All to ride for. Isaac del Toro may not be the best climber in the race but he’s got a 43 second cushion on Richard Carapaz, as well as the strongest team, plus the hardest climb of the day comes over 25km from the finish. It means Carapaz and others have to make moves or resign themselves to being runners-up.
Today’s stage finishes an hour earlier than usual.
Stage 19 review: the stage win for Nicolas Prodhomme who was among the first four to attack up the Crocce Serra out of Biella and then spent the day like an arsonist lighting match after match. He burned up his rivals until on the Col de Joux, then torched Antonio Tiberi and Carlos Verona to go solo and didn’t lose much ground to the chasing group. After winning ahead of team mate Paul Seixas in the Tour of the Alps a month ago, this time he was the winner without any discussion.
It’s still worth talking about now though. He’s been the journeyman pro, a trainee electrician wiring other people’s houses at first, then three times a stagiaire before turning pro and then a career without a win. Reliable in hilly races and 23rd in the 2023 Giro which is discreet in the moment but notable, enough to be selected for the Tour de France last year. And now the win.
It was a hot day on south-facing climbs and Max Poole was among those feeling the heat, he lost time but stays 11th. Adam Yates fell to 13th, a crisis… or was he saving something for today?
With the warmth UAE tried to set a lullaby pace to put the GC contender group to sleep, fast enough to deter attacks, slow enough to ensure Del Toro wasn’t worn out. Richard Carapaz did attack on the Col de Joux and Simon Yates reacted instantly with Isaac Del Toro moving soon after but the trio were caught by the rest and the moves came so late on the final mountain pass that there was no time nor inclination to go again.
That looked like it for the day but on the small climb to Antagnod before reaching the finish Carapaz went again and Del Toro followed and this time they were away. Yates and Derek Gee tried to chase but lost ground, 22 seconds at the finish line compounded by time bonuses. This makes the day a small win for Del Toro who gained time on all.
It all comes down to final mountain stage.
The Route: 205km and 4,500m of vertical gain. The Colle de Lys is a real Alpine climb and takes the race over to the Susa valley, it was used in 2018 when the Finestre last featured.
The Colle delle Finestre (“Windows Pass”) is a giant of a climb, 18km long and nobody has gone under an hour. As the profile shows it has a steep moment or two early on as it leaves the valley floor via the village of Meana and a short tunnel.
Then it gets linear, this climb is as regular as a Swiss train with the most even of gradients. It was built this way, military grade in both senses of the term so horses could pull cannons up the climb to the Finestre fort. Today it means a steady climb. The final 9.5km are on gravel but all smooth and prepared rather than dirt track leading to the Cima Coppi, the highpoint of the Giro. The descent is back on tarmac and fast with some tricky moments.
The Finish: it looks uphill but the road through Pragelato to Sestriere is rarely steep and all on a big wide road. The graphic above says plenty, it’s a big ring ride to the finish. It flattens out at the end.
The Contenders: another day for the breakaway? Once again UAE won’t want to set the stage on fire and other teams don’t have the depth to try and take them on early so a move can go clear and hope to build up a lead.
It’s not easy picking a breakaway winner, many riders are active in the breakaway but fading, think Pello Bilbao and Romain Bardet yesterday. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) is a pick, the Cima Coppi to seal his blue jersey and the mountains competition.
Richard Carapaz (EF) is a clear contender for the stage but he’s here to win the race overall. He needs 43 seconds on Del Toro and the time bonus can help but he just needs to distance the Mexican, all possible on the Finestre which is a long climb and besides Carapaz has trained on the gravel road up the flanks of Cotopaxi. The stage win is necessary for him today but insufficient, he needs time on Finestre and then maintain this advantage to Sestriere.
Isaac del Toro (UAE) can win today too. He needs to clear the Finestre with his rivals or lose less than a minute on the climb so he canrely on his team mates to set him up for the win on the road to Sestriere. He won in Bormio this way, he was second yesterday too.
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Carapaz, Del Toro |
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Fortunato, Pellizzari, Scaroni, Bilbao |
Weather: sunny and 27°C in the valleys.
TV: KM0 is at 10.50, the Finestre starts at around 14.15 and the finish is forecast for 16.15 CEST, one hour earlier than usual.
Postcard from Cuorgnè
The local on today’s stage? No longer a resident but Egan Bernal moved here in 2016 when he came to Europe to race for the Androni team. He lived in two hotels, one in Cossato near yesterday’s stage start; the other in Buasca, a village outside Cuorgnè which is next to today’s intermediate sprint. Bernal knows today’s roads well.
