, Yates with the Grenadier pair of Bernal and Martinez had caught up with Almeida, and the quartet was now within a minute of Dan Martin still riding for his life ahead from the breakaway. Though Yates had caught him, Almeida was by no means done yet: he attacked again. And once again Yates responded while dragging the Ineos pair like anchors weighing him down—but in reality, though Yates was not making time on the GC men in his group, he was moving up on all the many already dropped GC men behind. Dan Martin’s gap was down to 50 seconds. And then with 3km to go, this Giro really roared back into life. Not only were all the fans all out in full force cheering in the riders’ faces in classic intimate and boisterous fashion to make COVID-19 seem a thing of the past, Simon Yates attacked again…and Egan Bernal wearing the Pink Jersey could not follow.

Bulletproof and invincible Bernal has looked all Giro, but now, now Simon Yates and Joao Almeida were riding away from him on the steepest parts of this Sega di Ala climb. Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez moved in front of Bernal to pace him to the line and limit the losses—a loyal teammate and compatriot he is! Ah! But the pace Lieutenant Dan began to set was still too high for Egan Bernal wearing the Pink Jersey. Ai! Ai! What was going on? Egan Bernal was pedaling squares, in a world of hurt. He had no momentum and barely even forward motion. Behind Damiano Caruso came riding his steady tempo. Even then, Bernal struggled to keep up with that pace. Ah! Ah! But what was causing Egan to crack so? Many other rivals were having a bad day, it seemed the only four or five men on a better day than Egan were next to him or out front. But at this point, in all of our heads were flashing recent Hectorian Giro collapses—so brutal the final week always is! And most in our minds was that day at the Tour last year where Bernal’s back problems were first revealed when his GC campaign went out with a whimper on the Grand Colombier. O! O! Just when all thought the back problems were behind him, for Bernal had so thoroughly dominated this Giro. No, no, now the race was open once again, Almeida and Yates now had Bernal on the ropes. It was in that instant, captured by a plethora of cameras and to be immortalized for years, Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez turned around on his bike and shook his fist at his team leader Egan exhorting him on like all the other rabid tifosi around them. Perhaps he said: “Egan! Egan! Do not give up now! We have come too far to blow this all now! True Champions must overcome obstacles such as these! Stay on my wheel, I shall shepherd you to the finish. These men are still minutes back on you. We must stay calm, we shall limit our losses and stay in control of this Giro that you have dominated so thoroughly.”

Up front, Yates and Almeida rode on together, being fueled by the time gaps they were receiving. For Yates: finally, finally he was on the right side of a Giro-cracking—it was now he who was putting time into the Pink Jersey. Yes, yes, it was he, Simon Yates, who was now the one causing chaos at the Giro. Ah! But he was not alone, he was riding neck and neck with Joao Almeida; and still out front it was Dan Martin who was trying to outrun this chaos that threatened to engulf him like a wildfire. With 2km to go, Dan Martin had now only 28 seconds on Yates and Almeida, and 1:06 on Bernal, Martinez, and Caruso. Still for that next kilometer, Bernal and Caruso were straining and struggling to climb the road like overburdened slaves building the Pyramids. While ahead Yates and Almeida went from strength to strength with the bit between their teeth: Bernal suffering behind, and Dan Martin being reeled in ahead—ah! ah! they were in their element, and the early-day faithful pace-making of both their teams were being rewarded.

