My first two days at the Giro were sweating-in-the-shade hot. Now that I’ve left and returned to the race, it doesn’t look like the heat is going to be a problem anymore. Except perhaps its lack thereof.
It was another soggy day for the peloton as the sign on got underway in Montecchio Maggiore in the shadow of a gorgeous stone church and clock tower.
Many of the riders seemed understandably weary of spending yet another afternoon riding in the rain, even if the profile was pancake flat. I had my Giro banner at the ready, but couldn’t bring myself to ask too many of them for autographs today. The Italian man behind me, however, felt differently and hollered at several of the compatriots to come over, much to my chagrin.
Stig Broeckx of Lotto Soudal
Rick Zabel of BMC
There aren’t many sprint stages in the 98th edition of the Giro so riders like Andre Greipel and Michael Matthews were looking to nab another win while Luka Mezgec and Moreno Hofland were among those hoping to take the first stage for their teams.
Greipel of Lotto Soudal
While the peloton queued up ahead of the neutral start, a pair of Italians took a moment to catch up.
Luca Paolini with two time world champion, Paolo Bettini
The peloton
Our original plan for the stage was just to catch the sign on, so Andrea and I had nothing to lose by driving east to Jesolo in hopes of catching the arrival. The rental car’s Garmin got us there with plenty of time to spare and even entertained us along the way by butchering the names of all the roads.
In the final kilometer
We walked the last chunk of the course and, even though there weren’t that many spectators on the course, everyone had their massive umbrellas up, so our best bet was to watch the final 40k on the podium screen where we could see the riders about 50 meters after crossing the finish line. My money was on Greipel for today, though I was rooting for Mezgec, and Andrea thought Matthews would pull it off. We watched as the sprint teams lined up their trains and jockeyed with the GC teams for position. The kilometers ticked down when CRASH! At 3.2k to go, a touch of wheels near the front brought a Trek rider and 1 or 2 others to a screeching halt. The crash worked itself from the far left side towards the right side of the road until it blocked most of the road and several had to ride on the grassy shoulder. The Trek rider was down for the count and a Lotto Jumbo rider didn’t get up in a hurry. Meanwhile, the surviving sprinters carried on. Lampre dominated with a handful of riders to pull for Sacha Modolo who took his second stage win of the season.
Giacomo Nizzolo continued to accelerate as Modolo slowed to celebrate his victory
Andrea and I both got it wrong: Matthews was 14th and Greipel 13th
Four seconds later, the first bunch sped by. Fabio Aru had lost Alberto Contador in the crash chaos and put essential time into the Spaniard.
Aru will swap the white jersey for the GC leader’s maglia rosa tomorrow
Contador had to swap bikes with a teammate because of the crash and consequently, for the first time in his career, has lost the leader’s jersey for the first after assuming it. He now lies in second place, 19 seconds behind Aru.
Contador knew he’d lost time and slipped in the GC as he sprinted for the line
The rain had more or less stopped before the finish, but the damage had been done. The slick road took its victims and the tired and mud caked riders, many of whom were simply shaking their heads to no one in particular, just seemed relieved to be done for the day.
Silvan Dillier, Philippe Gilbert, and Amael Moinard of BMC
Tom-Jelte Slagter of Cannondale Garmin
A nonplussed Paolini alongside a displeased Davide Montaguti
After being penalized 2 minutes earlier in the week due to an apparently illegal wheel swap, Richie Porte’s GC campaign is now totally dead as he finished over 2 minutes down. The Aussie was held up by the crash and finished the race on teammate Vasil Kiryienka’s bike. The Belarusian towers over the diminutive Porte, which explains why Porte looked so terribly awkward.
Porte was forced to stand as he couldn’t reach the pedals if he sat
Unsure of how the final sprint had played out, many riders paused to watch the replay on the podium screen.
Esteban Chaves and Simon Clarke of Orica GreenEdge
Ripped kits and bloodied bodies revealed who had been taken down in the crash.
Darwin Atapuma hit the deck
Eugenio Alafaci was the last rider to finish today. He was the rider who had first slammed onto the pavement in the late crash. It looks like his collarbone is broken, in which case he’ll be out of commission for about 6 weeks.
Always impressive to see a crashed rider finish
Spectators (and their umbrellas) began to flood the finish area once they realized there would be treated to a double dose of Italian success.
Modolo…sort of
The one bright spot of Aru earning the leader’s jersey is that Davide Formolo will borrow the white jersey for stage 14.
Give yourself 10 points if you can spot Aru receiving the maglia rosa
With just 19 seconds between Contador and Aru, tomorrow’s 59.4k time trial promises to be an important stage.
Today’s 7 autographs (including 2 duplicates) came from 4 Axel Dumont, 8 Davide Montaguti, 84 Heinrich Haussler, 142 Matteo Busato, 152 Janier Acevedo, 154 Andre Cardoso, and 192 Bernie Eisel.