2021 Giro Stage 10: The Rest Day Is But Tomorrow

L’Aquila—Foligno, 139km

I did not think the short 140km Stage 10 containing only one Category4 climb would be hard enough…but the Bora-Hansgrohe Band of Brothers did.

I had questioned the reason for this stage’s existence, why end the first week on the second Monday with a short transition sprinters’ stage after such a Sunday Showcase GC shootout in the Apennines? Perhaps there were logistical reasons to it, but this is what the Giro organizers opted for. Yes, the already abnormal 9-day first week of a Grand Tour was even longer at this year’s Giro, a 10-day week—only in early May, early July, and late August are such calendars possible. Perhaps that was what made the difference today, 9 straight days of full gas racing in the legs without any rest. Perhaps if this stage was the first back after the Rest Day, the sprinters’ legs would have just a tiny bit fresher for this deceptively tricky stage. But that was not the case. Bora-Hansgrohe did not allow this Giro to leisurely transition into this Rest Day, they blasted into it like charging bulls.

We have seen them try it over half-a-dozen times before in the past 12-months, but alas! in none has their Rockstar ever finish off the job at the end: mechanicals and perfectly-timed escaping-opportunists have kept foiling the end of their days. Time after time, this Bora Band of Brothers have shouldered the burden to smash the peloton to bits early on in the stage on crosswinds or a hard climb mid-race to drop all the pure sprinters, then they have sustained a relentless pace to the line so that none could rejoin and their Rockstar Peter Sagan could finish off the day. After trying so many times without ever turning up a Sagan “W” in this scenario, I truly thought they would take it easy this day. Ah! But Peter Sagan and his Band of Brothers apparently did not at all think this way. Truly they thought: “The Rest Day is but tomorrow, today we saddle up once more. Today we decimate the sprinters and finish well ahead of the fastest predicted schedules as we have over a handful of times before. It is another opportunity, we have no reason not to try. We are due for this brave strategy to succeed.”

Because of the Stage 3 antics with a certain Intermarche upstart, Taco Van Der Hoorn, the Band of Brothers knew to keep the breakaway on an extremely short leash all day—especially since the stage itself was relatively short. The focal point of the day would be that Category4 climb that crested with 40km to go until the finish. Ah! But even on the uncategorized rise before it, the Band of Brothers went right to work on shelling out the sprinters. Alas! By this point, we are almost numb to watching such feats, our attention was only captured this day because none thought this profile was tough enough. Yet there was Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) going out the back on that uncategorized climb, because Bora’s pace was too ferocious. Within a few kilometers, on the Category4 climb not only did they shell out Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), but they caught the breakaway as well. And in the final 1500m of that Categorized climb, they caught out a last big fish as well: the European Champion Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos). For the next 10km of descent and then flat, Nizzolo desperately chased with his final Qhubeka teammate Victor Campenaerts. But not even a tag-team time trial with the Hour Record Holder was enough to get them within a fool’s hope of returning to the peloton. When they were soon running on fumes, the two sat up and patted each other on the back knowing their Rest Day had started sooner than they wanted. The Bora Band of Brothers were relentless this day. This day they had some help from Israel Start-Up Nation looking after their sprinter Davide Cimolai who has already twice been second on the tougher sprint stages. But Bora has also learned from their mistakes of previous unsuccessful attempts. Always they have been good at shattering the peloton and dropping all but the best climbing sprinters, but today after the climb they had more focus to keep sustaining the driving pace. Not only to not allow the likes of chasing-Nizzolos to come back, but also to discourage late opportunists attacks from those who still had the legs, having sat-in well all day.

The only ones who even managed to get in front of that Band of Brothers train were, for a brief couple of kilometers only, the Wolfpack and the Grenadiers. 18km from the finish was a Sprint Point contain 3, 2, and 1 General Classification (GC) Bonus Seconds for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd across the line. With no breakaway of non-GC threats up the road to mop up these seconds, Deceuninck-Quickstep’s Remco Evenepoel—wearing the White Jersey of Best Young Rider and lying second Overall on GC—saw an opportunity to shrink his 15-second deficit to Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) who was wearing the Pink Jersey as the leader of the Giro d’Italia. Perhaps, the new fans would wonder: “How significant are three measly seconds in the grand scheme of things? Is this really worth the effort?” There are two answers to these questions. In the past Grand Tours have been decided by less than 10 seconds after over 3,000km of racing—so yes, every second counts. Additionally, another reason has already been stated: the Rest Day is but tomorrow…today, we race! It was a shockingly intense GC intermediate sprint, it was not only Remco trying to take the full 3-seconds, Bernal was interested to! There was Filippo “Top” Ganna, the massive F-16, leading out lanky Egan Bernal in the Pink Jersey for an intermediate sprint with compact Remco Evenepoel scrambling to stay in their perfect tailwind draft. All of this must have been taking place at extremely high speeds, for the pace was already up thanks to Bora before this lead-out even began. But there was the young Belgian phenom, Remco Evenepoel nestled in the perfect draft amongst a swarm of Grenadiers—yes, Gianni Moscon and Jhonaton Narvaez were there in support of Bernal as well. In such a moment, from the bird’s-eye view these men did not look like fast moving cyclists, but fighter-jets dogfighting for air superiority. Around Bernal and the leading-out Ganna came Remco in his final sprint, he looked great and Egan in Pink had not the speed to match him. Since clearly Egan could not beat Remco to the intermediate line in this sprint, Narvaez the Grenadier jumped into the fray. Narvaez proved the fastest of this group, he came around Remco to take the full 3 seconds so that Remco would not, because Egan could not. Remco took the 2 seconds for 2nd, and Bernal just nabbed the 1 second for 3rd. Thus thanks to the teamwork of Narvaez, Remco only cut 1 second—instead of 2 seconds—into Bernal’s GC advantage. Thus they top GC men would end the day now 14 seconds apart. But this thrilling intermediate sprint was only the appetizer for the finale.