The lodgings were all part of Gianni Savio’s dealings. Savio died at the end of last year aged 76. In the moment he seemed like an eccentric character, readily identifiable by his white hair and a dress code of a black t-shirt under a shirt open at the collar and cut a sympathetic, avuncular figure with a wheeler-dealer side. His Androni team’s jersey was crowded with sponsor logos, a textile version of Times Square.
He was arguably ahead of plenty of bigger team managers. If UAE are scouting riders from around the world like Isaac del Toro, note they only signed the Mexican long after he’d been racing in Italy. Savio built up a network in Colombia and Venezuela to find riders before they turned a pedal in Europe.
Savio reserved half the Buasca hotel for his riders, which sounds like he was running a giant operation but it’s a small inn and he took four rooms, presumably at a cut rate too and it meant Giovanni Ellena, then his direttore sportivo, could keep an eye on the imports give he lives close by.
Bernal was in Buasca, so was Ivan Sosa who briefly became the object of a tug of war between Team Sky and Trek and is now on a last chance deal at Caja Rural. So were many more riders who did not turn pro but were given a chance to prove themselves in local races. Colombians, Eritreans, Hungarians, Costa Ricans, Bosnians, Ecuadorians and more all came here.
Savio created a route to the pro peloton for many who might not otherwise have found a way. It was on his terms, this was not the UCI’s World Cycling Centre with its classrooms, canteen and duty of care. Once affectionately described as a “human trafficker” for the way he’d import riders, Savio was more like a gold-panner, hauling buckets of riders over to this corner of Italy and then spinning and sieving them to see if any shone. Most presumably did not, but they got to try and of course Egan Bernal won the Tour… which apparently triggered a satisfying payout for Savio.
Would Egan Bernal have won the Tour de France without Savio? It’s hard to know, Bernal had the talent and the VO2 max test results to open doors, but a decade ago how open were teams to this? Savio was, in part because of his backstreet entrepreneurial streak. There was no point trying to compete to sign promising Under-23s from Europe even if he did launch the careers of the likes of Andrea Vendrame or Fausto Masnada who are currently in the Giro today.
Bernal’s abilities impressed many but he also left his mark on the hotel owners. Not for them power data or climbing rates. No, they noted his room was always tidy and Bernal would even make his bed each morning before leaving for training.
It is the climb of truth and I am finding it hard to get off the fence. Carapaz seems to be the slightly more convincing but I have a clear mental image of Hindley easing away from him three years ago. It is almost a case of who gets out of bed feeling good on the day.
Yeah but this doesn’t look like the Carapaz of three years ago. Seems like a much more in-form version. One thing we know for sure, he’s not going to die wondering. I want him to win but have a sneaking suspicion he won’t.
Mentioned it before here but it’s contract time for Carapaz. He was hired by EF as a grand tour contender and to go for the Tour de France podium but didn’t get near this, he had one bad season that started with dental problems, was comfortable as a stage hunter last year and what he did at the Tour was great but he’s being paid for more… and now we’ll see.
A fascinating look at Savio and his methods. The postcards have provided splendid background throughout the three weeks. Thankyou.
Possibly my fave ever – although I’m intrigued to know how INRNG knows all this? I don’t really sit around trying to guess who INRNG is as it doesn’t seem fair given we enjoy the fruits of his/her labour and they clearly prefer not to share… but this bit of knowledge definitely peaked my interest to thinking there’s some kind of journalist behind the mask rather than an ultra-enthusiast who lives in France and cycles the routes! Unless it was just in Savio’s obituary – but still the foresight to keep that knowledge for this postcard is some impressive mental file-keeping? Either a great memory or excellent organisational skills, or the road book is just far more in-depth than I ever imagined… but I prefer to give INRNG all the credit. I wonder if every sport has a free blog of this quality to enhance fans enjoyment of their chosen pastime? (Have a feeling INRNG would make bucket loads of cash if they wrote about football!)
I regretted ever since not buying an INNRNG casquette as a token of appreciation for this blog.
It would be nice to be able to support the blog in a way or other. Imho, it’s (belonging among) the peak of sports journalism.
Likewise. Even if this info is in the public domain (books, newspaper articles etc) it’s still heroic work to be able to recall it. I was reading this in my INRNG t-shirt, but I’d be happy to buy more kit and merch if it was available.