With 1km to go, Dan Martin still had 21 seconds to the pair, but behind Bernal’s group was now around 90 seconds back. To Bernal’s rescue actually came the unexpected flying Basque Bahrain Victorious rider Pello Bilbao to help assist his team leader Damiano Caruso for the final kilometer. Luckily also for Bernal, the steepest gradients and 17% ramps were pasted, the final kilometer averaged only 5%. In that last kilometer with the work of Bilbao and Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez, Bernal and Caruso’s group was able to staunch the bleeding to Yates and Almeida ahead. At the very front of the race, Dan Martin rode his heart out all the way to the line, never letting up for fear that at any second one of the chasers would come around. In the end, he did only beat Almeida by 13 seconds, but the win was all he wanted. Hats off to you, Dan Martin, that was a phenomenal ride. And congratulations, you have now entered that exclusive club of riders to win a stage of all three Grand Tours. Behind, in that last kilometer Almeida actually cracked Yates in the pursuit of Dan Martin and time. Almeida finished 13 seconds behind Dan Martin, but it was a supremely valiant ride—surely, no fault could be found in it—this day he really did have diamonds in his legs. Yates may really have pushed his limits too far and cracked, or he had maintained the quick tempo for the last kilometer, because he finished 31 seconds behind Martin. Almeida proved stronger on the day, but it was Yates who dealt the great psychological blow to Egan Bernal the impervious in Pink no longer. In the end, Damiano Caruso came over the line 1:20 down on Martin, 50 seconds down on Simon Yates; and Egan Bernal alongside his Lieutenant Dan-i Martinez came in 3 seconds later, 1:23 down on Dan Martin, 53 seconds down on Simon Yates. Thus Simon Yates having faded to 5th on GC on the bad weather Passo Giau stage now jumps back up to 3rd on GC only a minute down on Damiano Caruso who still maintains 2nd on GC. Bernal still maintains his 2:20 lead on Caruso, and his lead on Simon Yates is now 3:23. It is still a relatively comfortable lead on both his rivals in actuality. Yet with still big two mountain stages and a deciding time trial to go, Yates has found a chink in Bernal’s armor—shall he pry it open more in these final days? Was it the back effecting Bernal? Was this just a hopefully-one-off bad day for him—and many other GC riders further behind? Time shall tell, but now Egan Bernal’s grip on Pink no longer seems a stranglehold or already sewn up. This Giro is not yet over.

2021 Giro Stage 16: Creating a Passo Giau Myth in Real Time (Written)

Sacile—Cortina D’Ampezzo, 155km

I woke up in America to see that the Passo Fedaia and the Passo Pordoi had been stripped from the route due to adverse weather conditions. I began to lament another neutered Queen Stage. I questioned if the—by all definitions—legendary, archetypal, harrowing, bitter-cold mountain stages of days of yore are gone and never to return. Ah! Ah! What I would give to have glimpsed Andy Hampsten the Rabbit from the roadside on the icy Gavia stage in 1988. Or to go back to “the Gavia stage” before the Gavia, when in 1956 Charly Gaul, the Angel of the Mountains, rode up to Monte Bondone in a sudden snowstorm to take the lead of Giro while all others scuttled into cars or took hot-bathes along the route as still they battled to get to the top. These laments, these nostalgic longings to heroic ages have not been dismissed, but remarkably for a day or two at least they have been abated by what we saw and more importantly DID NOT SEE today.

To see Trek-Segafredo’s veteran captain and aging champion Vincenzo Nibali the Shark of Messina in the breakaway today with Quickstep’s Joao Almeida was a first band-aid and consolation prize to us tearful viewers who got not to see the Fedaia or Pordoi. Vincenzo Nibali in the twilight of his career striking out for a swansong victory before the curtains close for good. Our hearts were stirred to see this attacking racer out on a major attack on an epic stage once more—who knows how many Shark attacks are left in his career? But Nibali would have formidable competition: the already named Almeida, the other strong breakaway companions, a relentlessly paced peloton keeping them on a short leash, and another day of Biblical conditions. Yes, yes, all had their raincoats and gloves on, most even some sort of knee warmers or pants as well. The stage still opened up with the bruttish La Crosetta Category1 climb straight out of the gates. The strong breakaway formed there, of course. Then a quick descent. And with the exclusion of the Fedaia and the Giau, it was uncategorized and then categorized climbing all day up to the top of the Passo Giau. The Passo Giau would now function as the Cima Coppi—the highest point of this Giro edition—before the riders descended into the finish to the town of Cortina D’Ampezzo at the base of the climb. When we saw the conditions were brutal “enough” (#couchpeloton) and the intriguing smaller time gap to the break, we forgot our neutered Queen stage qualms and granted that this still had the potential to be a legendary stage. Yes, before the breakaway official began the Passo Giau, their lead was absolutely tumbling. No, no, once again it was not the Ineos Grenadiers slave-driving the peloton. It was in fact the EF Education-Nippo team in service of their leader Hugh Carthy. A man of Northern England and a tough man by all accounts, Hugh wanted a hard ride to rattle all the other General Classification (GC) contenders in the hopes of soaring up the rankings. Supposedly it was one of those classic scenes where Hugh woke up that morning, saw the awful conditions and smiled: ready to grab the metaphorical bull by the horns. Gino Bartali had a similar scene during the 1948 Tour de France and that on biblical day he won by some 17-minutes, could Hugh prove a similar champion today? EF Education-Nippo, already well undermanned from abandonments of this harsh Giro, rode with the strength of two teams this day. EF’s Tejay Van Garderen and Alberto Bettiol did Herculean turns of pace for their leader: truly, truly, they were those performances we love where someone discovers they have new limits and capabilities they never dreamed of. One by one they were catching the breakaway, alas! even Nibali the Shark of Messina was no match for them.

