Il Giro Sette: Issue 6

‘It’s not a professional sport.’

The words of ex-pro Robbie McEwen on the Discovery+ as behind them in the studio the screen displayed images of pouring snow, riders wrapped up in rain jackets, snoods and more. Yes, after singing the praises of the clement weather at this year’s race in the last issue, the weather in the Dolomites once again threw the dice, and on stage 16, the Giro was once again thrown into weather-related chaos.

With 100% of riders voting against riding the descent of the Umbrail Pass, a negotiation process that seemed unequivocal descended into confusion as the race organisers tried – and failed – to appease all stakeholders, including Livigno, who had paid for a stage start. It was a very difficult situation, but it goes without saying that the health and safety of the riders is paramount – a fact that the race organisers RCS seemed reluctant to accept, blaming the riders for going against their gentleman’s agreement in their official press release. Tadej Pogačar himself was criticised for not speaking out, as the race leader and maglia rosa. He did not take a stand on behalf of the rest of the peloton, as patrons in the past have done, but instead said he’d race if he was allowed to, with commentators questioning his ability to speak freely amid a possible conflict of interest with the organisers who are paying him a fee to be at the race in the first place.

Ben O’Connor was more vocal. ‘It’s one of the worst organised races. This would never happen in 99% of other situations,’ The Australian said, not pulling any punches. ‘It’s 2024, and you still have dinosaurs who really don’t see the human side of things.’

A visibly baffled Jasha Sutterlin spoke to Eurosport’s Hannah Walker already wet and freezing following sign-on, and the whole situation begged the question: if THESE conditions don’t invoke the extreme weather protocol, what would?

The riders maintained their good humour in the face of the confusion, as the below social media posts show. But the image of BORA Hansgrohe riders flagging down their own bus in full kit, in an effort not to be left behind in the pouring snow, was a vignette for the entire situation, and how, as Robbie McEwen alluded to at the top of the broadcast, this still cannot be considered a serious sport.

Stage 16 itself finally began, hours later and considerably shortened, and of course the first attack came from Marco Frigo – whose name translates as ‘fridge’ – one of the only riders wearing shorts. There was a need for speed, for no other reason if not to keep warm, making life difficult for break. A four-man breakaway eventually got away, reuniting buddies Alaphilippe and Maestri. Two more Italians, Ballerini and Piccolo rounded out the quarter. The race progressed as fast as the bands of rain sweeping across the weather radar, and though Loulou tried once again, he blew up 2.5km shy of the line. With Majka menacing, and Tadej with bare arms, by contrast to everyone else still in rain gear, Romain Bardet and Ben O’Connor struggled. The youngest rider in the race, Giulio Pellizzari, tried, but when Pogačar launched at 1.5km, passing everyone, Pellizzari included, the day of confusion and chaos ended in an unexpected opportunity for the fine young cannibal to make it five stage wins.

Stage 17 packed a real punch, on paper. With the most climbing per kilometre of any stage, it was rated five stars, of course, and we were all relieved after the previous day’s chaos to find there were no changes to the route – it was damp, but thankfully no snow, at ground level at least. Yes, it was all ups and downs and not a moment of flat, the bunch spread out along the road almost the entire day.

It was straight into the action, with a big fight for the Cima Coppi – the youngest rider in the race, and second place on yesterday’s stage, Giulio Pellizzari, thought he had it in the bag until Nairo Quintana sprinted for the line, and it went to a photo finish (or perhaps just a jury pausing and rewinding the footage) which Pellizzari won – a popular victory, and he was so buoyed he went on to be the first man at the summit of the next climb too.

A strong breakaway group formed ahead of the Passo Rolle – the first climb ever used in the Dolomites in the Giro – though the peloton never seemed content to let them gain much time, and there was a great deal of confusion over who was riding and for what as the day unfolded. UAE Team Emirates seemed content to try and let the break go, on the few occasions in which they had control, but other teams with contrasting goals and ambitions kept the gap low, namely Team dsm-firmenich PostNL, who kept the pace high and made it look for a while as if it would be a GC day after all, and likely a gift of another stage for Pogi. Majka expressed his anger over the situation to dsm’s Kevin Vermaerke, but when dsm finally gave up the chase INEOS took over, and in the end a small GC group headed for the line behind the solo leader Georg Steinhauser, who looked to have enough space to ride to victory. And so he did, despite a late scare from Pogačar, who added yet more time to his already gargantuan lead, but the day belonged to the 22-year-old, who took his first pro win at his first Grand Tour, and the joy that followed was infectious. Nice one, Georg.

