Summary: Destined for entertaining draw, but not to be. Shock waves could be felt across Rotterdam as Pedro Empis slotted home the game-winning goal in 87th minute past goalkeeper Rok Vodisek. While Empis will rightfully get all the headlines, it was the vision of Marcus Diamond who unselfishly passed up a contested shot to find Empis in a better position to bang home a monumental goal.


Rating: 7.6 - Big games call for big moments. Pumped up! Pretty good time to nab my third Europa League assist in five games this season.

Player of Game: Marcus Diamond, Feyenoord (7.6)

Summary: Making it 2-for-2 with a 2-0 win for Feyenoord. This time they do it on enemy turf to maintain second place in the league standings. Dylan Vente and Emilian Brie score in quick succession in the middle of the second half to stun Ajax for a second time in three days.

Rating: 7.1 - Boys are playing really well right now. Feels good.

Player of Game: Dylan Vente, Feyenoord (7.9)

Summary: The one game they had to win... Ajax does it in rather convincing fashion. Backs against the wall and they escape to the Europa League semifinals. The tables turned with an early goal by centerback Diego Reyes off a corner kick. Ze Gomes, the leading goal scorer in the Eredivisie this season, torched Feyenoord's backline in the 53rd minute to put the pressure on the road team to score.

Feyenoord went all out, but a counter-attack goal by Kaj Sierhus in the 88th minute sealed Feyenoord's fate — a heartbreaking exit to the competition. Ajax moves on to the semifinals to face Premier League powerhouse Liverpool.

Rating: 6.4 - Didn't show up today. Me or the team. Heck, I barely made it to the field on time after racing in morning (but, no excuses). All the emotions of the previous two wins got slapped back in our face today. A pathetic performance. We can't play like that and expect to beat the worst team in our league, let alone the best team on one of the biggest stages of European football. I'm embarrassed more than anything.

Player of Game: Kaj Sierhuis, Ajax (8.4)

Summary: Feyenoord nearly compounds it's disappointing loss to Ajax with another loss (nearly a draw) three days later. But, Otavio comes to the rescue with a 87th minute winner after ADO Den Haag smacked the post five minutes earlier. Definition of scrapping out a win.

Rating: 6.6 - Poor outing and was subbed off in the 51st minute.

Player of Game: Pedro Empis, Feyenoord (8.0)

Summary: They don't like to make it easy, but Feyenoord scores twice in the second half to erase a first-half penalty kick blunder. The goals from Yassin Ayoub and Kristian Bagger lock up Feyenoord's second place finish and it's place in the Champions League next season.

In other news, there were talks of this being the final game for Marcus Diamond in a Feyenoord kit. The 24-year-old, two-sport British star has been rumored to be upset with his role at Feyenoord and perhaps seeking a return home to play league football in England next season. Of course, this is all hearsay. Diamond has refused to speak with the media about the matter until after the season is over. What we do know is that was Diamond's last game for Feyenoord this season. He will miss the final game of the league season to race one of the notable cycling events of the year, the Giro d'Italia.

Rating: 6.5 - Bombarded by press after the game asking about my future. I gave them the silent treatment because even I don't know what my future holds. I just need some time to step away from football — get on my bike — and figure things out.

Player of Game: Yassin Ayoub, Feyenoord (8.1)

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Summary: The second monument of the season always brings out the best cobblers in the world. Yet, last year's winner Peter Sagan spoiled the show by winning a selective sprint finish. Top favourite Tiesj Benoot is coming off a victory at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and a stage win at the Tirreno-Adriatico.

Also, watch out for female Lorena Wiebes who won the first monument this season at Milano-Sanremo. She became the third female to win a monument in the mixed peloton, joining the likes of Annemiek van Vleuten (2022 Ronde Van Vlaanderen, as Wiebes took second) and Marianne Vos (2023 Liege-Bastogne-Liege). Girl power!


Scrap everything I said before... It's Mads Pedersen winning a close sprint against Benoot, Aaron Verwilst and Wout Van Aert. Sagan comes in over two minutes later to round out the Top 5. Pedersen finished second here last year and adds a second monument to his collection after winning Paris-Roubaix a season ago.

Result: 20th - Dropped a good 40kms from the finish line. Eventually finished 8'13" behind the winners. Second best GB rider though, as fellow countryman Thomas Pidcock took 11th.

Summary: Nine cyclists make up the BOTD, including the likes of Odd Christian Eiking, Grace Garner and Jaka Primozic.


The break has been caught and only 22 cyclists remain in the front group as we cross over the top of the penultimate climb of Aia. 21kms left!


The road gets narrow and then gets steep. Big climb ahead.


Too steep and too narrow for any of the favorites to attack. All we have left is 7kms downhill to the finish line with 21 cyclists still in contention for the win.


They're screaming to the finish. The cyclists in the first four spots are arguably the fastest cyclists to win a selective sprint: Marianne Vos, rainbow jersey man Michael Matthews, Felix Gall and Marcus Diamond.