With still 25km to race, still 10km of official Giau climbing to go, most of the breakaway was caught or about to be, and the “peloton” of favorites was down to only 10 riders. EF teammate Simon Carr was pacing Hugh Carthy in front, then came Ineos’ Dani Martinez followed by Egan Bernal in the Maglia Rosa sadly not showing under his raincoat, next was Trek’s Guilio Ciccone continuing the greatest GC campaign of his career to date, then DSM’s Romain Bardet hanging in there well despite the brutal conditions, Bahrain’s Damiano Caruso was there holding his own—in the absence of Mikel Landa Caruso was seizing one of the last major GC chances of his career, and O! was he giving it everything—and finally dangling at the rear of the group was Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange). Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep) was suffering and long gone; perhaps that was to have been expected at the beginning of the day when Almeida was allowed into the break. The camera did not capture it, but reports were that Astana’s Aleksandr Vlasov had had a wardrobe malfunction tangling his coat into the wheels of his bike. In the very distance we could see him chasing back on as Simon Yates, 2nd Overall on GC, was shockingly definitively being dropped. Ah! Ah! Still so much climbing left, this was going to be a thrilling finale. But then all of a sudden, we were thrown-back into a bygone era. The broadcast cut out due to the horrible weather conditions.

In the days when cycling was king—the most popular sport in Continental Europe—the sport was consumed and digested somewhat through radio, but mostly by vivid journalism in the newspaper accounts that came out the next day. There were no TV cameras to capture the action. The most acclaimed handful of journalists rode in the lead car at the head of the Giro d’Italia, but in those Pre-War days and even in the Golden Age and to the days of Eddy Merckx, on such high mountain days the competitors and the action would be strewn all over the road. Even the journalists with the best seat in the house could not see all that happened. Thus at the finish line rider interviews were crucial. The riders would cross the line and be bombarded with journalists not just looking for a good quote, but trying to figure out what happened. Pinch yourself for a second, in what other sport in the post-game interview is the athlete asked to explain what happened to a clueless audience? Now, now, continue running with this idea. No TV cameras. Only race official reports, what can be seen from the cars, and what can be gleaned from rider interviews at the finish. Yes, yes, inevitably there were gaps in the stories. Did the journalists admit or simply omit the holes in the story as they came up? Of course not! They took many grand and imaginative liberties. Some would say they “made stuff up,” I dare say they “gracefully fabricated myths,” they “embellished with the most honest and heartfelt of intents.” To one-dimensionally report exactly what literally happened was never and should never have been the authors’ primary goal, this was the opportunity to craft a heroic ride from a champion into an immortal day of legend. And now, harnessing only the scan details we have for the TV broadcast did not return until the very finish, here today on the Passo Giau, we get a rare opportunity to do this again.

Simon Yates was already dropping. Aleksandr Vlasov was frantically chasing back after his misfortune. Soon the French Welshman…or is he a Welsh Frenchman…Simon Carr would be swinging off the front job done for his EF teammate Hugh Carthy. Then, save Dani Martinez who is high on GC himself, it would only be man against man of all the GC favorites. Ah! But from the outset the man in a class above the rest, the straight A student, Egan Bernal stamped his authority once again. Bernal attacked what remained of this group. Did he just want to dominate this Giro completely? Or did he possibly want as much of a buffer as possible for what was sure to be a nerve-rackingly tricky descent? There, there went Egan Bernal in his raincoat covering up the Maglia Rosa, but still he could be picked out assuredly by the fetching Pink Helmet he has been donning since moving into the race lead. The weather was getting worse, yes, yes, perhaps he even pushed the pace more in order just to stay even warmer, and to sooner finish the stage. But yes, of course, he also wanted to re-show the world he is one of the greatest engines of the era. He lost at the Tour last year, did not even finish the race, but now he is truly back and back than ever. Already his Tour Queen stage victory was pulled out from underneath him in 2019 when landslides cancelled the stage where he would have just ripped open a winning margin of minutes and minutes. Already parts of this Giro Queen stage were robbed from him, surely, surely he would make the most of what was left. Egan Bernal the Crown Jewel of Colombian cycling was flying away unphased by the weather, ever subconsciously knowing with each pedal stroke he was strengthening his prestige and building his legend, ever consciously knowing with each pedal stroke he was gapping his rivals and getting closer to the finish where he could take a hot shower.