It was a wet, dull start to the day on stage 18, though the scenery continued to deliver. The breakaway looked doomed from the start, but stranger things have happened in this Giro than a break surviving a nailed-on sprint stage, so hope was always there for the four men, three Italians who we’d become greatly familiar with over the course of this Giro, with EF’s Mikkel Honore for company, hoping to make it two days of celebration for the team in (sort of) pink.

Nothing happened after that for a long while other than the rain starting and stopping and starting again, and with 58km to go, Edoardo Affini launched a huge attack to move across to the break, which had drifted to within 30 seconds of the peloton, but even with the added manpower it was a hopeless situation for the break who were reeled in with plenty of time for sprinters teams to go to work. Thymen Arensman found himself in mechanical trouble at the worst possible time, and Jonathan Milan found himself boxed in and unable to unleash his power until it was too late – but only just. Tim Merlier took the win, with Milan breathing down his neck, and everything else remains – as it was.

Giro 107

Our regular homage to the number 107, on this the 107th edition of the Giro d'Italia, beginning with the riders who finished 107th...

Rider 107

Stage 16

A shortened stage following a rest day saw another rider winning the 107^th classification, which is much more open than the race for first. Dries De Pooter is our winner today!

Dries was born on the 8^th November 2002 in Geel, like Jenthe Biermans who won 107^th on stage 2. It seems that the riders from this little city of approximately 40,000 inhabitants are taking our contest very seriously! Dries got his first experience in the professional cycling world in 2021 with SEG Racing Academy after having won the Junior Belgian Championships the year before. With the Dutch team, he posted a few top 10s in races such as the Craft Ster van Zwolle, and caught the eye of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert with whom he signed as a trainee. Unfortunately, he did not fully convince Jean-François Bourlart’s staff and he remained at Continental level, this time with Hagens Bermans Axeon. With Axel Merckx’s team, Dries won the only victory of his career so far, the first stage of the Flanders Tomorrow Tour. This win along with some good results throughout the year allowed him to finally sign with Intermarché-Circus-Wanty last year.

In 2024, Dries showed his good sprinting abilities on the Tour of Oman, posting two top 10s. At the start of this Giro, his main goal was to help Biniam Girmay during the final kilometres but, with the withdrawal of the Eritrean, he now works for the Estonian Madis Mihkels, who has the responsibility of sprinting for the Belgian team. In addition to this role, Dries De Pooter is also on the race for the 107^th final classification given that he is currently 103^rd.

Stage 17

After Vegard Stake Laengen on stage 14, UAE Team Emirates has once again won the 107^th classification. They really are everywhere! Juan Sebastian Molano is today’s winner.

Juan was born in the city of Paipa on the 4^th November 1994. He started his career in a Colombian team, Manzana Postobon, with who he showed his great sprinting abilities. Indeed, in his first year with his team, he won two massive sprints, at la Vuelta Ciclista Comunidad de Madrid and la Vuelta a Colombia. In 2018, he took part in the Chinese races at the end of the season, claiming six stage wins and the general classification. After that, he signed his first World Tour contract with UAE Team Emirates, under whose colours he won on his third raceday at the Colombia 2.1.

In 2020, after three more wins in Colombia, Juan Sebastian posted a top 5 for the first time on a Grand Tour stage, finishing 4^th in the sprint of Matera at the Giro. He confirmed this result the following year with six top 10s at World Tour races such as the Giro, La Vuelta and La Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. However, the Colombian sprinter had to wait until 2022 before finally raising his arms at a race of the highest level. He won the final stage of La Vuelta, finishing ahead of Mads Pedersen and Pascal Ackermann to claim the biggest win of his career. This win was followed by another one on the Spanish roads one year later, but also by a bunch sprint at the UAE Tour and at the Gree-Tour of Guangxi, two World Tour races. This year, Juan Sebastian Molano has not won yet despite 8 top 10s, including 3 at this Giro. Tomorrow could be a great day for a sprinter like him and with the power of the 107^th, he could be one of the favourites.