And surprisingly, that's the order of how they finish! The lone lady shows up men with a stunning sprint. Vos wins her first stage of the season by besting the World Champ.

Result: 4th - Not too bad. Three world-class riders on the podium, so I'll happily take fourth and move on to the next stage. Grace getting into the breakaway and going for the KoM jersey — albeit not getting it — was an added bonus for a decent day on the road.

Summary: Gregor Muhlberger (over five minutes behind in GC) is the last remaining breakaway man as the dewindling peloton hits the final climb just under 10kms to go. The pace in the peloton is being set pretty high by Grace Garner. Her boyfriend Marcus Diamond is right on her wheel. The ideal position for the couple.


One glance at each other and Diamond gets the hint... Garner is spent and Diamond hits the accelerator. What an attack this is!


Diamond nearly pulls back Muhlberger as The Guardian takes control of the pacing of the peloton for Kwiatkowski and Bernal.


Diamond over the summit first. The peloton closing in...


It's not the biggest of gaps, but Diamond is trying to make this stick! I mean Marianne Vos was able to pull this off yesterday... Why not Diamond? Muhlberger is just along for the ride at the moment.


Under the banner! They have a chance!


Muhlberger around the outside...


For the win! Muhlberger sat on Diamond's wheel and gets reward for his long day in the morning breakaway. Diamond will be upset not to get his first stage win of the season, but will be delighted to trade his white jersey for yellow...

Wait, I take that back. The race organizers decided not to give a gap to the front two cyclists. Meaning Diamond is robbed of the stage win and the race lead. Wow!

Result: 2nd, 2nd overall - Pissed. That's (explicit). (Explicit) (Explicit) (Explicit) [Diamond was dragged away by his girlfriend and couldn't be reached for further comments.]

Summary: The longest stage of the tour belongs to the breakaway. The peloton didn't have enough energy after a hard-fought stage yesterday. They come in a minute and 15 seconds later. Felix Gall keeps yellow, and 20 cyclists enter the Stage 4 ITT with the same time as Gall.

Result: 43th - Finished in the front group, barely. Nearly paid the price for my effort yesterday, although I did pay for my comments: A 5,000 euro fine and a stern talking to from my girlfriend.

Summary: Top two on the stage shoot up to two top in GC: Tom Dumoulin and Laurens De Plus. Both best stage favourites Larry Gooden and Stefan Kung.

Result: 70th, 19th GC (+1'45") - Not the most comfortable on a TT bike. Not a good result, but kind of expected at the same time. Still two hilly stages left to make up that time lost.

Summary: We pick up the action on the last categorized climb, and here we have Marcus Diamond struggling to keep up. We saw a crack in his armor at the end of Stage 3, but this is still quite a shock.


Rough rough day for Diamond. He comes in over five and a half minutes behind the front group of 23 riders that sprint to an invisible finish line.

Result: 37th, 27th GC (+7'16") - Bad daily form is costly.

Summary: Interesting strategy for SEG Racing today after a rather disappointing day yesterday. They have put three riders in the 10-cyclist morning breakaway: Marcus Diamond, his girlfriend Grace Garner and Harry Zuurman. Let's see how this plays out for them.


Eventually only Diamond remains, with Oomen, Gogl, Grosschartner, Guerreiro, Longo-Borghini and Teuns. Shinking peloton is 1'45" back with 18kms left.


Gogl, who already has the KoM jersey won for the tour, is going for the stage win as well at the base of the final climb. Looks like Diamond and Longo-Borghini are the only two that have energy left to follow the attack. This could be the winning move with the peloton still lurking 2 minutes back with 8.5kms remaining.


Diamond leads the trio under 5kms to go. Now the climbing really starts!


Diamond is setting a pretty hard tempo. Looks like chasing after the KoM points all day has finally caught up to Gogl. Longo-Borghini, who was the third wheel, has to maneuver around Gogl and keep up with Diamond.


The smirk on Diamond's face is he sheds off both Gogl and Longo-Borghini. But, he can't get too cocky, he still has 3.3kms to the top with gradients in the double-digits.


The shoulders have started to rock. Diamond is in trouble now. The tank is almost empty, but the stopwatch reads a minute lead over a charging Enric Mas.


And there he is...


Mas carries on to win the stage, but comes 12 seconds short of besting Tom Dumoulin for the overall win. Diamond settles for 5th on the stage after a gutsy ride.

Result: 5th, 16th GC (+7'16"), 1st Youth, 2nd KoM, 3rd Points - Teammates deserve a bunch of praise for today's result. Grace and I make a pretty good team. Decent tour with it all said and done. Could have been better, could have been much worse. We take it and move on.

Summary: Some breaking news to start this broadcast with Marcus Diamond waving in desperation to get a replacement front tire. We have 78kms to go, as Diamond slips out of the 43-cyclist peloton that is chasing a 10-cyclist breakaway.


Maybe Diamond got off lucky. 100 meters up the cobbled sector there is a crash of 13 cyclists, including Wiebes, Teunissen, Naesen, Demare, Moscon, Verwilst and Allegaert.