As was stated, Egan Bernal has been in a class above the rest this Giro. None could go with his attack, ah! but who would be the next best among the top men left? Yates and Vlasov were not on good days, Remco long gone. What about Hugh Carthy whose team had done such excellent work today? Guilio Ciccone—having the GC race of his life? No, no, these two would prove the benchmark of the Top 10 GC riders for the day. Besides Bernal, two unexpected ones would exceed them. At 33 years of age, having spent a career as a top climbing domestique ever only getting rare chances for himself, Bahrain Victorious’ Italian Damiano Caruso was seizing the chance of a lifetime. Mikel Landa crashed out long ago, in his absence Caruso has been riding for a podium spot. For a support rider like Caruso whose biggest GC result was 9th at the Vuelta a Espana years ago, to finish just on the podium of his home Giro d’Italia would be a fairytale come true. Surely, surely, that was fueling the man today as he of all the GC contenders was the closest in the chase to Bernal. His whole career has been leading up to this Giro, and now here on a harrowing day on the high slopes of the Passo Giau not only was Caruso thrillingly fighting for survival, he was actually banking up time on his biggest rivals. Yes, yes, on stages such as these the rich get richer and the poor the poorer—the climbs and brutal conditions do not cause these realities, they only exacerbate them. This was Damiano’s Giro! Egan Bernal could be in a class above the rest, but Damiano would ride his coattails as best he could. Perhaps in his older age, Caruso was the most grizzled and metaphorically calloused-over and prepared for such a gruesome day as this. For many kilometers he managed to keep Bernal in his crosshairs within a dozen seconds, following him with all his heart: the greatest carrot on a stick he had ever chased. On, on, they rode in the fearful elements, wind, rain, sleet, and snow—blessed was the race no ice or snow was sticking to the road.

As the riders approached the top of the Passo Giau, they were in a winter wonderland. Snow plowed off to the sides 10 ft high, ah! but to the riders it looked like it was 30 ft. Egan Bernal approached the summit and was chased by a wild fan wielding a chainsaw—was this a dream or was this just the Giro d’Italia? Of all restrictions ever imposed in the history of the world, how does a fan wielding a chainsaw get within feet of the race leader on course? But as Egan crested the climb and saw the valley below him, he blew a kiss to crowds who had made the arduous pilgrimage to the top. Then he took a swig of hot chocolate from a soigneur to warm his innards for the way down, and he was off descending without skipping a beat. (An Author’s Note: Only one of these summit details definitely happened. And as is the way with cycling it was the most outlandish one). Egan had built up a 30-second advantage on Damiano Caruso chasing behind. Caruso came over the top, but did not dare pinch himself and acknowledge he was having not only the race of his life, but time of his life as well—despite being at the utter limits of exhaustion. No, he had to focus on the next harrowing task at hand: the descent of the Giau into Cortina d’Ampezzo where great praises and a hot shower were waiting for him. But 20 seconds after Caruso came the last supremely remarkable performance of the day; Team DSM’s Frenchman Romain Bardet was looking better than he has in years! Yes, yes, after years of buildup, Bardet finished on the podium of the Tour de France in 2016 and 2017 for his old AG2R team, but since then his progress has stalled out. He transferred to Team DSM this off season in search of a new lease of life: today he had it. Ah! Ah! Perhaps if we all remember that entertaining ghostly-white edition of Strade Bianche in 2018 where Bardet finished on the podium in between Teisj Benoot (now of DSM) and Wout Van Aert (now of Jumbo-Visma), we would not have been surprised to see him going so well today amidst the brutal conditions. Behind him a far stone’s throw away was the next Ciccone, Carthy, and chasing Vlasov group. O! How Bardet wanted time on these nearest rivals, he would not allow them to get back into contention for Romain Bardet is one of those most elite of descenders. Ah! Ah! For Bardet it was Caruso or bust, and truly I mean bust in such dangerous conditions. Some have said Bardet descends like a daredevil, other have said like a reckless idiot. Surely, surely, part of the reason Bernal had attacked was to have a buffer on his rivals so that he did not have to take as many risks on the descent. It seemed Caruso used the same playbook, he had time on all his podium rivals, he could not throwaway the podium risking too much on this descent. Ah! But Bardet sitting in 9th on GC to start the day, surely he was ready to take some risks to greatly increase his position. Romain Bardet became a Peregrine Falcon slipping and sliding his way down Splash Mountain. Ah! But for Bardet, a descending animal, he was in his element, loving the moment—the pitiful Disney Splash Mountain could not compare to the excitement he was having now. Like an Olympic downhill skier, like a wartime courier racing for his life between enemy lines to deliver the message to the desperate superior, he went with all speed in pursuit of his goal: time, less time, the most minimal time possible. Who can say how many times his brakes almost locked up, he almost lost traction, his heart jumped up to his throat, his body wielded the force of a Jedi to will himself faster than physics would allow? Ah! Ah! A daredevil he truly is, but it paid off for him this day: in the final 2km as the descent was finally coming to an end, he caught Damiano Caruso.