The rest of the run-in was uneventful. Groenewegen, Merlier, and Nizzolo were already dropped—and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) had already abandoned the Giro two stages ago. The chief competition for the Band of Brothers’ Peter Sagan would be Cofidis’ Elia Viviani, UAE’s Fernando Gaviria, and Israel Start-Up Nation’s Davide Cimolai. The run-in was once again technical. There were so many turns in this Foligno town-center finish, the line could not finally be seen until 150m to go. Bora led the peloton into this finish as they had for the whole last half of the stage. They were in good position when the road shrunk twice in the final kilometers to only one lane as it rounded a roundabout. They were the ones leading on the wide straightaways as well. They led into the looping three-part left-handed turns at 1km to go with two Brothers still ahead of leader Sagan—yes, they had perfect military execution this day. They had the peloton strung out in one long line through the narrow pinch-point, only a dozen men were even left in contention for the win with 500m to go. Finally at 400m, Cofidis got a lead out man to the front with great struggle, and at 350m UAE launched a satellite rider in a very long sprint as a foil—whoever took it upon themselves to chase this UAE rider down, Gaviria would come around in the finale. But the brave Rockstar Peter Sagan was the one onto it who would not let him go, with UAE’s main option Gaviria on his wheel. With 200m to go the road was curving into the finish, all were tilled over sideways at a forty-five-degree angle. Sagan was even with the UAE lead-out who was fading. But Sagan was only accelerating. To say Sagan careened around that final turn like a cannonball does not do it justice. Even on the most sweeping of descents, I have not seen cyclists fly ‘round a bend with more elegant and powerful speed. There is no other way to put it than he looked like a great archetypal cyclist swooshing around the bend to the far outside of the road sprinting for the finish. Yes, it was one of the most aesthetically beautiful sprints I have ever seen in all my days—to masterfully glide from the inside apex of the bend to the far outside not only conserving every ounce of speed, but increasing it. And in that last 150m of straight none could come around him. Gaviria did his best, but Sagan’s positioning and speed was too perfect to be beaten today.

And thus the Band of Brothers can now rest easy on the Rest Day, now that they have finally brought home the bacon on one of their all-out sprint stage assaults. To think I had wished for the Rest Day to be this Monday. Instead I was treated to a performance that made all of our days. Peter Sagan is the President of the Makes-Our-Day Club, and this victory was particularly sweet because it was proper climax of all the Bora peloton-shredding hard-work. How sweet it is for them, the rest of the peloton, and those covering the race that now the Rest Day is come.

2021 Giro Stag 9: The GC Men Go on a Great Hunt (Written)

Castel di Sangro—Campo Felice (Rocca di Cambio), 158km

Another stunner on this Giro d’Italia. A breakaway of 17 riders went up the road for the day. It was another day of rain, yet also another day of lush green landscapes in the Southern Apennines of Italy. Multiple categorized and uncategorized climbs had been tackled by the time the race reached the 30km to go point. At this point of the stage both the breakaway and the peloton were climbing the 12.4km Ovindoli Category2 climb that averaged 5.1%. After this climb there would not be a proper descent, but instead rolling terrain until the final climb up to the summit finish. The summit finish would be up to Campo Felice, a Category1 6.6km climb averaging 6%, the last stretch comprised of a 1.6km long steep-pitching gravel ski-lift service road. Who would be the first summit this Campo Felice, someone from the breakaway or a star from the peloton?

The breakaway had been working well together and their advantage was 2:48 on the peloton. It was at this point that Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) like a Great Hunter, turned to his Grenadier lieutenants and traveling companions to talk strategy. All of the following quotes are of course fictional, but perhaps he said like an English lord on Boxing Day: “Alright, boys, I think we have given them enough of a head-start. Let us give chase. Let us go a’ hunting the breakaway for the remainder of this day. Saddle up your steeds. I have a mind to win my first Grand Tour stage on this fine Sunday and perhaps make a Pink wardrobe change—but tell that not to the other teams who I wish to join us on this hunt, for we shall try to enlist their help on the chase first.” The Ineos Grenadiers then moved to the front, and within 2km had already chopped the gap down by 40 seconds. Yes, yes, the Great Hunt for the breakaway was on.

As soon as the breakaway heard that the gap was tumbling, they too knew the Hunt was on. Then as all large breakaways do, attacks began. Were some antsy about their chances of staying away, and were now hot-headedly jumping the gun; or were some ready to cut the cord and find what deadweight was around to shed? Yes, UAE’s Diego Ulissi was involved. Jumbo’s Champion of New Zealand George Bennett pushed the pace. Team DSM’s Australian Michael Storer was elegantly following just about everything. EF Education-Nippo had both Ruben Guerreio and Simon Carr in the mix. Trek’s Bauke Mollema valiantly bridged to every move. And Cofidis’ Nicholas Edet, Bora’s Matteo Fabbro, AG2R’s Geoffrey Bouchard, and Jumbo’s Koen Bouwman were all still mixing it up on that Ovindoli climb. But over the top of the climb, EF’s Simon Carr and AG2R’s Geoffrey Bouchard were leading their now breakaway-rivals by about a score of seconds. Because of his superb ride thus far on the climbs already, the Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard had ensured himself a trip to the podium at the end of this stage. He was guaranteed to don the Blue King of the Mountains Jersey. With this series of attacks, it seemed the shedding of the dead weight had proved effective, for the two leaders’ gap to the peloton was now 2:47 once again with 25km still to race.

The peloton crested the climb that same time gap later, and the Ineos Grenadiers were still pacing on the front—six or seven of them riding in a row for Egan Bernal their Great Hunter of the day. How did they react when they saw the breakaway’s gap extend once more? Perhaps Egan Bernal communicated to Salvatore Puccio the Grenadier on the very front: “Salvatore, you veteran of this Ineos team. You continue to do great work year after year, and for this Hunt today. Continue riding at such a pace as this until your tank is empty. There are still 25km to go, and I am not worried. We have time yet. Perhaps if we go a bit at our leisure, the other teams will commit to this Hunt as well.” And like clockwork, with 22km to go Bahrain Victorious sent a man to the front to aid the Grenadiers in their breakaway hunt. Slowly the gap started inch back down second-by-second at a snail’s pace.

Across the rolling high and rainy green plateau the racers flew. With 16km to go, Simon Carr and Geoffrey Bouchard had 19 seconds on the rest of the breakaway that was completely shattering. They were all on a long straight exposed road with the slightest of descents to it. The wind and the rain were wrenching gaps between the chasers. It was Trek’s Bauke Mollema and DSM’s Michael Storer who were having the most success in the pursuit of the leading pair. The speeds were absolutely ferocious in these wet conditions as miniature hunts took place amongst the Great One of the GC men. With 15km to go, the peloton’s gap was still above 2:30 to the leading pair. But with 13km, not only did Quickstep come to the front, their star lying second overall on GC and wearing the White Jersey of Best Young rider, Remco Evenepoel, came to the front and paced as well. How could such a GC star reveal himself so soon? Was there really such a threat of crosswinds that the safest place was the very front sucking up the most wind? With 12km to go the gap was down to 2:17, perhaps this Hunt was going exactly as Egan Bernal wanted it to.