The biggest beneficiary out of this mayhem is Tiesj Benoot. The Belgian goes on to win the famed Hell of North classic for the second time in his career -- doing so in solo style with a 1'18" gap over a 11-cyclist chase group, which contained crashers Wiebes (3rd), Moscon (6th), Verwilst (8th) and Teunissen (9th).

Result: 33th (+10'14") - Stupid tires. Still a three spot improvement over last season, I guess. Plus, I was racing for an eighth straight day so cut me some slack.

Summary: Up and down, and round and round. After 251kms, a selective bunch sprint decides this classic. And it's quite a shocker with Vincenzo Albanese winning his first classic over race favourites Felix Gall and Michal Kwiatkowski.

Result: 27th (+1'24") - Got to work on my stamina. I was in the front group until we hit the final incline, then my legs gave way. Still a three spot improvement over last season, I guess. (I'm sensing a theme...)

Summary: Revenge is sweet. Gall tops Kwiatskowski and Albanese to avenge his second place in the Amstel Gold Race three days ago.

Result: 15th (+51") - Stuck with the front group until the final incline again. No past performance to base this finish off of, so not sure what to think. Regardless, didn't have much time to process this result... Got to get to my football game! "Grace getting in the car! Let's go!"

Summary: Breakaway is pulled back with 20kms to go.


That's the launching pad for Marcus Diamond, who gives a little friendly wave to his girlfriend Grace Garner who spent the day in the breakaway. Following Diamond we have Kwiatkowski and Gall.


Adam Yates single-handedly shuts down that move. So we have 18 cyclists up front in one group with 7.5kms to go. Two steep inclines left.


Kwiatkowski and Gall slip away from the bunch on the first incline.


The gap doesn't hold but they hold off the chasers. Kwiatkowski beats Gall to the line! The first monument win of the season for the former World RR Champion.

Result: 12th - Hung in there all the way to the end. Even put a little dig in to stir things up. Top 10 would have been cool, but a solid day. Heck, Grace even got in the breakaway and I didn't have to listen to her talk all day... Shhhh... Don't tell her I said that. Love you Grace!

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Summary: The pink jerseys of... no not SEG Racing Academy... But, instead, of T-Mobile lay down the fastest time today to give a new shade of pink — the maglia rosa — to 24-year-old German Andres Bub. The TT specialist will cherish this moment.

Result: 14th, +1'35" - The team brought mostly sprinters, not time trialists for this one. Got to say we are lacking mountain support as well.

Summary: Caleb Ewan celebrates his first win of the season!

Result: 11th, 99th GC (+1'35") - I know the importance of being at the front of these nervous sprints across these first few days. I don't want to get caught up in another demoralizing crash.

Summary: The first major attack of the Giro belongs to Hugh Carthy as the 74-cyclist peloton is closing on the last breakaway rider, Chris Hamilton. This attack comes with 19kms to go (7.3kms from the top of the final climb).


Carthy is shutdown. Attack No. 2 belongs to Nairo Quintana!


That doesn't stick... Here goes Ilnur Zakarin with last year's winner Harm Vanhoucke on his wheel. Some fireworks on the opening mountain stage!


That doesn't work either. Now here is two-time winner Pierre-Roger Latour on the move with Vanhoucke on his wheel. 2.4kms to the top!


A gap opens for Latour! And now his teammate Adam Yates is trying to bridge across to put two Astana riders up front. What a bold team move.


Latour over the top! With American Brandon McNulty attacking past Yates to move into second place. A strong chase group behind them with 37 cyclists looking to pin them back on the steep 10km descent to the finish.


A split over the top, 37 quickly turns into just 13 cyclists chasing Latour, McNulty and Yates. They are: Bardet, Carapaz, Bjerg, Morton, Gallopin, Zakarin, Diamond, Carthy, Meintjes, Bayard, Quintana, Albanese and Vanhoucke.

Biggest names missing: Padun, Longo-Borghini and Ravasi.


Morton gets antsy with 6kms to go and attacks. They have nearly pegged back Yates and could see Latour and McNulty in the distance.


The group wisely sticks with Morton's pace, as he brings back Yates and then catches Latour and McNulty (who didn't work well together). So we have 16 cyclists in the front group with 3.6kms remaining.

Scanning the group... somehow Marcus Diamond is still here. A name we haven't said a lot today but is probably the fastest finisher remaining if he has the stamina.


Speak of the devil! There he goes! Diamond going early trying to catch the group sleeping. The man paying the most attention is Carapaz, another favourite who has had a quiet day up until this point.


Big burst of speed! But does Diamond have enough juice?


I don't think so... Here comes everybody else!


Experience pays off! Last year's winner Harm Vanhoucke strikes first in a thrilling attacking display on the first mountain stage. Yates nips Diamond for second place. What an entertaining way to get this Grand Tour rolling!