Stage 18

We are approaching the end of this 107^th Giro and there is not a lot of chances left to win the 107^th contest. Today, an Italian from VF Group-Bardiani won our classification: Martin Marcellusi.

Martin was born on the 5^th of April 2000, in the eternal city, Rome. He signed his first professional contract in 2022, with the team that was at the time called Bardiani-CSF. He showed his capacities of puncheur-sprinter by winning the Trofeo Piva in April, ahead of Marco Frigo. He mainly raced U23 races during that year but his top 10 on the final stage of the Tour of Britain showed that he was capable of shining at the higher level. Last year, his team trusted him for the main objective of the season: the Giro, where he spent a few days in the breakaway, right after posting his first World Tour top 10 at Eschborn-Frankfurt. We also saw Martin at Il Lombardia where he spent the day at the front of the race.

In 2024, Martin Marcellusi already posted two top 10s at Paris-Camembert and Milano-Torino. At this Giro, we saw him at the front of the race twice, on the roads of stages 2 and 8. Today, we saw him at the front of the peloton in the last kilometres in order to help his sprinter Enrico Zanoncello, before finishing a brilliant 107^th place.

What happened at kilometre 107?

Well, what DID happen? Each of these snapshots is once again representative of the stage as a whole; as it was written.

Stage 16: Attila Valter salutes his supports in the crowd, on a day so confusing and so wet even the cameraman has given up trying to fathom what's going on through his lens.

Stage 17: this one is ironic, as after a day drilling it on the front for no discernable reason the previous day, a Movistar rider is here seen bringing up the rear, while other teams do exactly the same.

Stage 18: a breakaway so doomed, I could barely fit them all in the screenshot before it was no longer km107.

Preview 107

STAGE 19 / 20 / 21 in 107 WORDS

The profile for stage 19 might resemble the actual tension in the race and the heartrate of the spectators as the stage gets gradually tougher leading to its crescendo – it’s not a summit finish but the punchy penultimate kilometre could springboard someone to victory – probably another accidental win for Pog. There will be nothing accidental about his win on Saturday which is almost guaranteed on the final mountain stage, one which includes a double ascent of Monte Grappa. A sprint royale awaits whoever can make it all the way to Rome on Sunday - along with a procession, and probably a pretend breakaway from the maglia rosa.

Throwback Thursday

Revisiting iconic stage victories of past Giros, with Mathieu Fraisse.

Stage 16 | 2014: Ponte di Legno – Val Martello (136km)

It was all a big misunderstanding!

Ponte di Legno, Lombardia, the morning after the Giro 2014’s final rest day. Rigoberto Uran is wearing Maglia Rosa. He claimed it five days ago by winning the Barolo time trial and has a one-minute gap over Cadel Evans, second on the podium, and almost two minutes over Rafal Majka, in third.

Riders are ready to tackle the last week of this Giro, and with a big one: the Queen Stage. On the menu today? Gavia, Stelvio and to top things off, a final climb of 22.3km with slopes approaching 14%: Val Martello. Your legs are hurting just by looking at the stage profile.

It’s raining in Ponte di Legno and possibly snowing up there as the temperatures are quite low, riders are in for an epic day on the bike. The visibility is becoming worse as the peloton is climbing the Gavia. Snow is starting to appear on the side of the roads as some riders are trying to attack, while the rain keeps on falling.

We finally have a breakaway! On the Stelvio, Vuillermoz, Cataldo and Pellizotti are up front with almost three minutes on the main peloton. They are joined by seven more riders on the ascent. As we are approaching the top, the peloton is clawing back the breakaway but the weather conditions are still worsening. Rumours on race radio: the  stage might be neutralised on the descent.

Cataldo attacked at the front, taking the Giro Cima Coppi! Race organizers apparently announced a car will help set the pace on the descent due to weather conditions, but it didn’t look like it at all! A small group took advantage of the confusion. Quintana, Rolland and Hesjedal attacked in the descent, quickly increasing their advantage to almost two minutes before tackling the last climb.

Omega and Astana are leading the chase for Uran and Aru when the rain stops. Quintana attacks with 18km to go, followed by Pierre Rolland. They eventually caught Cataldo and Quintana took this matters into his own hand. He doesn’t care who’s with him; eyes are only on the finish line now.