At this time, to the middle chasing pair of Mollema and Storer, Jumbo-Visma’s Koen Bouwman heroically and successfully bridged. Thus with 10km to go, the situation on the road was this: the leading pair of Carr and Bouchard; 10 second behind the chasing trio of Mollema, Storer, and Bouwman; and the peloton 2:16 behind the leaders. And for the umpteenth time this Giro, everyone was being soaked to the bone. With 9.4km to go, the Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard sensed it was time, rolled his dice, and attacked Simon Carr to fly away for the finish line solo. The pair seemed to have been working well together, but after Bouchard’s attack Carr had no response—O! surely his morale had ebb and his drive deserted him. With 8km to go, Mollema, Storer, and Bouwman had already caught this fading Simon Carr. With 7km to go, Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard had 18 seconds on the chasing quartet, and still 2:10 on the peloton behind now led by Movistar—doing their fair share for this Great Hunt.

After some tight twists and turns, Bouchard began the final climb. The Frenchman Geoffrey Bouchard climbing solo up the roads striking out for the first professional win of his career; already he would wear Blue tonight, but could he add a stage win to go with it? At the moment, he wore the AG2R’s white jersey with red lettering, and the classic brown shorts. For this Giro, he also has the “honor” to wear unlucky #13 stickers daily, thus he flipped up-side-down the right-side number sticker—as all professionals commonly do. With 5.5km still to ride, it was all proper climbing up the road. Bouchard’s gap to the chasers oscillated between 19 and 23 seconds; and ever the peloton whittled down the gap behind. It was now under 2:00, ah! did the GC Hunters have the breakaway right where they wanted them? With 5km to go, Bouchard’s head and shoulders were rocking, surely he was fatiguing. But the gradients of the road must have been rising as well, for the chasers’ momentum was slowing as well as they maintained the 19-second gap to Bouchard.

With only these 5-climbing-km still to ride, the Grenadiers came on to the front once more. Yes, Egan Bernal may have spoken with them: “Gentlemen, the gap is now under 1:50. Let us finish off this Great Hunt. Let us win the day and take the stage! And we shall try wrest off Pink from our GC Hunting companions.”  Already, Groupama-FDJ’s Attila Vallter wearing the Pink Jersey as leader of the Giro d’Italia was nestled in the last third of the ever-shrinking peloton. Ever Ineos ratcheted up the pace. And once more amongst the chasers it was time to shed the dead weight or launch an antsy attack. It was Jumbo’s Koen Bouwman who could wait no longer, he jumped his chasing companions knowing it was now or never to catch Bouchard out front. Michael Storer just barely latched onto him, but with 3.9km Bouwman launched again and was finally away for good. Behind, Ineos still had 5 Hunters on the front of the peloton, and the gap was down to 1:21 to Bouchard. Then with 3.3km to go, Bouchard vanished in a tunnel. 19 seconds later Koen Bouwman alone followed him in. And 1:11 later the Ineos led peloton as well, with Attila the HUNgarian in Pink hanging on at the very back of the bunch.

Often it is deflating when a peloton goes into a long tunnel during the final kilometers of a race, for it has proven too difficult for many organizers to beam up the pictures from beneath the earth. Thus we viewers sit and wait, wondering what is going on in the subterrain. But if the tunnel is too long, we lose interest, we check our phones, our stomachs rumble and we think of the next meal; insert whatever distraction you wish. Often, tunnels snap us out our concentration on the story and make our minds daydream further, or remember what is going on in our “real lives.” But credit to the Giro this day. At 900m long, this tunnel was the perfect length to build up peak anticipation. Would Bouwman catch Bouchard? What would be their gap to the Ineos led peloton? Would Attila the HUNgarian in his Pink Jersey still be amongst the bunch? As we waited, the helicopter panned around to what would still be faced. They would come out with 2km still to climb, take a left at a large roundabout, shortly make another sharper left turn, and then that would be it: they will have reached the dramatic gravel section for the final 1.6km stretch. Then the helicopter panned back to the entrance of the tunnel to see who would emerge first. It was the final calm before the storm. Then the leading cars came out of the drier tunnel and into the windy and raining elements once more; it would be a strong tailwind for the riders in the final 2km.

Then, just as all started wondering how many leading vehicles escort the front of this Giro d’Italia. Geoffrey Bouchard, the Frenchman of AG2R emerged alone, back in the elements once more. He was chugging with all his might, but he was clearly O! so fatigued. And there came Bouwman as well within 10 seconds, O! he certainly had Bouchard in his crosshairs. Bouchard was going to be caught. Ah! But what was their gap to the peloton? Despite the two leaders up the road, we all still watched the exit of the tunnel in anticipation. 56 seconds after Bouchard, the peloton emerged, still led by the Grenadiers in flying formation. Blue Angel fighter jets, a sleek powerful locomotive with the inertia of a charging elephant, a well drilled set of sled-dog huskies pulling the sleigh for their Great Hunter—pick whichever image you like, and that is what the Grenadiers looked like as they emerged from the tunnel. But still dangling at the back of the peloton was Attila Vallter the HUNgarian defending his Pink Jersey with all his might. Throughout the whole tunnel the road had still steadily climbed, but now on the not-oft used gravel service road the gradients would reach by far their steepest pitches for the day.

Bouwman caught Bouchard within 100m after hitting the gravel, tired as they both were. With 1.3km to go, still they had 48 seconds on the peloton; on a flat stage that would allow for plenty of time to cat-and-mouse. Ah! But here the road only rose, and the Ineos Grenadiers were ready to finish the Great Hunt. One by one the Grenadiers had finished their chasing for their Great Hunter, Egan Bernal; he was down to his last lieutenant of the day, Gianni Moscon. “Drive up the pace, Gianni!” Bernal might have said. “Drive it! I am feeling great, I know I can finish it off this day!” And at that moment, Attila Vallter in Pink could hang on no longer with still a full kilometer of steep-rising gravel. Attila began the day with only an 11-second gap to Remco Evenepoel, and a 16-second gap to Egan Bernal. This last steep kilometer would wrench open a wider gap between them. Ah! But where was Remco Evenepoel, wearing the White Jersey? With 900m to go, it was Moscon on the front followed by Great Hunter Bernal, Quickstep’s Joao Almeida was next, Trek’s Guilio Ciccone after, then BikeExchange’s Simon Yates. Remco Evenepoel was down in 15th wheel among this pack. Was he sorely out of position, or was he too hanging on by just a thread? With 600m to go, still the gradients were not even dreaming of letting up, but still Bouwman and Bouchard on the front had a 14-second’s lead. Then, on the riders’ right side in the dirt and the rain and all the chaos Astana’s great GC Hunter and hope Aleksandr Vlasov attacked. Ah! But all knew who was the Great Hunter this day, all knew who it must be to catch the last two nomad escapees from the early break of the day.