Result: 3rd, 14th GC (+1'20") - First Grand Tour stage podium! Nearly my first win. That was something. Surprised myself that I was even in the front group going over the last climb. If I can keep up with the pure climbers for the rest of the tour, I like my chances for a good GC result.

Summary: Up and over the Cat. 2 climb with 39 cyclists remaining in the peloton and the breakaway already caught.

A few big names missing from this elite group: Steven Kruijswijk (8th GC), Rudy Molard (10th GC), Cyril Gautier (17th GC) and Nairo Quintana (19th GC). All of which got caught in a crash on the downhill and have a massive challenge in front of them to rejoin the leaders.


We have now reached 5kms to go with the final climb in front of us. 35 cyclists remain. Along with the names above, Pierre Rolland (11th GC) is now also missing from this selective group.


The race to the top is won by the pink jersey of Romain Bardet!

Result: 33rd (+3'37"), 19th GC (+5'07") - Got thrown off the back of the main group on the final climb. Rough result but we can bounce back.

Summary: What was supposed to be a recovery day turns chaotic as crosswinds split the peloton into multiple parts with 15kms to go. It's going to take a while to sort out where all the GC contenders. They certainly aren't all up the front with the pink jersey of Romain Bardet.


A massive gust of wind happens right as Polska Travel sets up its sprint train for Gaviria. Six cyclists escape off the front: Leadout man Lecroq for Gaviria, followed by Looij, Ewan, Demare and Diamond.


It's Andre Looij taking the win and an absolute mess behind. Going to be extremely difficult to award any time gaps with cyclists all over the road. Oh, here is the verdict... Top 86 cyclists finish on same time.

Then a 3'42" gap, which sees Adam Yates, Hugh Carthy and best U25 rider Bayard Florent lose time. Then another group behind them at +6'30" sees the AG2R boys of Pierre Rolland, Rudy Molard and Cyril Gautier lose a bunch of time.

Result: 8th, 15th GC (+5'07"), 1st Youth - Stay alert at the front and handled the crosswinds perfectly. Can't ask for more and now I'm wearing the white jersey!

Summary: We start today with the first rainfall of the tour. The peloton is being cautious in the hopes of avoiding the first big crash of the event.


Very very dangerous conditions as we reach 20kms to go. A hard-charging peloton is still 41 seconds behind the morning breakaway and the rain is coming down hard. It's hold your breath time, hope for the best and fear for the worst.


With the peloton doing a sloppy job reeling back the breakaway, Carapaz decides to attack with the banner and barely the breakaway in sight. Diamond chases this move after having team orders to stay back with a teammate — Ivar Slik — in the breakaway.

While our cameras were watching this, the shuffling in the peloton has caused the dreaded crash we all feared was coming...


It splits the peloton. Luckily none of the big names are involved.


Duncan Burgess, a 24-year-old Aussie, wins the stage from the breakaway. Gaviria leads the peloton home 33 seconds later.

Result: 12th (+33"), 15th GC (+5'07"), 1st Youth - Weird stage with the rain. Peloton didn't want to push too hard and it allowed the break to win. I put in a half-hearted dig at the end to mark Carapaz mostly.

Summary: It's finally here. The day most cyclists in the peloton have been dreading and the one day Marcus Diamond has been dreaming of.

It's unknown how much time Diamond can make up on a stage like this, but you know him and his SEG teammates are going to do everything in their power to blow this stage up in hopes of creating massive time gaps.

The opening attacks already prove today is going to be a crazy day. 30, yes 30 cyclists manage to get in the morning breakaway.


But here we are with 1.6kms to go and the pink jersey of Romain Bardet (66COB) is still in the peloton. What a ride by him. In fact 23 cyclists are here with Diamond, plus Demare and Ludvik 15 seconds up the road looking for the stage win.

Other GC contenders who have survived today include: Albanese (3rd GC), Gallopin (4th) and Bjerg (13th).


Demare wins it. Bardet somehow, someway finishes 9th ahead of Diamond. Race organizers were generous with not a lot of time gaps as well. Many of the cyclists who feared this stage have survived.

Result: 10th, 13th GC (+5'07"), 1st Youth - Cobbles weren't decisive at all. I had a slim hope I could pull on pink after today... Now, I don't think I can realistically get a Top 10 overall. This one hurts. I needed to make up time here and I didn't.

Summary: The first mountain top finish will be on top of Blockhaus. It's long (27.6kms). It's steep (6.6% AVG). It's frankly brutal.

As the peloton makes the turn onto the climb, the morning break of 14 cyclists is still working really well together 9'40" up the slopes.


The peloton is taking the slow and steady approach to this climb. No attacks yet, 11.5kms remaining. One-by-by domestiques are being dropped. The breakaway has now shattered into many pieces. The leaders in front still have a seven minute gap to the favourites, looking like a possible breakaway win today.


The top 15 climbers in this tour separate themselves with 7.5kms to go. The white jersey of Marcus Diamond is getting left behind.