Stage 19 – When all the other GC guys were out of helpers, UAE had 4 guys on the front (if Ayuso was still here I guess it would have been 5). Apart from one day, Del Toro has been seemingly able to cope with any attacks from other riders, so would seem a fitting overall Giro winner.
Stage 20 and UAE will hope to repeat stage 19’s tactics and outcome.
Would more uphill finishes have altered things or maybe just made the current gaps bigger?
Del Toro has punchy finish, he would probably enjoy time bonuses in a “Slovene way” of Roglic and Pogacar.
Many people doubted his ability to endure competitively ridden longer climbs. Yesterday, Prudhomme almost matched the GC group going uphill after spending the day in the break, so it seems the stage wasn’t ridden that hard.
I hope Del Toro can manage it, it would be heartbreaking to lose the race on the final climb – and Carapaz seems to be fading a bit. Still, to see a repeat of Majka’s defensive heroics of yesterday would be frustrating.
It all probably depends on the panache and ability to attack Majka on the lower slopes of Finestre and go for it.
I am inclined to think Isaac del Toro will hang on, he has the strongest team and I thought Richard Carapaz missed his chance yesterday (or quite possibly UAE simply smothered the race). Simon Yates had a poor day and with Visma the only team who can potentially compete with UAE now rather fighting for scraps I doubt they will try to dictate the race. It will be interesting to see if the events of 7 years ago have any effect on how Simon Yates rides.
Carapaz need to attack much earlier today, if he leaves it late, Del Toro will come back in the downhill after Finestre. One problem seem to be that there are too few star riders feeling fresh any more, making it easier for UAE to control things
Grazie mille to our intrepid blogger! It’s been an interesting Giro, even if it went into hibernation for a stage that looked so promising. Apparently everyone was a) protecting the position they already had, and/or b) waiting for the Finestre. Truly a stage of truth tomorrow. Looks like Carapaz to me, but Del Toro has shown more resilience than I expected. Chapeau to Del Toro either way.
Really enjoyed this postcard.
It inspired me to make my own bed before breakfast.
Best of the Giro was every morning’s reading of The Inner Ring stage preview posts and the postcards.Thanks so much!
Today will be the second time Vaugjters “steals” the final win at the Giro.
As always the racers make the race, not the course, and with the Finestre looming over them, yesterday ended up a little too benign and predictable. Team tactics and presence significant, but there’s perhaps not much the domestiques can do on the principal climb today for Del Toro, except perhaps give him a wheel where Carapaz, Pellizzari and perhaps Yates won’t have that luxury. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that and it’s the mountain rather than fate that decides the order over the top, and the time gaps there.
I’m picking Carapaz to get clear of Del Toro, perhaps with Yates and/or Bernal (that he’s still there or thereabouts leads me to believe he’s due a better day), and an impossible-to-pick contest between them and UAE/Gee/Bahrain chase group. Can’t wait…!
I’m not totally convinced by this – I think there’s a lot the domestiques can do today – the climb is long but it’s also so particular that if the UAE train dominate the front of bunch they can push Carapaz and others further back so it’s them getting tired by the yo-yo effect of the switchbacks and chasing back on every corner not Del Toro. Especially as they are the strongest team. And by doing this they might also be able to gamble on Del Toro not following a Carapaz attack by having confidence in their domestiques remaining on the front of the bunch and keeping any gap to 1min so they can then chase over the descent and wide roads of the final climb leaving Del Toro to explode at the final spint and claw back whatever seconds if necessary…
If Del Toro doesn’t explode it seems to me he holds the best cards today, but obviously if the climb is too much for him any tactics go out of the window – I’d just be looking at ways to stop Del Toro going into the red and letting Carapaz ride himself out because UAE should have the advantage in the final 25kms.
Plus from the last few days and recent Carapaz third week performances, my instincts were that he no longer has a big attack in him having spent his power earlier in the week and Del Toro should be able (with his team) to keep the Locomotive within 45seconds on the Finestre and then chase back over the final 25kms.
Unless he blows, my money’s on Del Toro – which I never expected after he lost time when the week began! It looked like Carapaz’ to lose.
Oh EF have out thought me!!
Looks like they’re going to put pressure on the first climb before Finestre, that’s actually a pretty smart plan? It feels like to win their best bet is to crack Del Toro not try and beat him by the seconds as UAE have the team to counter that approach (as per comment above).
Just a question to see if Carapaz has the form to back that up over Finestre or whether they might hand initiative to Yates or Gee should things go haywire?