“Yes, it is time to do my thing. Make way! Make way! I shall launch now, and finish this Great Hunt,” hypothetically spake the Great Hunter Egan Bernal. He sped around Vlasov. Only Ciccone could mark him in anyway, for this Hunter stalled just a moment to switch his gears properly on the technical gravel. And then he launched. With 400m to go on the dot, the Great Hunt was completed. He flew by Bouwman and Bouchard who were desperately pedaling squares at walking-pace speeds. Truly, if they turned their heads to see him fly by, they would have had whiplash.

Were a pair of hardy Sienese tifosi to have trekked to the top of that gravel finishing climb to see the Giro finish on this harsh, rainy, windswept gravel service road far from their Siena, they would have been reminded of their own beloved Classic, Strade Bianche that took place but two months ago. Staring from the finish line down the steep gravel, these Sienese would have acclaimed about what they were seeing 300m away below them. “Ai! Ai! I did not know [Alpecin’s] Mathieu Van Der Poel was riding this Giro d’Italia! I thought he was mountain-biking in the Czech Republic this day! Ai! How can he be in two places at once? Truly, truly, look at this man who flies up the gravel so ferociously! He looks like a Rocketeer, he looks like the violent Madman that won our beautiful Strade Bianche!” But as he would come into view, still smashing his pedals, still never at all letting up for a second, distancing all the competition by a country-mile, the Sienese pair would then exclaim: “No! No! This is not Mathieu the Madman, this one is more lean—a climber for the highest of passes. Yes, yes, truly, I recognize this one as well! He was third at our beloved Strade this year. That is Egan Bernal the Grenadier, the 2019 Tour de France champion, back on his best form here today. Ole! Ole! What a performance he is putting on for us today! Ah! Truly, truly he is doing his best Van Der Poel impression. He is a Rocketman as well. None are in his stratosphere on these steep grades. There, there. Finally the road levels out. Ah! And he crosses the line completely spent. Look he only gasps in relief, he cannot even cheer.” Yes, thus it was Egan Bernal took the day. It was his first Grand Tour stage win—unbelievably enough. He beat Guilio Ciccone by 7 seconds, Vlasov was with him in third. And despite his poor positioning, in White Remco Evenepoel recovered his deficit as best he could to finish 4th 10 seconds behind Bernal. But with only 5 seconds separating them to begin the day, and after factoring in the 10, 6, and 4 Time Bonuses: Remco will wear White once more tomorrow. Yes, the Great Hunter captured not only the stage, but the maglia rosa as well. Mighty Egan Bernal has come out of this Queen stage of the Apennines leading the Giro d’Italia.

2021 Giro Stage 8: A Saturday Breakaway Showcase (Written)

Foggia—Guardia Sanframondi, 170km

When young dawn with her rosy-red fingers rose once more, the riders geared up for another stage of the Giro d’Italia. The whole first half of the stage was uncategorized climbing….until the categorized climbing began. It was a ferocious fight to get into the breakaway today. For the first 60km of the 170km stage the whole peloton fought to launch and cover moves. I mean it when I say everyone was involved, even Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) tried to get into a move—which is of course a hilarious concept to think he could actually be allowed to get away. There is no way other General Classification (GC) team would let Egan Bernal who lies third overall on the GC get away. He is only 16 seconds behind race leader and Pink Jersey wearer Attila Vallter (Groupama-FDJ). And in between Attila the HUNgarian and Egan Bernal sits the young Belgian phenom Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quickstep) at 11 seconds down. These time gaps weighed heavily on the tactics of the day. As said, it was uncategorized climbing out of the gates, which always suits the breakaway because one must have good climbing legs to even get away. Then the breakaway that succeeds to get away is full of strong climbers for the rest of the mountainous stage—increasing their chances of staying away for the whole day. That is partially why it was such a serious fight to get into the breakaway. The other reason specifically for today was the GC time gaps and the route profile. With only a few descents, the stage basically climbed for the whole first 120km to the top of the Category2 Bocca Della Selva climb, at the peak of this climb was a some-40km descent—with the occasional rising ramp thrown in on the way down. Then the stage finished with 10km of climbing, the last three were categorized to comprise a Category4 finishing climb. So if the breakaway could get over that Category2 climb at 50km to go with a couple minutes, there was a very good chance they would survive and stay away to the finish—for on the 40km descent, it is hard for any collective group to pull back or pull out more than a minute on a breakaway out front. Additionally, Groupama-FDJ’s team is not really built to support any serious GC hopes for Attila the HUNgarian, and in any uphill stage finish and sprint Remco Evenepoel would be one of the favorites amongst the GC contenders. Were Remco to win the stage, he would earn a 10-second time bonus. And if Remco were to finish at least 2 seconds ahead while Attila was out of the top three, Remco would then have 12 seconds on hand to wrest the Pink Jersey away from Attila the HUNgarian. Thus, what interest did Groupama-FDJ have in keeping the breakaway in check? Groupama wanted a breakaway of non-GC threats to go up the road and stay away and mop up the bonus seconds at the finish in order to protect Attila’s Pink Jersey. Then Attila would only need to finish the stage together with Remco and Bernal to retain the maglia rosa for another day. And this is how the stage played out.

To me, the early day fight for the breakaway is much like night fighting in ancient warfare. Rarely did it ever take place. In all twenty-four books or chapters of the Iliad, only one contains fighting that takes place at night. Why did they not fight at night in the ancient world? Because then it could not be seen who achieved the glory—it was not known who slew who. How could one increase their fame and build their immortal legend via night fighting? Such epic fights to get into the breakaway seem the same to me today, because it is only within the last two or three years where cycling subscriptions became so thoroughly prevalent that the Giro and Tour organizers decided to broadcast the entire stage wire-to-wire. Before this, the early day fight for the breakaway was always a night-time rumor—for myself in America, the fight for the breakaway is literally routinely done before young dawn rose with her rosy-red fingers. So, with it established as a given that it was a bitter struggle to make the breakaway today, allow me to now rattle through the men who were already victors in a way. Yes, yes, after such a hard battle surely they had already proven themselves and taken a small victory just to still be in a chance for the win. Let the fame of the following names and teams be increased: Alexis Gougeard (AG2R Citreon), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Kobe Goossens (Lotto Soudal), Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF-Fanzine), Francesco Gavazzi (Eolo-Kometa), Nelson Oliviera (Movistar), Nikias Arndt (Team DSM), Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka Assos), and Fernando Gaviria (UAE). With 100km to go, this was the group that was away. Behind, Groupama-FDJ, Deceuninck-Quickstep, and the Ineos Grenadiers were satisfied with its composition for there were no GC threats amongst them. Thus, the peloton sat up and eased off setting only a respectable pace to the top of the long Category2 climb. With 90km to go, this breakaway already had a 5-minute lead on the peloton, and by 60km to go over 7 minutes. Surely, it was playing out how Groupama wanted, the win would come from the breakaway.

