After yesterday’s tough day of racing, the Giro continued today on a mountainous 168km stage from Ponte di Legno to Lavarone. Right after the start the race went straight uphill, but the two first category climbs over the last 50km presented the biggest challenge. The peloton left the start in the rain and on the first climb a small group was able to break away and quickly grew to 25 riders on the descent. As the race progressed, Ineos Grenadiers controlled the tempo, while BORA – hansgrohe joined in full team strength behind the British squad. In the end, the escapees settled the day’s win among themselves, while back in the reduced Maglia Rosa group, the fight for the jersey continued. Just as yesterday, Jai Hindley put in a strong performance on the final climb and crossed the finish on Carapaz’s wheel. He remains just 3 seconds behind the Ecuadorian in the GC, while other overall favorites lost yet more time to the leading duo today.
Result
1.Santiago Buitrago Sanchez
2.Gijs Leemreize +0:35
3.Jan Hirt +2:28
Provisional classification:
1.Richard Carapaz
2.Jai Hindley +0:03
3.Mikel Landa Meana +1:05
From the Finish Line
“After yesterday’s stage, there were certainly some tired and heavy legs in the peloton today. The finale was quite hard, as expected, and the fight in the GC is still extremely close. When there’s no mountaintop finish, it’s harder to make significant time gaps. I may not have made up any time on Carapaz today, but I’m happy to have gained time over the others. Every second counts and the last stage is getting closer. I think the second last stage will be a very decisive one.” – Jai Hindley
“At the beginning of the stage the weather was particularly bad, which stands in stark contrast to the previous days when it was usually quite hot. In such conditions it is always difficult to assess the form of other riders. At one point we had five riders in the Maglia Rosa group, and the guys protected Jai very well there. Then in the final climb it all came down to the legs. Jai performed well again today, consistently riding at the front of the ever-reducing GC group and quickly responding to Landa’s attack. And importantly, Almeida, the strongest time trialist up in the GC, lost quite a bit of time today. So all in all it was a good day.” – Enrico Gasparotto, Sports Director