In the last kilometer there were two or three fixed cameras to catch the riders who would be trickling to the finish in ones and twos. This is where the embellishment ends, but real life is still stranger than fiction. Into view came Egan Bernal with his Pink Helmet with navy blue raincoat and shorts. We have become accustomed to the marginal-gains efficiency of Team Sky and this further Ineos incarnation, in that vein why leave anything at all to chance? But here was Egan Bernal in the last 400m of a brutal high mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia. He was putting time into all of his rivals, but even though it was only Stage 16 still he figured he could spare a few seconds to honor the race and give the people a show. With 300m still to ride, when seconds could still be gained, Egan Bernal sat up and unzipped his navy-blue Jacket. He worked with a bit of difficulty in the cold and wet to take the jacket fully off in order to show the full Maglia Rosa. He stuffed his jacket under the back of his jersey and basked in the cheers of the crowd. I daresay the act was yet another throwback. Yes, yes, it reminded me of THE Pedaleur de Charme Hugo Koblet who was known to race with colonge and a comb in his pocket. For as he was sailing in to win by a large margin in the final kilometers, he would suavely brush his hair and mask his sweat and toil in sweet aromas to make the whole race seem effortless. Thus Bernal did such an effortless ride today, and probably cost himself ten or a dozen GC seconds in the process. The others came in playing the proper part. Bardet beat Caruso in the final sprint 26 seconds later—truly, truly both looked on their last legs. Ciccone, Carthy, and Almeida all hammered it as hard as they could to the very last meter. And the rest were even more spent. It was an absolutely monster day, it was a masterpiece by the Giro. To have kept the Fedaia and Pordoi would have been only to have given Bernal two more high passes to have taken more time on the competition. Perhaps that would have been cool to see, it has been years since a Grand Tour was thoroughly dominated, but then that is the trick of it all: we probably would not have seen the Fedaia and the Pordoi. Yes, yes, no helicopters, no airplane, no service to broadcast the pictures, it would have only been worse on the Fedaia and Pordoi than it was on the Giau. And again, here was the lucky stroke of genius: if today’s profile containing only the La Crosetta and the Passo Giau was the original profile, all would have agreed this was an absolutely phenomenal stage without ever thinking something was missing. Thus, in reality we gluttonous cycling fans got everything we wanted and more out of the day without any race-ending pain for many riders. We had a hard day in apocalyptic weather over a very famous climb where everyone now has a minimum of three new war-stories to tell. We had some thrilling racing with quite a bit of intrigue and suspense. We learned or deduced more about peripheral characters who rose to the occasion to do the deeds of heroes. And we had winner in the Pink Jersey who was not just a champion today, but a legend.