So who were the favorites amongst this group: not just the favorites physically, but in the way of cycling-fandom admiration as well? Even amongst avid cycling fans: Cofidis’ Victor Lafay, Lotto’s Kobe Goossens, Bardiani’s Giovanni Carboni, and Eolo’s Francesco Gavazzi were virtually unknowns, and now for the first time making names for themselves. The Frenchman Alexis Gougeard has been with the French team AG2R for years, but it has been a long time since I remember watching him take an electric Vuelta stage in 2015. Movistar’s Portuguese rider Nelson Oliviera has had a similar win drought—actually his last win was also from that same 2015 Vuelta. Beyond that, Nikias Arndt is the Team DSM veteran semi-hardman-sprinter; he has had a long career and this would be a great win for him. There was Qhubeka’s Victor Campenaerts, the current Hour Record holder—the crown jewel of Time Trialing. But Campenaerts’ TT-ing abilities seem to have dropped off a cliff in the past year as he has seemed to shift focus. And then at the top of the list of notable names was the Colombian Fernando Gaviria. In 2017 when he rode for Quickstep he took four stage wins at the Giro, and every single one was electric. The next year in 2018, he took two more electric stage wins at the Tour de France. But in 2019 he moved to UAE where ever since he has been plagued with injury and illness—including TWO bouts of Coronavirus. O! And did I mention those four Giro stages and two Tour stages all came from sprints? Yes, this is the same Gaviria that launched early yesterday in the sprint and was bested by Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal). (An Author’s Note: For the record it should be said, Caleb Ewan actually abandoned the Giro this morning in that ferocious fight for the breakaway citing knee problems). So perhaps Gaviria has been less confident in his form, knowing better sprinters are here; and that might have been why he daringly hopped into a mountain-stage breakaway today. As far as sprinters go, he is one of the better climbers—he is from Colombia of course—but to win at the top of a Category4 climb would still be a tall order. But despite the tall order, amongst this group I am sure many were rooting for him to re-find or re-charge that electric 2017 form: a win today would do much for his confidence. Such were the stakes this day, if the famous Fernando Gaviria could be beaten, it would be a well earned win for someone not often or at least not recently in the spotlight.

There was not much action on the way up the mighty 18km Category2 climb. Just to get into the breakaway today, all—including Gaviria—had proven they had the legs to be here. Towards the summit the grey clouds above threatened rain for the descent. Accordingly, many put on raincoats. But one chose another method. The Norman—a tough northern people for the past millennia by all accounts—Alexis Gougeard opted instead for the ancient cycling heat-insulator: simply stuffing some newspaper down his jersey. O! O! All must love an old-school trick such as this. It is one of those simple romantic cycling traditions that seems it shall stand the test of time despite how technologically advanced cycling clothing becomes year by year. For a century this newspaper insulator has proven effective. If you were an impartial observer of this stage, such a swashbuckling gesture—and it was swashbuckling—should be enough to win your loyalty for the day.

Over the top and down the descent they flew. O! Despite the grey skies, I must say Italy was on point this day! The mountain vistas far in the background with lush green valleys were melting my heart. All the green was extremely beautiful, and surely we have seen enough May showers this Giro to see where it has all come from. The descent was fun as well, the top of it had not only the stunning views, but wide-sweeping turns perfect for fast and relatively safe descending. But as they came about a third of the way down, an occasional rise would need to be tackled. At this point, anyone less confident in their climbing legs amongst the group tried an attack. Yet still, it was a headscratcher to see Fernando Gaviria the sprinter to opt for a solo breakaway bid with 38km to go—some-20km still to descend. But there he was on the attack….for about a single minute. The camera was following behind these other chasers, and on a righthand switchback all of a sudden they were passing Fernanado Gaviria would have hit the deck on a sharper turn. Alas! alas! With such a fall surely his morale was cooked, surely he would not be getting his mojo back today. Gaviria remounted his bike and slowly pushed on clearly suffering from his fall. He was not making much of an effort to even rejoin his breakaway group now 35-seconds ahead that had just passed him…until something unexpected happened. The white medical convertible came up to him to dress and treat his wounds. This is the only car the riders are legally allowed to hold onto so that the medics can properly address the injuries while the race continues—isn’t cycling a wild sport? Now Gaviria did seem to have hit the deck hard, parts of his shorts were ripped up, and there was scrapes and blood on his arms; but it was a notably long visit to the medical car. Then a handful minutes after the medical appointment was finally over, suddenly Fernando Gaviria had ridden himself back into the breakaway group. Yes, you can put the dots together: on the descent holding onto the medical car, Gaviria was toted back within reach of the breakaway. It seems much of the toting too took place on one of the few uphill drags where the breakaway actually had to expend significant energy. I don’t think anyone could classify this as cheating for the medical car is of course neutral; but it was quite a bit of romantic gamesmanship on Gaviria’s part to drag out a medical visit so long. I think most found it a comical sight more than anything. Gaviria had crashed heavily; it was very unlikely he would be a threat once the road started climbing again at the end for the finale.

Once the breakaway got to the bottom of the descent and started climbing with 10km to go, this proved to be the case. Gaviria admirably held on as long as he could, and longer than most of us expected, but eventually he was dropped amongst the many ferocious attacks. This breakaway had violently been trying to tear itself apart for the entire last 30km of the stage—before the descent was even finished. Most wanted a gap on whoever looked fresher or seemed a better climber, but so many of the guys were unknown quantities everyone was just rolling dice and casting lots. Again, this was a showcase of unbridled Giro racing. The attacks were absolutely relentless—image a boxing match with eight individual combats all taking shots at one another. As each rider attacked, not only did they not know if any others had the legs to go with them…they themselves did not really know if they had the legs to finish off the job all the way to the finish line. It was the tough Norman Alexis Gougeard and the Belgian Hour Record Holder Victor Campenaerts who kept swinging the most punches—and my O! my were some supremely formidable. But still Movistar’s Nelson Oliviera or Bardiani’s Carboni would not let anyone really get away. Still Gougeard and Campenaerts tried and tried, each had at least one that really looked like it would go clear for good.