His biggest threat in the U25 competition is Florent Bayard, who is protecting GC leader Romain Bardet in that front group. Bayard is 19 minutes and 19 seconds behind Diamond.


While the favourites play cat and mouse, Esteban Chaves gets the best of his breakaway companions and rides home solo for a memorable victory!

Romain Bardet finished 5th, best of the favourites, to extend his GC lead.

Result: 27th (+7'59"), 14th GC (+9'59"), 1st Youth - Did what I could. I'm not a mountain goat. Lost almost four minutes to Bayard in the fight for white. I'm up 15'24" with 13 stages remaining. Going to be fun.

Summary: Mikkel Bjerg gets the stage win, but the story in the press continues to be 33-year-old Romain Bardet just dominating this race despite not being a race favourite. Not a great TTist but Bardet sets down the 6th fastest time and continues to grow his advantage.

Result: 53rd (+1'07"), 14th GC (+10'54") - Lost 31 more seconds to Bayard but keep my place in the overall. On to the next stage.

Summary: The final breakaway man, Chris Hamilton, is caught as we begin the steep final climb to the line. Max gradient hits 25%!


It's anybody's stage win with all the favourites grouped together.


Nevermind, the pink jersey shines once again. Romain Bardet wins his second stage of the tour to increase his points classification lead.

Result: 19th, 14th GC (+11'04"), 1st Youth - Almost fell off my bike as the road pointed to the sky. Cruel way to end a long day.

Summary: At the base of the penultimate climb, four breakaway riders remain with a charging peloton one minute back. A crash earlier in the day saw Tebiro Pienaar (SEG) and Michael Hepburn (Katusha) withdraw from the race.


As the breakaway gets swept back, we get an attack from the white jersey! Marcus Diamond is apparently feeling good time and wants to try and get a gap over this climb.


He will cross over the summit first for 14 mountain points, but the peloton has done well to mark this move and only trail by 10 seconds or so. Will Diamond push the downhill?


The answer is no. So we will have 32 cyclists up front as we turn onto the final climb of the day up Monte Serra — 9.3kms at 7%. One for the steady climbers.


No surprise it's the most steady climber in this tour so far that claims the win then. Victory No. 3 for the pink jersey of Romain Bardet. The Frenchman is putting on a show here in Italy.

Result: 23rd (+4'27"), 13th GC (+15'41"), 1st Youth - Had a little fun trying to shake up the peloton. They didn't budge though and lost a chunk of time. But, hey, got to take some chances. Can't live your life saying "What if..."

Summary: We pick up the action with 57kms to go, as Marcus Diamond has attacked the peloton going up the Cat. 1 climb of Passo Dell'Abetone. I shouldn't really say "attacked" really, he just casual rode off the front and nobody wanted to keep his pace.

He has two teammates up the road in Silk (2 minutes ahead) and Denz (10mins) who got in the 14-cyclist morning breakaway, that has now shattered into multiple small group. So this is a very interesting move from the young Brit.


Diamond doesn't reach his teammates, as the peloton eventually decides it's probably best not to let Marcus have any freedom today. He is caught at the base of the second climb.


Nearly halfway up the final climb today and we get our first attack from a GC contender, it's Aussie Lachlan Morton (6th GC, +7'07"). Any followers?


Longo-Borghini pulls Morton back, which acts as springboard for an attack by 3rd in GC LaTour! Carthy (17th GC) jumps on his wheel. Still no panic or urgency from the pink jersey of Bardet. He is just letting this play out.


When LaTour can't produce a gap, Morton goes yet again! 20kms left.


With Morton nearly caught again, Carthy sees his opportunity and attacks once again. We have 2.4kms left to climb before the downhill finish. There are still multiple breakaway riders already on the downhill looking to seize a stage win.


As the favourites reach the sunny summit, it's Morton and LaTour (plus breakaway rider Vichot) that finally snuck away from the rest. It's only about 30 seconds right now, but every little bit helps.


At the finish, it's a solo stage win for (Man-Game Superstar) Omar Fraile!


Breakaway rider Craddock wins the sprint for 10th ahead of the peloton, who managed to bring back Morton and LaTour on the downhill.

Result: 15th (+9'46"), 14th GC (+15'41"), 1st Youth - After my failed morning getaway, I was able to ride out the rest of the race with the favourites and sprint to a 15th place. Guess you could say I didn't put too much energy into getting away if I was still able to ride with the peloton for the rest of the stage.

Summary: Interesting development before we start today's stage, the best young rider so far in this year's competition, Marcus Diamond, confirmed to a local journalist that he is dealing with stomach bug after veering from the team's nutrition plan to have a late night snack.

Diamond didn't confirm what he eat, but the journalist who happened to be in the same shop (and also got sick) said it was probably the cannoli.

Not a good day to be sick. The clock doesn't lie.


As expected it's a miserable day for Diamond, as he finishes 66th +9'24" behind the winner: Florent Bayerd, the 23-year-old Frenchman who is chasing Diamond in the U25 competition. Diamond sees his 14-plus lead in that competition get cut to 5'15" with 8 stages remaining.