This has dated very badly!!!
Did not expect EF to blow it up so early!! I’m wrong in every single way in the prediction above – you were right OSBK67!
I think there will be a lot of clamour to get into the break and claim Cima Coppi, and the stage, from the teams with nothing to show so far. Carapaz needs the time bonuses and the ability of his team to put him in position is up for debate, UAE should just be able to follow and let things play out. So marginal preference is for the breakaway to claim the win.
I think UAE will be happy to let a breakaway soak up the bonus seconds and Carapaz doesn’t seem to have a strong enough team to launch him for stage victory. And that’s why I suspect he won’t win the Giro today, although I want him to.
What are the chances of Visma, Ineos, EF etc teaming up to try to eliminate Del Torro and then have a maglia rosa fight among themselves? Not high, I guess.
Those grand coalitions are a perennial ‘what if? in Grand Tours, but they never seem to materialise. Too many competing agendas? Too hard to organise on the fly? I can think of the Spanish Armada teaming up against Millar in the Vuelta, but that’s about it.
Thank you so much for the fantastic coverage of the Giro. Over the years, the blog has greatly expanded my understanding of the background and inner workings of professional cycling, and the piece on Savio fits in perfectly.
I keep this blog in my “literature” group of favorites, not the “sports” one.
May I add that, this kid racing his bike, is as poem as a pink can be. I hope he also wins, despite Carapas being one of my most liked riders.
I’ll add my thanks to our host for the excellence of their writing and knowledge. Never bettered.
Also, the Red Bull KM bonus seconds (two thirds of the way up the Finestre) might be extra motivation for an earlier attack. Here’s hoping.
Where is Larry this Giro?
Good point?
Fascinating insights into Gianni Savio. Thank you Inrng!
I expect the racing today to be unpredictable. I hope the less explosive riders have a better chance today. The real lightweights like Rubio may go well.
“ Savio was more like a gold-panner, hauling buckets of riders over to this corner of Italy and then spinning and sieving them to see if any shone”
Thank you for what you do.
I’d forgotten that Prudhomme’s previous win had been given to him by Seixas. I wonder if Seixas now slightly regrets doing that, since his reason given was that Prudhomme might not have another chance for a win!
It’s a “patron” move that probably only boosts Seixas, able to give away relatively small wins, as enchanting as the Tour of the Alps is. If it was a bigger race he might be more sore?
I suppose Seixas will have to hope that he gets enough bigger wins in the near future that not having a smaller win quickly becomes irrelevent.
Wht a stage and what a redemption story. 🙂
I have no idea what Carapaz was playing at while Yates rode away to van Aert.
What commentary did you have?
The UK commentary whilst blamed Del Toro for not working with Carapaz on the climb.
I thought that was extremely harsh specifically for the climb, as Carapaz was the one who kicked off the hostilities early so I think it was for him ride on the climb especially as he kept attacking and Del Toro was right to be cautious.
But on the descent I’m totally bemused why Del Toro didn’t put the hammer down and ride full pace to the finish?
Did he not understand the situation?
Obviously he should’ve rode the last 2km of the climb or more to close down the gap to Yates so he could close in the valley/climb… but they lost 3minutes in the valley?? What happened? It didn’t look like exhaustion? How can the argument with Carapaz result in them just stopping in the road? It seems bizarre?
It went from 40secs to 3mins in 10mins of that valley section.
It felt like Del Toro & Carapaz succumbed to the worst case of Group Two Syndrome that I can recall seeing. Their behaviour got ridiculous. I can sort of understand it on the climb up the Finestre but to continue a stand off on the descent & following valley road just felt like they were both quite happy to throw away winning the Giro as long as the other one didn’t win.
Why was it down to Carapaz? When Yates became the virtual leader (and continued taking time) he was the biggest danger to Del Torro and Carapaz was no longer the top priority – the Maglia Rosa had to ride. Pretty simple logic. UAE have a lot of explaining to do.
It was clear that Carapaz wasn’t going to win long before the top of the Finestre. Del Toro proved that he was strong, but then he tried to force Carapaz to drag him to the win. Carapaz would have been an idiot to continue to ride with Del Toro on his wheel. He couldn’t care less about losing second place, but would have gladly worked with Del Toro if Del Toro worked with him earlier.
@KevinR – exactly what you say.
Del Toro and UAE completely overestimated what the difference between second and third meant to a former winner with an Olympic gold in his palmares, and made the mistake of letting Carapaz choose between him and Yates.