Finally, with 7km still to race, Victor Campenaerts went clear with Carboni of Bardiani. The elastic seemed to have snapped, they had a 12-second gap to the chasers—save Norman Gougeard in the middle desperately trying to bridge up to the leading pair. Gougeard rode and rode, turning himself absolutely inside out, knowing this was his best chance at a Grand Tour stage win for the past six years since his last! O! O! To try to comprehend the mental fortitude needed to dig so deep working in conjunction with top physical form, truly that is what separates the champions from the others. Gougeard gave it everything and dug as deep as he could possibly go, but ahead Campenaerts and Carboni were evenly rotating like clockwork. Gougeard could not reel back the leading pair. Then Gougeard hit the wall, his last shot fired, his hopes fully dashed. With 3.3km to go, many things happened at once. Ahead Carboni attacked Campenaerts in the hopes to climb away solo. Behind, Gougeard was reeled in by the group of chasers led by Nelson Oliviera. But from around Oliviera came the underdog and unknown quantity the Frenchman Victor Lafay knowing it was now or never! Ahead Carboni rode away, daring to dream of a stage win at his home Giro d’Italia for his Italian team. Ah! It would have been the stuff of legend. But it seemed he had worked too hard, for behind like the little tank engine that could came the 25-year-old Victor Lafay for the Cofidis team. He had used his anonymity to its fullest advantage, to this point he had always only followed and was rarely even expected to actively mark the striking attackers. It seems on this day he had conserved his energy the best, and waited for the perfect time to take only one powerful and massive sniper-rifle shot for glory. And it paid off. Campenaerts had already faded, and Carboni was already in his crosshairs. With 2.4k to go, Lafay caught and passed Carboni without letting up at all—the proper tactics in such an endgame as this. The last kilometers were certainly still rising, but Lafay was flying away.

Thus young Victor Lafay with his rosy-red cheeks rose over the horizon to approach the finish line like Homer’s oft repeated dawning line. It was a spectacular accomplishment for this 25-year-old Frenchman who appears to have the rosiest-red cheeks I have ever seen. May his career be really only just beginning so that if for no other reason we can get to the bottom of this already iconic and awesome facial feature—is this completely natural? It was a great win for his Cofidis team as well, for though they have not much been in attendance at this Italian Grand Tour for the past decade, this is their first Giro stage win in 11 years. Congratulations to you Victor Lafay, this was your day of glory. You cleared the first hurdle and won your first victory by making the break earlier in the day; then clearly you played it the best in the finale. It was not even much of a case of things falling into place for you on the final climb. You won by 36 seconds, none really had a prayer to stop you in that last 3km. Victor, you proved the Man of the Match.

It was a fine Saturday Showcase for some startups in the Breakaway. Behind the top GC men all finished together without any significant action just as Groupama-FDJ had hoped. And Attila the HUNgarian keeps Pink for another day. Ah! But tomorrow this young Attila shall be tested in what is billed to be a Sunday GC Showcase in the Apennine Mountains. All shall try, but few shall rest easy this night with the Apennine Queen stage tomorrow.

2021 Giro Stage 7: You Are Not Here Just to be Entertained

Notaresco—Termoli, 181km

The day before was chaotic and brutal in the stormy Apennine Mountains, today was the complete opposite. It was a slow and un-notable day on the Giro d’Italia as it quietly and scenically traveled along the Adriatic Coast south to Termoli at a relatively leisurely pace. The new leader of the Giro d’Italia, the Hungarian Attila Vallter (Groupama-FDJ) looked great in the maglia rosa, and he had a relatively un-stressful day to just enjoy the moment and soak in the accomplishment—the reward for so much heavy-lifting done yesterday. In the breakaway today was Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) for the third time this Giro already. And he was joined by Mark Christian (Eolo-Kometa), and Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane). Thus, it was only the three smallest teams in the race that did any sort of the animating. But the break never had too big a lead, there was never any dramatic question about whether they were going to survive. They were caught with un-notable routine with 17km to go. Then the sprint trains took to the front of the race. Despite an interesting 12% ramp in the last 2km, it was a relatively routine sprint. Fernando Gaviria (UAE) launched extraordinarily early to literally try and pull a fast one on everyone, but Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was on to it. He stayed in the slipstream and then still launched a fine sprint in the last 200m to take another stage win, his second of this Giro. It was a dominate performance from Ewan. He did not wait for anyone to catch the early launching Gaviria for him. He did the work himself to catch the escapee, and still had the energy to finish off the sprint anyways. But even with the superb show of athleticism by Ewan in the finale, there is no denying that the day was overall a snooze-fest.  

Why was such an inevitably quiet stage designed in the first place? How does this pass for sport? How does such a stage get wire-to-wire converge? It was not enthralling viewing. There is little out of the ordinary for me even to report—not even a historical or architectural tangent caught my fancy today. What was the point of the existence of this stage?

Was it just practical? These starting and finishing towns bid or paid the most money to host stage. The race needs the slow parts to build up anticipation for the exciting parts. The pure sprinters need enough flat opportunities too or else they won’t attend the race at all which detracts viewership who tune in to see the stars. It is impossible to have all big mountains stages, not only because of geography, but because the riders would not have enough energy to truly animate and light up the race on the most crucial days. Is it only for these practical purposes, or is there more to it?

Yes, there is. And you know the answer.

You are not here just to be entertained. Think about it. If you watched more than just the last 5km of today’s stage, you know this is the case. If we just wanted to be entertained, we have a plethora of other sports to choose from. We are here for more than the gluttonous Romans at the arenas who Russel Crowe’s Gladiator, Maximus, questioned. Think about the title of this show. We are here to go on a journey. Who has gone on a road-trip or traveling adventure and not had a slow moment? The slow moments are inevitable, and yet also to be savored. It is a time to decompress in the middle of the action—O! see the stage profiles of the days that were and are to come. This is a time for solid reflection, what do we make of all that has happened thus far? Sometimes serendipitous events can take place. Truly, in all great stories that are moments of downtime, and many are not sure why such chapters or passages were inserted. A year ago, I finished reading Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. I enjoyed the book as a whole, but it was an excruciating grind to get through it all. There were whole chunks of the book that I did not understand the existence for—at the very least surely parts could have been edited down and streamlined better. Ah! But even I can appreciate one aspect without absorbing or realizing the full meaning of the many drawn-out chapters. Part of the beauty of the length was simply more time to intimately acquaint myself with the characters. What were the cuts of their jibs? What were their mannerisms or beliefs? How did they handle adversity, minor or major?

