Is it a stage or a criterium? This Sunday’s Giro stage has the feel of a final Sunday but the race has a week left.
Stage 14 Review: the Aosta valley showed off in early summer hues, a palette of colours and at the finish, views of Monte Rosa, “pink mountain” and one of the highest peaks of the Alps and no crowbar needed to jam in idea that the stage and pink jersey were taken by Jonas Vingegaard.
A strong breakaway had gone clear but they probably needed a longer route to build up more of an advantage by the final climb, and the move had no opportunists looking to move up the GC. Giulio Ciccone and Einer Rubio again traded attacks, but again they were mowed down by Visma and overhauled by Vingegaard.
The climb to the Pila ski station did not offer much surprise, although Ben O’Connor did crack early and Davide Piganzoli did another ride to confirm he’s climbing faster than Sep Kuss. Afonso Eulalio was dropped but remains second overall; third placed Felix Gall is out-climbing everyone except Vingegaard while Red Bull pair Jai Hindley and Giulio Pellizari appear to be skirmishing rather than collaborating. Thymen Arensman faded on the climb but limited his losses while pedalling in his serpentine style, his body bending left and right as he advanced up the climb.
If a leitmotif of this Giro is Vingegaard keeps being where he needs to be, that holds firm. He talked of riding more defensively but he hardly needs to mark rivals when he can put almost a minute into them with a late attack on a final climb.
One side-story was Jhonatan Narvaez in the breakaway, winning the intermediate sprint and taking the purple jersey by one point from Paul Magnier. This sets up a duel for the final week with Magnier needing to score big on today and next Sunday’s Rome stages which offer more points; but it could be advantage Narvaez as he could well win another stage and the intermediate sprints next week come late in the stage, after plenty of climbs.
The Route: a start in Voghera, a trip to Pavia to nod to the start of Milan-Sanremo and then a ride into Milan and four laps of 16km circuit on wide roads, complete with their share of urban infrastructure.
The Contenders: a sprint finish on the cards. Paul Magnier (Soudal-Quickstep) wins by recent precedent thanks to two stage wins. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) winning in Milan would sound fitting… to foreign ears, as it’s Milano to Italians but linguistics aside this finish suits him well.
Tobias Lund (Decathlon-CMA CGM) has a great lead-out, likewise Dylan Groenewegen (Unibet-Rose Rockets)
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Milan |
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Magnier |
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Lund, Groenewegen, Van Uden, Plowright |
Weather: sunny and 32°C.
TV: KM0 is at 1.55pm and the finish is forecast for 5.15pm CEST. Tune in for the sprint finish.
Postcard from Milan
Is it a stage or a criterium? Cycling is a rural sport and it’s no bad thing for the Giro to exist Italy’s commercial capital and the second largest city by population. Especially as there seems to have been some difficulty between the organisers and the city in recent years. See how “Milan”-Sanremo now starts in Pavia which gets the nod during the stage today too.
And yet this feels like a half-stage, an interlude, an exhibition. We’ll get a sprint finish but surely no change on GC. This would be the same if the race had ridden 150km from point to point to, but at least it would have travelled rather than going in circles.
What if the Rome and Milan stages could be reversed along the route? This way have a Rome stage mid-race as the Giro heads past during its lap of Italy at some point during the first two weeks. Crucially alter the Rome stage to make it more lively. The “City of Seven Hills” could show off the city very well while also providing great sport. It could even help the city by showing off some of the less famous spots and signalling to tourists that there is more than the overcrowded hotspots.
Milan by contrast is flat so today’s stage route could be the template for a final stage. The Tour de France has spiced up the final stage of late but the Giro particularly needs a prize for the sprinter in the third week, or prizes plural otherwise many simply go home. All easier written than done, but that’s the point of a postcard.
Many thanks as always Inrng for the very fine daily previews and reviews.
There’s an instance of repetition in para. four of the Review above you may wish to correct before deleting this comment.
