This time, the peloton got screwed. While we were expecting a massive arrival in Treviso for the ultimate opportunity offered to the sprinters, the breakaway of the day – four riders strong – pulled off an exceptional number to resist the return of the peloton. The agreement was perfect until the last kilometer where Dries de Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) made his burst of speed speak to win ahead of Eduardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma). This is his first stage victory on a Grand Tour, the 6th success of his career. Behind, the peloton finished fragmented by the infernal tempo of this 17th stage but Carapaz (INEOS Grenadiers) kept the pink jersey while the loser of the day was called Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo).
Lopez, loser of the day with Almeida
For once on this Tour of Italy, we had a great time on the road to Treviso. Arnaud Démare had warned on Wednesday evening: “I expect a stage like Cuneo, with a big fight between the breakaway and the peloton“. The least we can say is that he was right. However, the sprinter teams managed the situation perfectly for a long time. They let Affini, de Bondt, Cort Nielsen (EF-Easy Post) and Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF) but kept the gap very quickly under two minutes.They were aware of the danger represented by these four men.But obviously, not enough.
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Accustomed to running at the front, the four breakaways had the intelligence to pick up the pace just before the terrible Muro di Ca’ del Poggio (1km at 12%), the summit of which was 54km from the finish. In just twelve kilometres, the breakaway’s lead went from 1’23” to 2’35”. The peloton was slow to worry, to react, even losing teammates in a narrow and steep ascent which caused much more damage than expected. Forced to restart strongly after the Muro di Ca’ del Poggio, the formations of sprinters caused breaks which reduced the peloton to 37 units on the finish line. Among the distanced runners, Juan Pedro Lopez conceded 2’43” to the favorites.
Almeida not leaving, surprising scenario and De Bondt winning
Scare for Hindley
If he still occupies 9th place, he owes it to the abandonment of Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), 4th overall and not starting this morning following a positive test for Covid19. A blow which obviously upsets a top 10 which has not known any change apart from that, despite the big scare of Jai Hindley. The Australian from Bora-Hansgrohe punctured in the final, finishing more than a minute behind the favorites, but his incident was in the last 3 kilometers and he was logically reclassified at the level of the pink jersey group. He is therefore still 3” behind Richard Carapaz.
But, despite this pace led by the DSMs of Dainses, the Groupama-FDJs of Démare, the QuickStep-AlphaVinyls of Cavendish, the UAE Team Emirates and Gaviria and even the Cofidis of Cimolai in the final, the peloton never came back. He will have missed 14” to fight for anything other than 5th place in the stage, which went to Dainese. The fault lies with these twelve kilometers before the final ascent but above all with the exceptional work accomplished by the breakaway. Unlike the Cuneo stage, the four riders got along perfectly, until the last kilometer.
Hindley, Carapaz et Landa.
Credit: Getty Images
6th professional success for De Bondt
Everyone passed their stint, no one kept a single moment, aware that their lead did not allow them to do so. But they still fought for victory, the 8th for a breakaway, including the fourth in a row. Faster on paper, Cort Nielsen then sought to control the final sprint but the Dane could not cope with the power of De Bondt and Affini, fresher and stronger in the final. Despite a surprising sprint, the Italian from the Jumbo-Visma finally failed half a wheel from the Belgian, who offers Alpecin-Fenix a third success on this Giro, with a third different rider (Van der Poel and Oldani before him ). Often escaped without success last year, de Bondt has this put to the bottom, to glean his 6th professional success, his first of the season and clearly the most prestigious. Even more with such a grandiose scenario.
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