Now bring it back to this drawn-out chapter of the Giro. We have already been treated to see what many of these men can do in the heat of battle. But what are they like outside of battle? Before on a quiet day, Taco Van Der Hoorn (Inetermarche) and Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) were just grunts in the trenches, now they are heroes. Even after their major exploits are over, truly the camera and we love them. Then the other big priority of this slow stage: Did we not all try to size up and learn more about this new Attila Vallter Hungarian wearing the Pink Jersey? Within 24 hours he has set himself on the path to become the most famous Hungarian cyclist possibly of all time. Was it not nice to see him literally have his day in the Sun, before battle resumes tomorrow and he is put to the test once more? Truly, if we think deeply, we can acknowledge the place for these quiet transition days. We not only advance the journey geographically, we advance the story’s plot even if it seems only character development. The sprinters’ statistics, narratives, and trajectories became more sculpted. All of us noted Gaviria’s unorthodox tactics and Israel Start-Up Nation’s Davide Cimolai’s second second-place on a Giro stage this year—both are ones to continue watching. And we “mingled” and became better acquainted with others for the rest of the stage. In addition to Attila the HUNgarian, we watched Simon Pellaud in yet another breakaway—O! surely a sweet spot is forming for him in all of us. Of course, more could be said about all this, especially musings about why we want to be on this journey with these riders. I am only scratching the surface at the moment. But more will be said, so why not leave it here for now. And let us simply soak in the quiet easy day on this Italian Odyssey.

2021 Giro Stage 6: Double Redemption for Bahrain Victorious (Written)

Grotte di Frasassi – Ascoli Piceno (San Giacomo)

It was another day with Biblical Weather on the Giro d’Italia. It was another stage to show your friends and family that wonder why you watch so much cycling. O! And surely if you ever questioned cyclists’ fortitude this day dispelled those doubts. At many points, the weather was so ferocious, the Italian broadcasters had trouble beaming up the racing images. The landscapes that were tackled today were so rugged as well. The race was back in the Apennines, but still on the Adriatic side. Surely, it must be one of the least populated parts of Italy, a gem hidden away from most tourists. Perhaps with all the rain and wind, it did feel like the race was out in the untamed wilderness far from civilization for most of the day. Few fans were noticed on the roadside, many houses were in ruin from earthquakes of the past few decades, and the roads were not in the finest of conditions. In fact, as you will hear, on the extremely long descent towards the stage’s end there seemed to be channels of running water coming down the road making the ever-difficult wet descending all the more nerve-racking. The riders rode up the 10km Forca di Gualdo, the Forca di Presta which peaked out at 1500m high, and finished the stage with the 15km San Giacomo climb. Such a tough day on paper to begin with, throw in the biblical weather, O! surely San Giacomo pray for these riders this day.

Much of the early stage was uncategorized climbing just to approach the two high passes mid-stage that peaked-out over 1500m above sea level. After there was more-or-less a 50km decent to the bottom of the final San Giacomo climb. A stage profile such as that must be mouthwatering for the breakaway specialists. Alas! Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) the greatest Escape Artist of his generation did not get into the break today. But two certain Bahrain Victorious riders did, Matej Mohoric and Gino Mader. With the loss of their leader Mikel Landa to yesterday’s crash, it is now Open Season for stage hunting for the Bahrain Victorious team. Mohoric and Mader wasted no time. They were the ones driving and leading the breakaway for most of the day over those Gualdo and Presta passes. O! But with the horrendous elements, that was tough business…and a certain team and a certain man in the peloton behind had other ideas than letting the breakaway go up the road for the day.

They said at the beginning of the season they wanted to “race like Brazil.” And to their credit, I do think the Ineos Grenadiers have been more fluid and exciting with their racing thus far this season. They can still put on the Deathstar Imperial paceline—as you’re about to hear—but they are having and are providing us with more fun out there. On the first climb, the Forca di Gualdo, the broadcast feed was struggling the most. But it was clear the Ineos Grenadiers were all on the front, only Pavel Sivakov was missing for he did not start the race today. But over the top of the climb, the action did not let up. Instead on that 1500m high “plateau”—for lack of a better word—the action actually intensified. So wet and windy was it up there with 60km to go, the Ineos Grenadiers were almost forming crosswind echelons! Crosswinds do not materialize often in Italy, but leave it to the unbridled-racing of the Giro to have crosswinds strike on a 1500m high plateau in the wild of a barren wilderness. There were the Ineos Grenadiers in one sideways echelon-line driving and shattering the peloton. And who was on the front of these Grenadiers? Yes, yes, it had to be Filipo “Top” Ganna. Perhaps we should start calling him Top Ganna the Shatter-er of Pelotons, for that is what he did today. O! So much more than just a time trialist is he. He is rising high up the ranks of most versatile Swiss Army Knives amongst the peloton. Truly, this Top Ganna is worth his weight in gold, and if relative to the other cyclists at this Giro based on his size he is probably worth the most. To reference my beloved Iliad, with his size differential he looked like Telamonian Ajax head-and-shoulders towering about the rest. As he rode on the front of the peloton up that second Presta climb he looked like a locomotive dragging a long freight train of cars behind. All the top General Classification (GC) men had to fight to stay up with the Ineos Grenadiers, but many lesser casualties were being caught out…and one important fish as well. Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) wearing the maglia rosa as the leader of the Giro d’Italia was caught out on a split formed on that climb. Before he knew it, there was a 90-second gap between him and the Ganna led peloton of favorites. Thus ended De Marchi’s spell in Pink, alas! the fairytale dream comes to an end. Ineos pushed on as those winds continued to blow. The winds were so fierce at the top of the Presta climb, all the King of the Mountains banner-age was taken down so that it might not hazardously blow away and strike someone or disrupt the race. Ganna and the rest of the Ineos Grenadiers led the peloton over the crest of the climb with 60km left on the stage, and they were some 3 minutes behind the breakaway leaders who were still going strong.