A completely dominant ride from Visma, reminiscent of Team Sky or UAE. JV decided he wanted the stage and the team rode for that objective from the start. Seen a few comments ( and Sean Kelly on comms) that JV could have taken more time but I thought he paced his effort perfectly, at the finish he looked as if he had just done a weekly club ride, there is simply no point in expending unnecessary energy. He has a lead of nearly 3 minutes on his closest rivals and has won 3 stages with still a week to go. Barring the usual accidents & incidents the race is his, the scramble now for minor places and the points jersey. I wonder if he will look to win the remaining mountain stages.
Today is odd, I can see the attraction of a city centre stage on a Sunday afternoon but it really doesnt seem to fit in the middle of a 3 week race.
I wonder what viewing figures from Rai will look like. Not much going for today except the last 10mins run to the line.
1.7 M on Raidue. Q.E.D.
A sprint stage raised to decent figures by its placement.
Had it been a mountain stage, it would get to 2.2-2.5 M probably.
Debatable strategy, but it sure works as intended.
What’s more relevant is nearly 20% share, about one out of every 5 households watching the Giro.
And yesterday it got to one out of four (over 24%).
Compared to pre-covid, way less people are watching traditional TV, and hence the Giro (but, wow, Monuments are on the rise!), yet among them more decide to watch cycling. I’ll need to delve deeper into the numbers but at first sight 24% wasn’t common even at the end of the ’10s.
Piganzoli has certainly earned his chance to ride for himself, otherwise Visma executed their plan just as they wanted. Vingegaard in pink and one week left.
Hindley and Pellizzari seem to have recovered from illnes, and Arensman has apparently upset RCS by not doing media stints. Gall showed again he’s probably the 2nd best climber but the podium spots look still up for grabs.
Agree v much with Rome switch suggestion. Some adapted version of Roma Maxima 2013/2014 with a trip to Colli Albani mid-stage could really have enhanced this edition if inserted last weekend
Yes absolutely. The narrower roads, crowds, and scenery all make things feel a lot more hectic and intense. And really shows off parts of a city that tourists would not otherwise see. Crossing fingers there are no crashes, but so far I like it a lot!
The question here is that RCS’ property is tightening their ties with the ahem “elites” in Rome, to various effect, and as seen under many respects.
That’s very different from the sort of ahem industrial “elites”which long for the reference for the Giro and/or for RCS.
This Milan stage was a sort of truce, but it’s to be seen if things are going to flourish again… more people than I’d expect, anyway.
We’ll see how things end up. The Giro’s return to Milan saw RCS big boss Urbano Cairo host the head of RAI TV and senior people from Milan city hall… and a polemica over the neutralisation. Hopefully it can be smoothed over but some careful words needed.
I also welcome the idea of having a proper Rome stage…Lived there for many years and the northern countryside is quite surprisingly great for cycling. The roads have improved over the years but they would still benefit from a potential revamp, in case they do the giro!
Indeed, most common comment around: “and here it is the passerella finale in Milan” 😛
Besides the sense of conclusiveness in Visma and Vingo’s domain, I think that’s about the mediocre string of days until Friday, which today and his “last stage” format just reinforce.
Of course, they’re throwing away audience figures with such a stage on a key Sunday – but that’s a long term RCS strategy, which until now admittedly worked to their ends, priorising average audience over peaks, priorising live roadside spectators over tv ones, priorising the relation with some big cities, priorising the “event effect” for national public and the “spectators are the show” for the international one. It’s to be seen if Milan (the athlete and the city) will act on par with expectations.
But the main problem, to me, is that then you have a rest day on Monday, then a supposedly “silly” monoclimb stage in Switzerland (whatever can always happen, but on paper it’s not any blockbuster), not RCS’s fault, okay, but as the Swiss issues had happened well before the final route was out, then change something in the rest of the structure, like just putting the rest day on Tuesday, or strenghtening Wednesday, which easily allows it. Again, you never know at the Giro, but Wednesdy and Thursday are really weak for a third week and will be real audience killers. Friday and Saturday are great, but, hey, at the end of the day there’s a whole week before them. I get the idea of “rest a bit before the fireworks” but it would have made sense if, as it’s now traditional at the Giro and as RCS had asked, Tuesday was a real long high-mountain tappone. This way the whole Sunday-Thursday block has no logic and totally disrupts the narrative and the “emotional curve”.