UAE with a total disaster class! What did they expect, that Carapaz would pull Del Toro all the way to the win? I kept wondering when Carapaz would just look at him and say, “look mate, I already won one of these, it’s on you now.” Once he did it was over!
I think the UAE strategy was to stick to Carapaz’s wheel at all costs, and it seems like Del Toro had the legs to go with whatever Carapaz threw at him. EF just thought that they had to drop Del Toro. Nobody had a Plan B, but I believe that if Del Toro rides with Carapaz to keep Yates close he probably wins pink (or at least comes very close). I don’t see any way that Carapaz was going to win once Yates had a minute.
Yeesh, meant to reply to Fra, not myself…
I agree, Del Toro was good enough to endure the long climb and claim the role of GC heavyweight. It seemed he realized it in the end and appreaciated what he managed to get from the race. Second place, a stage and the maglia bianca – not bad for a rookie superdomestique who came to Albania to support Ayuso’s bid for glory. I expect Del Toro claims his leader’s place in the team’s pecking order now, and because he is much younger than Almeida, he is the one for the future.
I’ve heard an interesting comment: let’s suppose Del Toro and Carapaz didn’t get 30 seconds on Yates yesterday. Would they be so calm to let him go up the mountain? Perhaps not. Perhaps that’s the moment the race was won – with a liberal use of hindsight, sure. 🙂
Carapaz was probably unable to respond to the Yates’s second attack anyway, after attacking Del Toro time and again on the lower slopes. Actualy, Gee was their chance to catch Yates, who turned out to be stronger than Carapaz and Gee combined today.
UAE probably thought Yates overestimated himself.
The funny thing is… EF shredded the peloton on the foot of Finestre to build a springboard for Yates.
The Bury Badger! That was amazing and emotional.
Personally, I think it was clear Carapaz was playing win or bust. Second? Third? bovvered…
Whereas, it seemed del Toro was being congratulated on second by Pellizzari at the finish line – which might explain him, when help wasn’t coming fast enough, settling for controlling Carapaz.
Carapaz hardly made a secret of his death or glory approach. He was always going for it and if it didn’t work, well 2nd or 3rd didn’t matter to him. UAE must have been deaf.
UAE has fallen into that Sky trap where they think they’re are tactical geniuses because of all their wins. But instead it’s just because they had the strongest rider by far. The Sky train never worked with weaker riders and whatever this was from UAE this week only works with Pogs.
+1
They lost Ayuso, though. And Del Toro almost delivered – not bad for a youngster riding his second GT.
Not managed to catch much of this year’s Giro but was so glad I tuned in today. When I saw the Carapaz/Del Toro/Yates group I had a feeling that Yates could diesel his way up the Finestre. He’s old enough to be aware of Carapaz’ mind games and ride his own pace: classy ride today! I guess Del Toro will have learned from today and, all going well for him (and if his team lets him), will win a grand tour of his own.
Thanks as ever Inrng
Hope Adam didn’t Facetime Simon for a catch up on the team bus.
Carapaz did not take advantage of Del Toro’s weakness. Carapaz attacking made no sense. Del Toro fades on fast, long mountains, like the other mountain stage.
After Carapaz’s 3rd failed attack I thought he should just up the steady pace and burn Del Toro off his wheel. Like Yates did to both of them.
Not a huge Yates fan but man what a ride, what a fantastic ride – demons put to bed, uae lose and Visma win. I’m a happy man today.
Kudos to Yates, Carapaz tried hard all week, but he was human.
UAE sucks. They made the race un-sporting and undesirable to watch.
Their management needs to be attacked. First, they have the largest budget, not to mention where the money comes from.
From this point forward, I look forward to cheering against UAE. I hope Pogacar gets a chance to leave.
It makes the point that there should be salary caps on teams and that the cap should be adjusted for the difference in payroll taxes in each county.
As for the money at Team- UAE, it comes from a country that has plenty of human rights abuses, abusers, and openly supports the Russian oligarchs. UAE could do things the right way but they aren’t.
I am sure people will disagree with this opinion.
While I agree with the sentiment, sadly it’s unlikely that sportswashing will disappear anytime soon.
Salary caps would be great except loopholes would surely be exploited by channelling money into endorsements, appearance fees and the like.
See also the team who won last night’s game in Munich and also the most successful English team in the last decade.
(But it leaves a good feeling that Yates, who most would assume to be a super-domestique at this stage of his career, was able to outfox the UE galacticos)
@Paxx +1