Quintana is definitely the strongest that day, as the gap over the main favourites is quickly increasing. Hesjedal is the only one left in his wheel as they are entering the last two kilometres with over three minutes on Uran, Aru and Majka. Evans is a little bit further back, suffering on the 14% slopes.

It was Nairoman against everyone else on the Val Martello slopes! The Colombian took the stage while Hesjedal came in second and a completely dehydrated Rolland finished third. Most of the GC contenders lost around four minutes on the day. After claiming Maglia Rosa, Quintana would eventually go on to win the overall classification a few days later.

This stage remains a very controversial one in Giro history. A large number of Directeur Sportifs were legitimately furious towards the race organisers after the stage. Their lack of communication, ultimately leading to confusion and Quintana’s fatal blow, probably cost their riders a large amount of time and their hopes to win the 2014 Giro.

—

Stage 17 | 2021: Canazei – Sega di Ala (193km)

Domestique deluxe saves the day!

After the Giro 2019’s final rest day, third-week action is upon us! Egan Bernal is sitting in the leaders’ chair, having a two-and-a-half-minute gap over his main rival, local rider Damiano Caruso, and more than three minutes over the rest of the GC contenders like Carthy, S. Yates, Vlasov, Bardet and Almeida.

Two main ascents are on the menu: the Passo de San Valentino and a mountain top finish at Sega di Ala: around 11 kilometres at 10%, with slopes over 15%. Will all the GC contenders be rested enough? Gaps are still narrow, every metre counts. Giro third-weeks are brutal, they take no prisoners.

Around 20 riders went in this stage’s breakaway, with the best-placed rider on GC being Dan Martin at 16th, seven minutes behind Bernal. The Irishman decided to attack and only three riders were able to follow: Gianni Moscon, Antonio Pedrero and Geoffrey Bouchard, the Maglia Azurra holder.

In the peloton, a heavy crash involving Nibali, Ciccone and Evenepoel occurred. The main peloton is clawing back on the breakaway right before the ascent of Sega di Ala. Dan Martin goes solo!

Ineos, led by Jonathan Castroviejo, is pacing hard at the front of the GC contenders’ group with less than six kilometres to go. Ciccone, Carthy, Bardet… Favourites are dropping one by one. Only Bernal and his lieutenant Martinez, S. Yates and Almeida are remaining!

It’s one of these days for Almeida, the Portuguese is in top form and attacks! Only followed by Simon Yates, the race leader is cracking! Luckily for him, Bernal still has Dani Martinez with him.

And this is how this stage went down as an iconic one: Dani Martinez being domestique deluxe and clenching his fist to give extra support to his team leader! Things you love to see.

At the front, an incredible ride from Dan Martin! In the breakaway all day, the Irishman is holding off the return of Almeida and Yates and takes a deserved win. Almeida crosses the line 13 seconds after Martin.

Egan Bernal is coming in 7^th, completely exhausted. The race leader lost time but retained his Maglia Rosa. Dani Martinez is the hero of the day, his support avoiding Bernal to lose significant time during this tricky stage.

Bernal would eventually go on to win the overall classification by just a minute and a half over Caruso. Did Martinez salvage Bernal’s hopes and dreams with his performance during stage 17? Well, everyone will have their own opinion, but I think he did!

—

Stage 18 (17bis) | 1949: Coni - Pinerolo (254km)

Il Campionissimo masterpiece

Just 4 years after World War II, Italy is slowly rebuilding and has a deep need for heroes. Lucky for them, cycling offered them not only one, but two legendary riders to idolise. But they also divided the country.

Bartali, 34 years old, is a conservative, devout Christian, idol of southern Italy. Coppi is five years younger, living a more carefree lifestyle and serving in the army during the war; he’s not Jon Snow, but he’s king of the North. In 1949, you’re either a Bartaliani or a Coppiani, but you can’t be both. One of the greatest rivalries of sport would fuel this 1949 Giro. The scene was set for an epic showdown.

Stage 17 started in abysmal weather in Coni. It was freezing and pouring buckets of rain. Add to this five climbs (Maddalena, Vars, Izoard, Montgenièvre and Sestrières), with the last four of them unpaved. Is it the synopsis of a Hollywood blockbuster? Nope, it’s real life! But what was going to happen that day would make one hell of a movie.

