A fun stage awaits with a series of sharp climbs in the finish. This is what a Giro stage should look like, offering lively racing that is an expression of the land, scenery and architecture.
Stage 7 Review: the stage win for Jonas Vingegaard and in the predicted manner: attacking with 5km to go to shake everyone off his wheel, the difficulty of the slope heightened by a stiff wind that was at times making riders climb in echelon formation.
If it went to plan, the script still had some twists. The first surprise was Giulio Pellizzari who was able to match the Dane. Vingegaard was flustered, turning back several times to find the Italian still on his wheel. The second surprise was that Pellizzari cracked after a kilometre, perhaps no shock but he must have known he was in the red but persisted and went deep into a crimson moment and almost stalled on the slope, “I was wrong” he said at the finish. The third surprise was Felix Gall who darted past Pellizzari and finished second, at only 13 seconds behind Vingegaard when the Dane would have been expected to take more time.
Only ten riders were within two minutes of Vingegaard. Further down, Damiano Caruso and Egan Bernal lost almost three minutes, Jan Christen over four minutes and Enric Mas close to six minutes.
It leaves Vingegaard in the perfect place. Afonso Eulalio stays in pink with three minutes. We saw the Bahrain team work yesterday when they did not have to; this implies they will work more and this eases the load on Visma. Plus if Gall was surprisingly close, he’s a fragile rider at risk of trouble on descents, in crosswinds, and if he can ace these there’s the 40km time trial next week where he will certainly lose time. Even better for Vingegaard was not only did he crack Pellizzari, Jai Hindley sprinted away from his colleague in the finishing straight rather than tow him to the line. Everything is going to plan for Vingegaard.
The Route: a ride out of Chieti and then a spin up the coast to the intermediate sprint. After this the race heads into the hills.
- the Montefiore climb is 10km at 3.6% but the first half is full of 5-6% and there’s a small descent midway you don’t see on the profile
- Monterubbiano is 6km at 5.1% but with plenty of 6-8% ramps. Like many roads in the Marche region there’s little engineering, instead the road takes the contour of the terrain with more changes in pitch than a novice saxophone player
- the climb to Fermo is 3km at 5% with plenty of 8%
- the sharp, narrow ramp to the Red Bull point
- The climb back from the sea to Capodarco
The Finish: the profile above says plenty but this is a run past the city walls and then a ride into the old town complete with cobbles and flagstones in town. Having lamented the other day that too many Giro stages finish out of town and don’t show off the host towns today does it right.
The Contenders: a good day for the breakaway. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) is out of the GC race and good on a course like this. Likewise Jan Christen (UAE) who can focus on stages now, with Jhonatan Narvaez and obvious pick too. Local rider Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-Quickstep) is suited but a win would be a surprise.
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) might be the best suited to the course and the finish but he’s eighth overall, he won’t get much room to go in the breakaway with the likes of Netcompany-Ineos, Tudor and Jayco needing to contain him. Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) is 11th overall and has more room.
 |
– |
 |
Narvaez, Christen, Scaroni |
 |
Ciccone, Sheffield, Van Eetvelt |
Weather: sunshine on the coast but rain coming in later with a top temperature of 18°C in the hills.
TV: KM0 is at 1.35pm and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in 3.30pm for the start of the hills.
Postcard from Fermo
What have Jai Hindley, Filippo Zana and Einer Rubio got in common? They’re all riding the Giro today but if you want a hint: today they’ll return to Capodarco.
The answer is they’re all winners of the GP Capodarco, a one day Under-23 race held every August. The format is simple, a flat loop to the Lido di Fermo, the seaside, before switching to laps around the town of Capodarco including a climb that’s 3.5km long at 6%. On the final lap the race heads for the historic old town and finishes with a wall climb that’s got a long section at 18%. Throw 150 riders into this and the strongest emerge; it’s not the Tour de l’Avenir but is selective.
Much is made of Italy’s chronic lack of a World Tour team, and now the looming concern is the next level down is shrivelling too. We have Polti-Malta and Bardiani in the Giro but as things stand on the UCI rankings Bardiani aren’t going to be eligible for the Giro next year; although Solution Tech is. One in, one out? Yes but Bardiani have brought on young riders like Pellizzari and Pinarello while Solution Tech is more mercenary, hiring riders to score points and probably less sustainable.
Where Italian cycling still thrives is the Under-23 scene. The majority of U23 one-day international races are in Italy, plus two of the five stage races with the Giro Next Gen and the Giro della Valle d’Aosta as well. Italy has 13 Continental teams, second only to China.
It’s not all rosy but it is holding up. The Italian amateur scene has been so prolific that both the Australian and British cycling federations have created bases to offer their riders a program of racing that they can’t get domestically. One reason for the rise of Slovenian cycling has been the ease of crossing the border to race in Italy and find a calendar of events to suit. The most recent winner of the GP Capodarco? Slovenia’s Jakob Omrzel, now aged 20 and riding for Bahrain.