It’s like… “a second 2nd week all over again”!
I agree. I know RCS have been bitten a few times in recent years but the Giro without a Stelvio, Fenestre, Agnello, Gavia or Nivolet is not the same race. The Dolomites and Julian alps are beautiful with many iconic climbs but not the same as the very highest mountains
The heatwave this week would have made all these climbs very doable without the weather intervening. Not that we could have known this in advance.
I was looking at the profiles for the rest of the race and wondering when the next real gc stage would happen. Obviously the final weekend will have some action, but it kind of feels like the race will go off the boil for several days. Am I missing something?
@The Other Craig On Tuesday GC things will surely happen on the last climb, it’s hard. But it’s a Vuelta-like stage.
The concept behind the original proposal was über-difficult concentrated stage in Aosta, two rest days for GC men, über-difficult long high altitude stage in Switzerland on Tuesday, again two calm days for GC athletes, and finally two very hard stages in a row. It made sense. But once the Swiss stage was ironed flat barring the last climb, it doesn’t as much. An easier Giro is normally part of the deal to lure in a star rider thinking about the double.
Of course, the concept of “easy” has become brutally… easier if you compare 2026 and 2024 with 2018, and again 2018 with, say, 2009 (all very similar situations).
@JC In this case it was some rigidity from Swiss authorities, apparently. Road authorities refused to take into account the option of opening any pass for the Giro only, in case they weren’t already open officially. Local authorities paying for the stage (municipalities and the Cantone) didn’t accept the idea of an A-course and a B-course to face the different possibilities about pass closures.
So we got the plan B as the first and only option…
As I insisted so many times, the real problem isn’t even that you may face bad weather or pass closures, rather the lack of any appropriate way to manage that.
Other social actors in cycling immediately jump to vulture mode in order to take maximum advantage of the situation, from big teams (well, I guess Ineos and Thomas are now eating their hat on the pressure to take climbs away, as they didn’t understand that Roglic was still unwell), to the cycling syndicate (in order to bring home populist victories – best scenario) etc.
Few really care about the sport’s general interest, or the race’s, so the organisers, currently weaker than ever, have a limited range of action.
To me, Vegni was a very good race designer, with a terrible weak point: his plans B used to be terrible. Not an easy task, but year after year that could have been an aspect on which woek a lot, maybe creating a specific working group in order to explore contract alternatives or whatever might have been needed to face the difficulties.
Now the Giro is officially asking loudly to the UCI to be allowed to start a week later as in previous decades. The “new” national celebration of June, 2nd could be used to maximise roadside public and audience. RCS have been asking for years now, but the UCI doesn’t care. Not that such a calendar shift would change radically the weather perspectives, but it would help from many POVs. Alas, RCS lobbying isn’t as powerful as others’…
I see that “unipuerto” stage, but I wonder how it will play out. I guess a classic exercise contest is selective, but doesn’t seem to offer much opportunity for a real shake up, unless someone is on a “bad day.”
Totally agreed: as I wrote in a different answer, if anything, it will just shape in a clearer way the difference between those who’d better attack much and from far on Friday against those who might hope for a waiting game.
Vingo well above all this, he just needs to decide if he wants to get on par with Pogi’s 6 stage wins or not.
However, I think we’re on the same line – I just read again my first comment, where I had written the following:
Friday and Saturday are great, but, hey, at the end of the day there’s a whole week before them. I get the idea of “rest a bit before the fireworks” but it would have made sense if, as it’s now traditional at the Giro and as RCS had asked, Tuesday was a real long high-mountain tappone. This way the whole Sunday-Thursday block has no logic and totally disrupts the narrative and the “emotional curve”.
It’s like… “a second 2nd week all over again”!
It does seem that all signs point to a blockbuster on Friday, at least we can hope so. Hope the minor players make the interim interesting on a stage-by-stage basis. Today was certainly a head-scratcher!