On the Maddalena ascent, Coppi launched a first attack, dropping everyone else including Bartali. Unfortunately. he had to stop to fix an issue with his chain with Bartali riding past him. Il Campionissimo eventually caught and dropped him, and with 192 kilometres still left in the stage, went solo!

Coppi was never seen again, riding all five climbs in front by himself and completing this masterpiece. He definitely went down as one of the most legendary riders ever on this particular day. He eventually finished the stage with almost 12 minutes over Bartali!

With this comfortable lead after Stage 17 he went on to win the overall classification two days later in Monza with a 23-minute lead over Bartali and almost 40 minutes over Giordano Cottur who finished third in this 1949 Giro! Pogi who?

For those of you who are avid cycling readers, Giro 1949 is also famous for the Dino Buzzati coverage of the race entitled “Al Giro d’Italia” for the newspaper Corriere della Serra. Knowing barely anything about cycling, Buzzati followed the entirety of the race focusing on the impact of cycling, especially the Coppi-Bartali rivalry, in the country and the reconstruction of Italy after the war.

I Magnifici Sette

with DJ Momo

Stage 16

It seems like we can’t have a Giro d’Italia without also having a weird snow-covered standoff between the riders/CPA and Mauro Vegni/RCS over rider safety… So that was “fun”.

The race had already said ciao to the Stelvio, but in Livigno and the Umbrailpass it was pretty wintery, despite the calendar saying late May… (Alexa; play Blizzard and Snow Brigade, please?)

It got messy, to put it politely, and fans, journalists and riders alike were all asking each other “What’s Up?” - some in less family-friendly variations than others. In the end the riders were thankfully spared an unnecessarily risky and wet neutralised ride through heavy snow, and the stage was shortened, but Vegni wasn’t too happy about it, and neither was Ben O’Connor. The Aussie gave a refreshingly honest and blunt interview, where he amongst other things called the race organisers “dinosaurs”, and in this case, it felt fitting if you ask me. So Ben, here’s a song for you about outdated systemic issues in another industry and how history shows that “Dinosaurs will die”, in the metaphorical sense of course.

Once the stage got under way it was fast, furious and freezing - and just as the break looked to have a chance to fight for the victory, Movistar paced intensely… only to watch none other than Tadej Pogačar go up the road towards victory for the 1-2-3-4-5th time in the race already. When asked afterwards the pink jersey had a very “Look what you made me do!” vibe about his explanations for the stage with regard to Movistar’s pace setting… Guess he doesn’t need much reason to go after a
stage win these days?

Second on the stage was the youngest rider in the Giro peloton; Giulio Pellizzari from Bardiani. He tried valiantly to stay in the wheel of his Idol, but in the end he had to settle for outsprinting Dani Martinez for the silver position. He did get a proper souvenir from the stage though, as Pogačar clearly thought Pellizzari asking for a memento for the day said “Take your shirt off” - and so he did, so the young Italian got his own maglia rosa for his efforts.

Stage 17

Due to the snow chaos on stage 16, this year’s Cima Coppi was moved to the first major climb of stage 17… and Giulio Pellizzari (sans pink jersey…) continued where he left off the day before; riding really fast on Higher Ground and took the 50 pts and honour in a photo finish sprint against Nairo Quintana, talk about a battle of
generations, eh?

The stage was WEIRD though. The same group of riders kept breaking away, getting caught, breaking away, getting caught, breaking aw… yeah, you get the picture, right? Especially Lidl-Trek’s Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier and EF-Education’s Georg Steinhauser embodied the very spirit of “if at first you don’t get enough of a gap to the GC group, try Try Again and kept fighting for their chance for a stage win against a pacing DSM, a pacing INEOS and well, a chasing Pogačar (it’s a theme, isn’t it?)

In the end fortune favoured the brave (and stubborn) and young German Georg Steinhauser took his first pro win, a major mountain stage win in his first ever Grand Tour.

He told the media afterwards that he rode the final climb without a power meter, so we have no numbers to put on his epic performance… But in honour of the German cycling fans who have gotten yet another super likeable young rider to root for, and for the German cycling-twitter Radsport-bubble especially: Let’s all agree that he did AT LEAST 6w/kg all the way… (it’s probably not too far off, and
even if it is - no power meter, no proof, eh?)

