General Classification after Stage 18
A perfect storm of fatigue in the peloton, coupled with fairly remarkable rouleurs in front allowed the breakaway to take for themselves what should have been the sprinters’ last chance for a stage victory. Dries de Bondt (Alpecin Fenix), Edoardo Affini (Jumbo Visma), Magnus Cort (EF Education EasyPost), and Davide Gaburro (Bardiani CSF Faizanè) are the names that composed the daily breakaway. The Alpecin man won the stage, beating Affini and Cort in the final sprint.
All four riders cooperated flawlessly until it was time to fight amongst themselves for the stage win. De Bondt, Affini and Cort are also excellent rouleurs, while Gaburro knows what it’s like to be part of a successful breakaway in this Giro (stage 8, won by De Gendt). After nearly 3 weeks of racing and plenty of mountains left behind, the sprinters’ teams didn’t have the power to bring back such a talented and cooperative group.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was diagnosed with COVID before the stage departed and no longer lined up. The Portuguese was fighting for the podium and certainly looking to Friday, Saturday and, especially, the time trial on Sunday to get back in it. Very sad that this is the end for a rider that prepared all season for this goal and was leading a team in a Grand Tour (GT) for the first time.
Grade A – Dries de Bondt (Alpecin Fenix)
I don’t often include stage winners in this category because, of course, they get an A for their performance. They won the stage after all. But since there was not much happening outside of the breakaway vs peloton fight, De Bondt gets the “A” today.
By the way, as you’d expect, De Bondt’s victories are mainly in one-day races. This is just the second stage win of his career. In the first, stage 3 of the 2020 Etoile de Besseges, Magnus Cort was also 3rd.
Grade B – Davide Gaburro (Bardiani CSF Faizanè)
I was hard on Bardiani in the beginning of the Giro because they were totally anonymous. Lately they have been inserting themselves in more breakaways, showing off their sponsor. Gaburro, in particular, has already been part of two successful breakaways. Today he added a 4th place to a 2nd on stage 8 which, for a wildcard team like Bardiani, is pretty good.
Grade C – Alberto Dainese (DSM)
He won the sprint in the peloton. Didn’t mean much but for all intents and purposes he did his job.
Grade D – Groupama FDJ, DSM, Quick Step
All three teams have a sprinter that has already won a stage in this Giro. This was their last chance to win a stage. And they can’t even bring it down to a sprint finish? I get that everyone is tired, but so are the riders in the breakaway. This was almost 4 teams vs 4 riders. No excuses.
Grade E – UAE Team Emirates
After their leader’s withdrawal it would have been extra important to make sure the stage came down to a sprint so they gave Gaviria an opportunity to justify his presence in the Giro. Demare already has 3 wins, Dainese and Cavendish on each. UAE doesn’t have any stage victory and, quite frankly, their riders can’t be very tired because of not supporting Almeida in the mountains up to this point.
Grade F – Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek Segafredo)
The Spaniard was caught out of position and distanced while the peloton was chasing the breakaway and never made his way back to the main bunch. He lost nearly 3 minutes (kept his 9th place because of Almeida withdrawal) and now instead of having a 5 minute cushion to 11th, that advantage decreased to roughly two and a half minutes.
Stage 19 Preview
If the past stages of the Giro are any indication the fight for the general classification (GC) will happen inside of breakaway rather than in the peloton. João Almeida is off the race so the three podium places should be defined. Still, I am curious to see how Landa and Hindley recover for tomorrow after nearly 3 weeks of racing. Nevertheless, I don’t believe any of the podium riders are moving before the final climb (7km at 8%). I think Almeida’s withdrawal will make Hindley and Landa more willing to attack Carapaz knowing that the danger of losing their place is miniscule. Bahrain in particular has proven to be extremely strong. This is the team that carried Jack Haig to the Vuelta podium last year, after all.
For the remaining top-10 positions, they’ll likely be fought for inside of the breakaway, as has been the case throughout most of the 3rd week. 8th placed Domenico Pozzovivo (Intermarche Wanty Gobert) is already 12m30 behind Carapaz and Hugh Carthy (EF Education), 10th, is 17m03s. I would say to look out for riders from 8th to 16th (Lorenzo Fortunato – Eolo Kometa). Fortunato is already 29m23s behind the maglia rosa (12m behind on the top-10) but, in my estimation, he is realistically the last rider on GC that can make up that difference.
I don’t think the peloton will want to catch the break so this should be another one for a breakaway. Lorenzo Fortunato is my pick for the day. He’s in good form, relatively well placed in GC (so he stands to gain a lot from a breakaway) and hasn’t yet won a stage in this Giro, nor very often tried. His team will be looking for one and I think he is the best placed rider to get, either today or tomorrow.