Result: 66th (+9'24"), 18th GC (+23'52"), 1st Youth - My embarrassing pain was well-documented by the media today. Some might ask, "What were you thinking?" To which I would respond, "I was hungry..."

Summary: Surprisingly, on what looks to be a clear-cut breakaway type of stage, only four cyclists manage to get out front.

And now only one remains, Bert-Jan Lindeman, with 36kms to go. The sprinters really want to contest the stage despite two challenging speed bumps before the finish.


The catch is made before the top of the first final climb. Also, we see Marcus Diamond up here at the front. Is he planning something after a rough stage yesterday? His face shows pain, but his legs say otherwise.

On paper, you got to like his chances if he is feeling better.


We thought something like this could happen. Diamond with a dig here on the final climb. The peloton saw this coming too. Does he have the kick?


It's a hard no. No separation whatsoever.


Very close 5-way sprint for the win goes to Andre Looij.

Result: 12th, 18th GC (+23'52"), 1st Youth - Tried to spoil the sprinters' fun. They weren't having that after doing the dirty work all day. Still not feeling great, but good enough were people (the team doctor mostly) have stopped asking me questions about it.

Hoping for a full recover in the next couple of days and a good final week to this tour. It's going to be tough, but I think we can hold onto this white jersey for seven more days. And maybe, just maybe pick up my first grand tour stage win if I stay active enough.

Summary: The final week is underway and we got fireworks already! The morning breakaway of nine features two cyclists inside the Top 20 in GC. We have white jersey holder Marcus Diamond sneakily picking up 3 bonus seconds at the sprint point (maybe that will pay off later) and one spot better than him in the GC, Esteban Chaves.

Both have one teammate in the group as well, so they are hardly doing any work. The favourites didn't like seeing this group go, but here we are.

With 123kms to go, the break has a 11'15" lead! Diamond and Chaves might have struck gold here. But we still got two grueling climbs left.


The favourites must believe this last two climbs are soul crushers because the peloton has yet to pick up the pace. The breakaway now has a 14-minute advantage with 100kms to go.

Chaves is virtually up to 4th in GC, Diamond 7th.


52kms to go, and 12.5kms from the top of the Cat. 1 Colle Dell'Agnello, Chaves' helper De La Cruz throws in the towel. Considering the breakaway still has a 13-minute lead over the peloton, I'd say that's a job well done. Both Chaves and Diamond haven't pulled on the front yet.


Chaves goes to the front and cracks both SEG cyclists, Diamond and Denz, with 5kms left to the summit. Diamond surely still doesn't feel like himself after a stomach bug a few days ago.


Diamond over the top, already 4'30" behind Chaves and leaders. The peloton rough seven minutes him. Could still get a good results here with a decent recovery on the downhill.


A group of favourites containing Latour, Morton and McNulty reel Diamond back in with 1.7kms to go. Bardet went flying past them moments later. Meanwhile, there has been a winner at the top!


Chaves does it and gains a nice chuck of time to move up to 8th in GC, and he now holds the lead in the KoM competition over Vichot (108 to 102).

Result: 13th (+10'04"), 18th GC (+25'03"), 1st Youth - Man, if only I felt good enough to stick with Chaves. Still we take this result. I gained +1'40" on Bayard in the U25 competition, so that's great.

Summary: A nice sunny day turns into a downpour when the GC favourites have to take to the course here in Milano. That spells disaster for any of the GC guys getting a good stage, as Larry Gooden tops Mikkel Bjerg by 8 seconds to take that stage honors.

The pink jersey of Bardet didn't have a stellar ride but his huge +5'12" lead over Latour only shrinks to 4'29" after today. In the U25 competition, Bayard closed within 1'04" of Diamond's lead as the white jersey suffered mightily today after his breakaway showing in Stage 15.

Result: 132nd (+8'14"), 20th GC (+29'44), 1st Youth - So fatigued right now. Don't know if I'll be able to make it these last five days. I have never felt worse than this in my entire life. But we can't stop, we fight.

Summary: CRASH! On the fast downhill section coming to the finish a massive crash has wiped out a big portion of the peloton. It looks like 70-80 riders are here. Surely some big names have hit the asphalt or have been caught behind the rubble.

Let's see who we can find back here...


Liquigas' Hugh Carthy (16th overall).


Amazon's Mikkel Bjerg (9th overall).


Oh my... Look at this trio. We have No. 134 Kenny Elissonde (15th overall) riding next to the two best young riders in Marcus Diamond (20th overall) and Florent Bayard (21st overall).

Behind them is Albanese (18th) and Conti (22nd). Further back in this group is Meintjes (17th) and Quintana (19th). We don't think any favourites are in a group behind this, but who knows.


The chaos allows the breakaway to hold on for the stage win. Pascal Eenkhoorn tops a pair of Qantas riders. But all eyes are truly on the chase group.