2021 Giro Stage 15: The Floodgates Are Open (Written)

Grado—Gorizia, 145km

Well, typically the Sundays of a Grand Tour are slotted to have a highly anticipated stage destined to enthrall the viewership with many hours of action, which should be at most viewers’ disposal on a weekend. But with yesterday’s Zoncolan and tomorrow’s day in the Dolomites, many of the riders really did need the Grand Tour “dog days” transition stage. It was a bit of a novel day though, because for the first time in 17 years the Giro ventured into Northeast neighbor Slovenia. Truly, truly the Iron Curtain that once divided Yugoslavia and Italy is long gone, for this stage route crisscrossed between the border countless times. The many crisscrosses almost made fun of the idea that once there was an ideological and physical barriered-off divide in this part of the world. It looked to be a great Spring Afternoon spectacle for the Slovenians coming out to cheer on the Giro. Of course, Slovenians have a lot to celebrate in cycling at this point in history: two of the best Grand Tour riders in the world, many solid racers to fill out their ranks as well. Alas! Their superstars Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE) were not here, with eyes for a rematch in France. Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) horrifyingly already crashed out of this Giro. And Bahrain’s other Slovenian Jan Tratnik’s breakaway exploits from yesterday have already been detailed. Thus Tratnik and no other Slovenians got themselves into the breakaway today. With Ineos not chasing down much this Giro, this day of all days was destined to be one for the breakaway. This is what happened, but not before an early race neutralization because of many early crashes. Unfortunately, Bora’s Emanuel Buchmann riding in 6th on the General Classification (GC) was one of the victims who was forced to abandon the race. It has been a hard Giro, there have been many casualties. So it was no surprise to see the Ineos-led peloton sit up to take as much of an informal Rest Day as they possibly could between two great mountain stages. Ineos let the breakaway’s lead quickly balloon out to 12 minutes. Yes, yes, after the early crashes, the stories of the day would be coming from the ambitious escapees up front.

It was 15-man breakaway that went up the road, made up mostly of bigger World Tour teams that had not a protected top sprinter or GC rider. Movistar, Lotto Soudal, and Alpecin-Fenix each had two riders in the move; and Qhubeka Assos had three. There was little to report from the middle of the stage, besides the excellent enthusiasm from the Slovenian fans. Ah! Let me tell you, truly this Giro things are getting back to normal with the race-endangering rowdy fans coming back out of the woodwork. But let us not make this another long story, let us jump to the business end of the stage.

The wind was blowing all day, but no echelon crosswind action materialized. With 31km to go, Alpecin’s Oscar Riesebeek put in an attack that was instantly covered by Qhubeka’s Victor Campenaerts—seeing that Qhubeka had the most numbers it would be tactical malpractice not to have a Qhubeka rider follow every single move that would try to go. The attack came to nothing, the breakaway strung out in one long line, but Riesebeek and Campenaerts did not find separation…yet. But with 22km to go, it was Victor Campenaerts’ turn to try and create a gap. It was a perfectly timed attack, Campenaerts launched as a blustering gust of crosswind came upon the group. His attack strung out group, the crosswind threatened to cause an echelon, but all of a sudden Campenaerts and the Giro route turned right to take advantage of a massive tailwind. Only the first couple in line after Campenaerts at that moment could claw up to him: the already mentioned Oscar Riesebeek and Movistar’s Albert Torres. The breakaway was already in the midst of taking the Slovenian circuit for the third and final time of asking, which meant it time for one last passage up the Gornje Cerovo Category3 climb. It was only 1.7km in length, but it averaged 8.5% with a maximum gradient of 15%. It would never trouble any of the GC men, but for a breakaway in a stage finale and after two hard weeks of racing it would be a proper test. Campenaerts, Torres, and Riesebeek went into the climb with a 35-second advantage on the best of the remaining chasers. Up the three leaders rode going full gas, giving it everything to distance the chasers and even find separation from their breakaway companions. But behind on the climb, the strongest of the chasers were coming to the fore. Best among them this day was Intermarche’s Quinten Hermans of Cyclocross fame. It was he that led the chasers and ate into the advantage of the three leaders. Ahead, Campenaerts was the tip of the spear driving the pace, flanked by Riesebeek and Torres. And when they came to the 15% ramp: my, my, Torres made one the most incredible pain-faces any of us have ever seen. Truly, truly, we thought Lorenzo Fortunato yesterday in the final kilometers of the Zoncolan looked in tearful pain…it was nothing compared to Albert Torres’ face today. And alas! Within 50m of the crest of the climb, he cracked and detached from Campenaerts and Riesebeek. There was no catch-back-on over the top or on the descent, Torres had fully blown.

So focused were we all on how the climb would play out, that we had not realized an all too familiar guest on this Giro had come once again. It came first upon the peloton 12 minutes down the road somewhere, then upon the breakaway on this climb, and then minutes later to the finishing line as well. Yes, yet another biblical rainstorm. Ah! ah! Truly, so close to the Adriatic. Perhaps old Neptune, of Tirreno-Adriatico fame, had taken an Olympian-industrial-sized garbage can, filled with the waters of the Adriatic, and poured it onto the whole Giro. Within a snap of the fingers, the rain was coming down so hard it seemed the riders were instantly riding through standing water. And as they descended the roads functioned as treacherous rivers. Behind the peloton all carefully and routinely put on their rain jackets, but these heroes in the breakaway hunting for the stage win had not the luxury for they were already in the heat of battle.