Steinhauser had Matti Breschel as his DS in the car all the way through the stage, and afterwards the Danish ex-rider (who btw was a teammate of one of my best friends when I raced as a teen myself) got all misty eyed and emotional over seeing his young rider live up to his potential and then some. Breschel is a bit of a rockstar on the side of his DS job, and plays guitar on parts of the latest Powersolo album, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to dedicate the track KING to Georg after stage 17.

Stage 18

Another day, another fruitless fight for the breakaway for any substantial gap, and for that we need a bluesy interlude methinks.

The sprint teams clearly didn’t want to lose out on their only chance for a win before Rome in week 3, and kept the break super close. At times it looked like they were all Pushing Too Hard in the chase way too early, and with more than 50km to go they had already almost caught the quartet in front… This allowed Edoardo Affini, who had been very insistent in his breakaway attempts from the start of the stage, to say “Let me do my Thing” to the sprint teams and punch across to the
front group.

In the end the now five riders never got more than 30 seconds, but they were strong and stubborn and it took a lot of work from the teams chasing to bring them back definitively. Due to many of the trains being depleted by the chase (and the fact that we´re late in week 3) the sprint got messy and Merlier got to show the world that he DOES have Stamina.

When asked about his first stage win later than week 1, the Belgian’s reply was
basically “How You Like Me Now” to the “haters” as he called them.

Merlier’s main rival in this Giro, Jonathan Milan, got boxed in in the finale - something he may have unintentionally foreshadowed in his little sing-a-long moment to Jailhouse Rock before the stage I love the Lidl-Trek bus karaoke clips, but guys… maybe pick your songs a little more strategically if this is what happens?

Giro Duos

As the thrilling conclusion of the Giro d'Italia looms nearer, so does the exciting denoument of the Giro Duos competition. With minimal shifts in the leaderboard, INEOS Grenadiers continue to hang onto the top position. Making a significant leap since stage 15, Cofidis has climbed their way up to an impressive 14th place. The anticipation is palpable as the cyclists push themselves to their limits in pursuit of victory. With the finish line in sight, every pedal stroke and strategic move becomes crucial in determining the ultimate outcome of this prestigious race. The passion and determination displayed by these athletes are truly awe-inspiring, showcasing the beauty and excitement of professional cycling at its finest.

Vital Statistics

So far in this Giro d’Italia we’ve seen 11 different winners across the 18 stages, from eight different nations. With Pogačar, Milan and Merlier all sweeping up multiple stages – 10 between them – that diversity is slightly down from last year, when at stage 18 we’d seen 16 different winners by this same point, from 10 different nations – Remco Evenepoel and Nico Denz both taking two stages each. In 2022 it was 15 from an amazing 12 nations, with the multiple winners being Arnaud Démare, who took three stages, and Simon Yates with two. 2021 takes some beating though – 17 different winners by stage 18 – with only Caleb Ewan taking more than one stage with two – still from a spread of 12 nations.

As for withdrawals, after a tough edition in 2023 when it didn’t seem to ever stop raining and we saw some pretty nasty crashes, I wondered how this year would stack up against previous editions in terms of withdrawals from the race. As of the end of today – stage 18 – 144 riders remain in the race. Eight teams remain completely intact. In a year that’s been largely dry and in which we haven’t seen too many crashes, is this better than average?

In 2023, we were down to 126 by the equivalent stage – but as mentioned, it was a pretty rough year. Looking at the last seven years, since the peloton size was slimmed due to teams dropping down from nine to eight riders, the average number of riders left after stage 18 has been 143 so this year is almost bang on average in terms of DNFs. Maybe it just seems better, compared to last year’s suffer-fest. 2018 had the most remaining at this stage with 158.

Social Media Antipasti

And finally, a couple of chunks of fun from the teams, and beginning with this lovely sporting moment as Martin Marcellusi helps an exhausted Rui Oliveira over the line, on stage 16.

And next, it's the biggest fan of everyone's favourite French pirate, Alain Philippe!

Thanks so much for reading - join us on Sunday for the FINAL ISSUE - how on earth are we already nearly at the end of this race?!

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