A week later would actually make a lot of difference to whether the mountain passes are clear of snow or not. Northern Italy is heating up at 1-2 degrees a week at that time of year.
Now there’s only one real interest left in the race : who’s the better Italian ? I discovered both at the Tour de l’Avenir and could barely differenciate one from the other at the beginning. Pellizzari seemed to be one step forward, but yesterday Piganzoli was very impressive.
I have been wondering about the ‘climbing drain’ going on at Visma the last years. Piganzoli was interesting when signed, not much Italian climbing base in the current Visma. He seems well ready to help at the highest level. I suspect Jonas will warm up to him.
Which brings me to Kuss. I’ve felt that he has had rather limited impact the last year or two considering his protected position in helping Jonas. I don’t know what to make of my impression. Is he past prime? Saving it for the Tour?
To say, Piganzoli looks ready to help now and a fair bet for the future.
Sepp Kuss is 31 (nearly 32). I think we have seen his best performances already. He is still a very good cyclist, but he isn’t going to regularly drop good GC riders or rescue Vingegaard on a bad day in the mountains.
Thanks for the always-enjoyable, uncluttered and clear coverage and website; much appreciated. I especially enjoy the focus on the historical and cultural context of the stages along with the incisive previews and analyses of the riders and their strengths and weaknesses. And thanks to all the commenters who are much more knowledgeable than I, and refreshingly mellow and courteous.
Vernon instead of Plowright for the single chainring?
Well, that was unexpected.
Indeed. All the better for the surprise factor, and a secondary polemica over race vehicles (but the teams left the gap too big too late too).
Would like to shake the hand of someone who predicted Silva winning on Stage 2 and Dvernes today.
I wonder if the 2nd and 3rd are more happy that they (the break) did it together, or unhappy that they missed out on 1st?
Would they meet the next morning and bump fists?
I bet they would. Any of those racers would have signed for a stage podium not just at the start of the stage, but of the entire Giro. Great result for each individual and team involved, and solid UCI points too.
And maybe also predicting Eulálio in pink for a trifecta….
I read on NOS that Dvernes said in post-race interview that people could have known, as he had said before the start of the Giro that he would surprise the peleton in Milan. Don’t know if there is record of that but if it’s true it’s quite a feat!
As for race vehicles, from the footage I have seen, the moto in front of the peleton kept similar distance to the one in front of the break.
Didnt mean to be anonymous there. Not that my initials mean that much more but I have been posting with those since the days when Quintana won the Giro.
That wasn’t exactly what he said. (It’s available on YouTube).
When asked he joked at first that it was all planned a year ago… but then basically said that he had more or less seriously earmarked this as one of the stages to try.
Four guys maintaining an average speed of 50 plus for three hours. It’s outside my understanding. Not suggesting anything sinister, just shaking my head in disbelief. But great fun to watch! Who got disqualified? I did see something but don’t know the details.
Enrico Zanoncello from Bardiani, for deviating from his line and head butting.
Just to ensure he really knows that he was busted hard, he also had 13 points deducted.
Thanks Dave! Must have been quite bad then
Quite strange, too: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gzQErf6lceY
Wow! What was that about?
The rider on Zanoncello’s left moved right across his line, pushing him into the Al-Ula rider. Looks like he used his head to balance himself, and took out the other guy in doing so.
Quite much exactly what Nick says. Harsh on Zanoncello, I think. But if not interpreted like that, it could look Zanoncello went crazy… which he didn’t IMHO.
Quite harsher on Zanoncello than what gabriele describes. It is clearer in the normal broadcast, but still visible in the slice of screen linked above.
Donaldson rides detached from reality. He even moves slightly to his left towards a compressed bunch of guys, while there is plenty of space on his right. Zanoncello first pushes gently, receives no reaction, then head-butts the brit, who too easily goes down and suddenly realises that it was not a unicorn, it was a bicycle between his legs; not in some heavenly fields but in a (sort of) bunch sprint.
IMHO the italian saved himself and the group to his left from a worse accident.