With 15km to go, Campenaerts and Riesebeek had a 28-second gap on what were the best of the chasers: Quinten Hermans, Simone Consonni (Cofidis), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Dario Cataldo (Movistar), Nikias Arndt (Team DSM), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), and the spent Albert Torres was towing a ride on the back of this group. Campenaerts and Riesebeek at the front knew the game, they knew they had to work together to stave off the others, but eventually outfox each other as well. To see these racers risk it all on the wet descents was tense viewing, but for all of these men Grand Tour stage wins rarely come up. Though the Belgian Victor Campenaerts has made himself prominent in the Grand Tours over many years now, surprisingly he still has yet to win a Grand Tour stage for himself—his prominence has almost always been in the service of others. Meanwhile the Dutchman Oscar Riesebeek of the smaller Alpecin-Fenix team has never won a race in his career, period. It was a similar story of little major successes for most of the chasers behind. Thus the hazardous conditions were only another obstacle to victory for these racers who would continue undaunted.  

After decent cooperation for the following few kilometers, still Campenaerts’ and Riesebeek’s gap was coming down; and when Campenaerts grabbed a bottle for a swig of water Riesebeek attacked him. It took Campenaerts a mighty effort to claw him back, but he did. At 4.5km to go, they exchanged a few quick words while rotating as a pair once more, but at 3.8km to go on the last rise of the day Riesebeek attacked Campenaerts again—clearly, he did not fancy himself in a sprint finish. Again Campenaerts clawed him back on that rise, and over the top of it with 3km to go Campenaerts counterattacked Riesebeek. There was a treacherous wet descent after this climb and Campenaerts held a 2-second gap on Reisebeek, while the chasers had closed to within 15 seconds. Perhaps Reisebeek, 2 seconds behind, was pulling some clever trickery not instantly closing the gap. With the 2-second gap, Riesebeek had a clear wide-berth on the treacherous wet descent. Then on what remained of the flat for the last 2km of racing, perhaps he really couldn’t close the gap, or perhaps he avoided the cat-and-mousing so that he and Campenaerts went full gas so that they could hold off the chasers behind. It was an ideal pursuit between these two, for it could fit into one camera shot. Surprisingly though, Campenaerts still currently holding the Hour Record was caught by Riesebeek with 1km to go. Because of the chasing pursuit, their gap was out to 22 seconds which would allow for a bit of cat-and-mousing. Riesebeek latched onto Campenaert’s wheel, not daring to come around, no matter how much Campenaerts slowed. They had enough time on the chasers for Campenaerts on the front to slow, but he did not come to a grinding-halt slow-pace. But Riesebeek from behind launched early with over 250m to go. He came around Campenaerts. Perhaps it was the rainy conditions, perhaps it was a fortnight of hard racing, perhaps it was his big-framed body, probably a combination of all, but when Oscar Riesebeek launched his sprint let’s just say there was no resemblance to a certain Pocket-Rocket. Yes, Riesebeek did not have the jump or the speed to distance Campenaerts. Victor Campenaerts came around him in the last 100m of the race to win the sprint by a bike length and take his first Grand Tour stage win.

Victor Campenaerts’ win today is the 3rd stage win for Qhubeka Assos in 5 days at this Giro d’Italia. O! O! How their fortune has turned around so quickly. In November they were assuredly on the brink of folding, almost all their riders signed away already—save basically this Victor Campenaerts and Stage 13 winner Giacomo Nizzolo. Enough funding came in at the last minute to allow them to cobble together a team of underdogs to represent the Qhubeka charity whose sole mission is to donate bicycles to poor children in Africa. Undaunted by the bigger budget teams, these Qhubeka Assos lads began punching above their weight immediately. They were knocking on the doors of big wins all spring, and now here at the Giro the floodgates have opened. Mauro Schmid took the first Qhubeka win on the legendary Strade Bianche stage. Finally, Nizzolo tasted Giro success two days later. And finally here today, Victor Campenaerts has a win of high-quality to accompany all the heavy-beast-of-burden service he has done for others in the past, and all his previous near misses are now fulfilled. Ah! Ah! Isn’t that the way of it in cycling? In the pits, the doldrums, the troughs one day…at the pinnacle of the sport the next.