The Liquigas boys put in an extreme effort to connect the crash group back to the peloton. All the GC contenders end on the same time today despite the scary. Meanwhile, three cyclists crashed out: Dimitri Claeys, Rosettano Pisani and Carlos Verona. Such a shame with four stages to go. Ironically, Verona withdraws in the finish town of Verona, Italy.

Result: 91st (+2'28"), 20th GC (+29'44"), 1st Youth - As if these last couple of days couldn't get any worse... now I have road rash on both my arms and legs.

Not to mention (don't tell the media after they had a field day with my food poisoning saga) I have a slight case of the flu after riding in the rain all day yesterday. I just want this to be over. Not sure I would keep going if I wasn't wearing the white jersey.

Summary: As we roll through the lone sprint point, let's take a look at today's breakaway. We have 17 cyclists in total with eight cyclists inside the Top 30 of the GC:

Bjerg (9th, +15'56")
Elissonde (15th, +24'09")
Meintjes (17th, +25'09")
Albanese (18th, +26'24")
Quintana (19th, +28'15")
Diamond (20th, +29'44")
Kruijswijk (29th, +45'58")
Dennis (30th, +46'44")

As well as being the best place GC contender trying his luck, Bjerg is also the only former stage winner in this group. He won the Stage 9 ITT.


Albanese and Quintana tried to get away over the first Cat. 2 climb but the breakaway held strong with a lot of pacing from Bjerg to bring these two back on the downhill. We shall see if those efforts are punished later.

The break, now 16 cyclists strong — losing Serrano over the first climb — holds a 9'40" gap over a 56-cyclist peloton with 66kms remaining.


Quintana accelerates again at the top of the second climb, but this time riders are struggling to keep up behind him. Yet, with 40kms to go, surely he could use the help of Caruso, Albanese and Diamond, who he just left behind. Bjerg and Dennis are 20 seconds behind Diamond as well.


Superb effort from a battered and bruised Diamond to bring Quintana back with 30kms left. Group Bjerg is still 50 seconds behind. The peloton? Reports are saying around 6 minutes.


These four leaders are working extremely well together. Halfway up the penultimate climb and they now have a 3'30" gap over Group Bjerg.


The group say goodbye to Albanese. Diamond cracks one of the Italians.


How much energy does the Colombian have? Quintana attacks again with roughly a kilometer left to climb. He really wants a solo victory. Caruso tries to stick to his wheel while Diamond shows no interest in marking this attack.


Base of the final climb and Quintana goes again! At this point you have to question if he will have energy left for the remaining 10kms up the climb.

But, at this point, it's not about the stage win. It's about gaining as much time as possible because the whereabouts of the peloton is completely unknown. Radio signals have gone weak at this altitude.


Down to 4kms to go and Quintana is still going strong, opening up a 2-minute gap to Caruso and 2'35" to Diamond. While this has been a disappointing Giro so far for the former Giro (2021) and Vuelta (2019) runner-up, a ride like this gets remembered for a long time.


Pure heart! Quintana wins and starts the clock.


Caruso gets 2nd place, 2'25" behind Quintana. Diamond, 36 seconds later, claims his second podium stage finish in his first Giro appearance.


Flying up the mountain is the pink jersey of Bardet to place 4th, 57 seconds after Diamond crossed the line. He is clearly the best rider in this year's edition and it's not even close.

Result: 3rd (+3'01"), 17th GC (+28'43"), 1st Youth - Perseverance. I don't know what else to say. Good things happen to those who never give up. Proud I didn't throw in the white towel, and now I have a 3'31" gap on Bayard in the U25 competition with three stages left.

Summary: This isn't a breakaway, this is a mini peloton. We have 37 cyclists in the front group, leaving AG2R and Movistar to pace the 128-cyclist peloton 3'20" behind them as we reach the sprint point with 87kms remaining.

Some familiar faces from yesterday break are here with Bjerg being the best placed GC contender in the group in 10th overall. We also see Albanese (18th overall) and Conti (20th) testing their legs.


While it's clear somebody from the morning breakaway is taking today's stage win, as E1 leads the peloton by nearly 12 minutes with 12kms to go, we do see some outsider attacking the peloton with 18kms remaining for them.

Leading this interesting attack is Carthy (16th) followed by Ravasi (14th), Diamond (17th), Padun (15th), yesterday's winner Quintana (12th) and Zakarin (7th).


They quickly catch and pass Bjerg, who is in great danger of losing his Top 10 GC.


The stage win belongs to Steven Kruijswijk, moving him to 20th overall.


Quintana, Carthy and Ravasi manage to stay away to pick up 43 seconds on Bardet and the rest of the favourites. The biggest loser today is Bjerg, who drops from 10th overall to 18th. A bad decision for him to try the break two days in a row.

Result: 24th (+9'55"), 16th GC (+28'43"), 1st Youth - Finished with Group Bardet after trying to get away. Solid result. Doubtful I can crack the Top 15 overall with 15th Carthy being over two minutes ahead of me.