Yes, ahead the breakaway had begun the long descent, only 4 men were left in contention at the very front. The mentioned Matej Mohoric and Gino Mader of Bahrain Victorious, Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), and Dario Cataldo (Movistar). It was a very tall order for Cataldo and Mollema to keep up with the Bahrain duo. They were having trouble not just because of the torrential downpour conditions, but because the Slovenian Matej Mohoric is one of the best descenders in the peloton. Remember it was he who popularized the pedaling aero Supertuck that is now banned. But even without his Supertuck, Mohoric still gave it everything in the wet, he had climbed his best all day and now he was doing his madman descending all in the service of giving his teammate Gino Mader the most time possible ahead of the peloton going into the last San Giacomo climb of the day. Gino Mader started the day 3:58 down on GC, at one point their gap was over 5:00, before Ganna and Ineos put their foot down on the gas. With the gap down to 3:00 with 60km to go, the Pink Jersey faded from the Bahrain pair’s minds and all thought was left to get Mader the stage win. Perhaps you remember this young Swissman Gino Mader from this year’s Paris-Nice. It was he who was leading and about to win from the breakaway on the Queen Stage when Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) ruthlessly nipped him in the very final meters of the stage. It was heartbreak for Mader, because that would have been a strong breakout victory. But all saw his climbing abilities that day, and it was he who his Bahrain Victorious team invested in this day.

On and on they all descended. It wasn’t the hardest work descending, but much of it was still pedal-able. Mohoric did all of pacing of the 4-man breakaway for his teammate Mader, while still Top Ganna shatter-er of pelotons paced on for the Grenadiers. The wild remote landscape and heavy rains did not let up for the entire descent. There were the already mentioned river-channels mid-road creating more hazards. And it was all cold enough that the hands were starting to freeze. Making it a difficult task for many riders to fully zip up their rain jackets and take down their last bits of food and gels before the final climb. It cannot be overstated how important it is to keep the body warm and continue to fuel and hydrate in the middle of such a tough stage, the 6th Stage of 21. But the descent and the last-minute feeds came to an end at the base in the town of Ascoli Piceno, which was also located at the very foot of the last San Giacomo climb. The town was the only sign of civilization all day, and would you believe it: the rain stopped, for a few minutes the Sun even poked its head out from amongst the clouds. All adeptly took their rain jackets off as soon as the final climb began, and thus began the first summit finish of this Giro d’Italia.

Mohoric and Mader’s breakaway quartet still had a 2:50 advantage on the peloton at the base of the climb. But one or two kilometers into the 15km climb, Mohoric had finally spent all his energy, all the weight was on Mader’s shoulders now. He had to not only stave off the chasing peloton, but also outfox Cataldo and Mollema or beat them with brute strength. And behind, Top Ganna the shatter-er of pelotons was not yet done for the day. For the first third of this last climb he still continued to do the carnage-creating damage—shelling out many. One casualty was the Champion of New Zealand, George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma). The team had high hopes for him, he came into this race as their sole GC leader, but with 10km still to go already he was struggling. Bennett would yo-yo off the back for the peloton for the rest of the stage. Finally, with 9.4km to go, Top Ganna having worked like Telamonian Ajax on the beaches of Troy called it a day. Truly, he must have rode on the front of the peloton for some 60-to-70km straight; but all in a day’s work for this Swiss Army Knife Filipo “Top” Ganna. By the time Ganna swung off, the three breakaway escapee’s gap was now only 2:00. Ineos continued to drive the pace with Jonathan Castroviejo and Gianni Moscon. Slowly, the breakaway’s advantage continued to shrink. With 5.7km to go, the gap was down to 1:38. Castroviejo swung off, but both the Quickstep and Sunweb teams came to the front to aid Ineos in the chase. The last 4km of the climb were the steepest, and this is where the endgame really began.

At 3.3km to go, the rain may have been pouring again, but the gap was evaporating. It was now or never. The Swissman Gino Mader struck out and attacked his breakaway companions to make his Bahrain team proud. Mollema and Cataldo did not have the slightest answer to him, Mader simply flew the coop as all young fowls inevitably do. But at the same moment behind, the Ineos Grenadiers launched one of their lieutenants, Dani Martinez. Was he striking out for this own GC ambitions? Was the team trying to keep as many riders high on GC actually for Egan Bernal’s sake? Or was this a satellite rider for Bernal to bridge up to later? With this attack, the gap to Mader was really evaporating, he had only a minute’s lead now. O! Could it be two summit finish breakaway heartbreaks in one season? First Roglic, who would it be this time?

With 1.5km to go, the Grenadier Egan Bernal the 2019 Tour de France champion hit out on the attack. He looked best of the GC men on Stage 4, now though still only in the first week he wanted to press his advantage and reward his teammates for all the work they did this day. Another crazy fact too might have been playing in his head: believe it or not, Egan Bernal has still yet to win his first Grand Tour stage! Yes, he won the 2019 Tour, but the day he was going to take a stage was the landslides day when the race was abbreviated without a declared stage winner. So here was Bernal hunting GC time and his first Grand Tour stage win. O! He looked impressive in the soaking wet launching attack after attack. Only Trek’s Guilio Ciccone, Quickstep’s Remco Evenepoel, and Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin could keep pace with him. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech) kept leading a handful of the other favorites trying to claw their way back, but every time Bernal went full throttle once more. It was sensational stuff. Bernal announced he was the man to beat this Giro. And with every surge of pace that only Ciccone, Evenepoel, and Martin could match, Bernal ate into Mader’s lead. With one kilometer to go, Mader still had 30 seconds, but Bernal was gobbling up the road between them. The climb did not let up, and there was even a headwind for the last kilometer. Mader had to struggle and struggle all the way to the line. He was pedaling squares, he was completely spent. But with 30 seconds he did have enough time in hand. In the last few meters, he slowed up at the end because he knew he had it, and because he simply was that tired. He could barely post up as he crossed the line. He raised one hand up in the air, and then had to grab his handlebars again before he lost balance. He looked punch-drunk exhausted, but he had accomplished the mission. From the agony of race-ending injury, Gino Mader had stormed a march to take a wonderful stage victory for Bahrain Victorious…and for himself. In a similar situation, Roglic had heartbreakingly pipped him in Paris-Nice, finally today it went his way. He held off Egan Bernal’s full gas group by only 11 seconds. Thanks to Mohoric’s pacing all day and Mader’s clutch performance on that final climb, it was double joy for the Bahrain Victorious team. Surely this shall boost all the team’s morale from yesterday’s devastation. Their GC-supporting lineup was very strong to begin with. Now with this momentum, it is very likely we have not seen the last of Bahrain Victorious at this Giro d’Italia.