Summary: On the penultimate climb of the penultimate stage, Adam Yates rips the peloton apart in hopes of finally finding Bardet's weakness for his teammate Latour. Bardet is hanging strong coming to the summit, while others like Marcus Diamond have been thrown off the back. We also have a few breakaway riders still up the road who are stage hunting.


Tough luck for them because Bardet is a just a beast. A signature win for the pink jersey. Normally, we could say heading into the final stage that this tour is over. But not quite this year, a challenging final day is ahead.


Down the slopes we see Diamond fighting his heart out to keep the white jersey, but it's not enough. Bayard finishes 6th on the stage and gains +5'22" on Diamond to lead the U25 competition by 1'51" going into Stage 21. But, again, the last stage isn't a cakewalk. Diamond will have one last chance to steal the jersey back.

Result: 20th (+7'20"), 17th GC (+36'13"), 2nd Youth - I might not be the best climber in the peloton, but you can't say I don't give everything I have every single stage. So you know for a fact I'm going to give Bayard everything I got left tomorrow. This isn't over yet. Mark my words.

Summary: So much for some easy victory laps, we got five circuits up and down the Cat. 4 Salita di Mompiano and Cat. 2 Monte Maddalena to conclude the 2024 Giro d'Italia.


And here we go! Nearly right from the gun, SEG Racing is showing their cards. It's Denz leading out Diamond in pursuit of winning the white jersey back from Bayard. Following this move is Albanese (14th overall) who has been in the breakaway the last few days looking to move up the GC standings and collect a stage win.


Three cyclists grows to 17 as we reach the sprint point. The only other big name joining today's break include former stage winner and KoM leader Kruijswijk (20th). That leaves a lot of firepower in the peloton, which is doing a good job of keeping the break from building a lead over five minutes.

Only six breakaway cyclists remaining as we start the penultimate circuit with 55kms to go. Left standing is Masnada (48th), Andreetta (57th), Elissonde (43rd), Kruijswijk, Albanese and Diamond.

The peloton got within 3 minutes of this group at one point but have backed off a little now that the break has shattered. We are uncertain what the gap is at this moment. But it's too early to be thinking about that, this group just has to work together and keep climbing.


We have a report of a crash in the peloton! Our cameras didn't manage to catch it, but it sounds like they caught SEG breakaway cyclists Denz on a downhill and Denz didn't move out of the way right away to try and help his teammate Diamond in the breakaway.

Well, wheels got tangled. Denz went down and took 13 other riders down with him. We believe the biggest causality was Carthy (13th overall), but it's a little chaotic right now trying to confirm live reports.

We do know Adam Yates is again setting a high pace in the peloton and they're 3 minute behind the leaders with 48kms to go. It's a very selective peloton already.


Diamond leads the final trio over the top with 41kms to go. This effort looks futile with the pink jersey lurking in the distance. But Diamond isn't giving up his hopes of winning the U25 competition while Albanese and Elissonde are just along for the ride now.


Elissonde takes off at the start of the final circuit. There is still hope if the favourites group a minute behind starts to play cat and mouse.


Adam Yates is a workhorse and bridges the gap himself. It's all over.


Wait a second! Yates isn't working for Latour, he is going for glory himself today. He uses the catch of the breakaway to perfection to launch an attack before the last climb of the tour.


Nobody in the peloton knows how to react to this... Diamond certainly does though and finds an extra gear to keep the breakaway trio ahead of the pack. His goal of a stage win might be out of the window, but it's always been about the white jersey.

Group Diamond quickly builds back up a 40-second gap to the favourites. Meaning Diamond needs 1'12" more to surpass Bayard.

AG2R is now caught in quite pickle. Do you chase down Diamond to save Bayard's white jersey or back off because you don't want this to turn into a springboard for Latour to attack the pink jersey with his teammate Yates up the road now? Decisions on the final day!


AG2R bluffs long enough that Latour has to show his hand and attacks the group with 5.5kms left to climb. They quickly catch Group Diamond.


Diamond's storyline fades to the background as Bardet takes center stage. Latour links up with Yates, 38 seconds up the road. Bardet has Roland still to help pace the pack. Also still in this group is the white jersey of Bayard. Diamond smirks as Bayard gives him a friendly tap on the back as he rides past.


Bardet is left to do the chasing himself. I mean he doesn't have to, being five minutes ahead of Latour in the GC standings, but he wants to end the tour on a strong note.


Catch complete...


Giro complete. Another great sportsmanship moment as Bardet slows up to allow Latour to win his first stage of the event after a thrilling final climb. Bardet, of course, gets the runner-up prize of the Malia Rosa.


We can't say enough about the ride Diamond had today, and here he is still sprinting to the finish line. He was arguably the most active rider this tour and won't be leaving here with enough accolades to justify that. Still, a bright future ahead for him.

Result: 14th (+4'35"), 16th GC (+40'54"), 2nd Youth - Just like that, it's all over. Poured my heart into every pedal stroke. Faced a bunch of adversity along the way and came out stronger than ever before.