Bongiorno, and welcome once again from the Ligurian Sea, more precisely from the Riviera di Levante. From yesterday's finish line, we have moved slightly "backwards" on the coast, i.e. closer to Genoa. Today's stage will take off in Chiavari, the "key to the valley". This city with about 28,000 inhabitants grew up on the traces of a Roman camp - and some of the ruins from the old ages are still worth a sight today!
As in the previous stages, start and finish lines aren't separated by that many kilometers - about 60km today - but as that would make quite a short stage, the organizers have again added some obstacles in the riders' path. Making up for more than 2,500m of total climbing - even slightly more than yesterday!
We'll have a rather easy start, with some flat kilometers along the seaside - without any wind, which may disappoint some riders - before heading into the first out of three category 3 climbs: Colla di Velva. There are two "steps" in this climb, separated by a short flat part - before the riders reach the top after 25.8 kilometers of racing.
What follows is a long descent, with only a very gentle slope, until we get to today's intermediate sprint in Brugnato. But as we're still in the Apennines, the up and down goes on, with a series of uncategorized climbs, before the pack will tackle the next KoM sprint up to Passo del Termine.
This climb is located in the Cinque Terre region, which is a World Heritage Site. There's only a very short descent after the top, followed by a long flat and then a "real" downhill. After another gentle hill and the descent to La Spezia, we'll get to the decisive section: an additional lap containing the climb up to Biassa, culminating just 11 kilometers from the finish line!
The finish will definitely be very fast, given that the final descent ends only with about 3km to go - and then we'll crown today's winner in La Spezia! This is the second largest city in the region, after Genoa, and is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours, and a major Italian Navy base. Lately, it has become a main place for all kind of water sports. If it's not the Giro arriving here, tourists will mainly go for castles and churches, as well as the Navy museum.
But we have got other ideas for today, as we want to watch the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia! After a breakaway win yesterday, who will ride to line honors this afternoon? Another breakaway rider? The GC contenders? Some puncheur? Or a puncheur-sprinter?
Well, the bookies go for one specific rider type today: the climbers! They place Spilak, Taaramäe and Kritskiy on top of their list, followed by Barguil, Reis and Talansky. The final spots on their Top 10 prediction go to Bongiorno, Haig, Chiarello and the best sprinter on the list, Arndt - no Demare! Will the course really be too hard for the Frenchman? Or will he strike back after yesterday's disappointment and prove the bookies wrong? We'll see!
It's another perfect day for cycling out here, with some clouds, but nothing to complain about! The start flag is about to be waved, so let's go!
After the first five kilometers, but still on the flat, we get the first breakaway attempt of the day: Kennaugh, Barthe and Grossschartner are on the move - riders from three teams we haven't seen a lot so far.
And cycleYorkshire and Grieg-Maersk are even trying to double their numbers, sending Serrano and Crncevic up front as well. They are joined by Fung and yesterday's stage winner Gabburo!
But that's still not enough - Fedeli makes it 3 attempts in as many days, followed by Mano and yet a third cycleYorkshire rider in Holmes.
Grieg are trying to draw level with cycleYorkshire in terms of numbers, with Gillett on the move as well! Joining him is Harper, getting some more new colours in the breakaway!
Next are Boom and Nych - but this time, Naud decides it's enough, starting the chase.
And some more riders are helping the Canadian to get this last duo back; we can see Sendeku and Nizzolo chasing, while Abreu and Bugge would prefer them to relent, so they could break out on their own.
But finally, the Russian - Dutch duo was reeled in - or rather replaced by another one, consisting of Conti and yesterday's 3rd placed Bizkarra.
Sendeku again is unhappy about this constellation - whatever his reasons may be. But he eventually folds, and so we have 14 riders up front - scattered all around this first part of the climb up to Colla di Velva.
As we saw in the stage preview, the climb to Colla di Velva actually consists of two "steps", with only the latter being part of the officially categorized hill. It's a very regular climb, with an average gradient of just above 5%. By arriving first on top, Bizkarra could draw level with current KoM leader Budenieks.
The escapees regroup just as they reach that second part of the climb, meaning that the Spaniard could actually have a shot at winning this one!
The gap to the pack is already up to 3 minutes by now, so these 14 riders form our Brekaway of the Day. Let's try to get an overview:
First of all, we see three riders each for cycleYorkshire and Grieg-Maersk, while King Power and Isostar - Specialized have two each - which the latter already achieved yesterday, finally getting 1st and 3rd places on the stage! They played their numbers in a superb way - can anyone do the same today?
We see that we've got a lot of decent puncheurs up front, with Grossschartner and Serrano being the strongest on paper, followed by Gabburo and Barthe. Crncevic and Fung are the weakest in this discipline.
Kennaugh and Bizkarra are clearly the strongest climbers - which could really come in handy with over 2,500m of elevation gain to tackle! Kennaugh is the strongest flat rider as well, together with Gabburo and closely followed by Barthe - but the Brit is a horrible downhiller, even worse than Fedeli!
When speaking of the Italian, he is once again the weakest rider in terms of physical condition. Gillett's resistance isn't any better, though.
All in all, most of these riders are similarly strong - with Gabburo being the best sprinter once again. However, it's an open question if he and Bizkarra have recovered enough after yesterday's upset to keep up with the fresher riders.
GC-wise, Gabburo and Bizkarra are clearly the best placed riders, after yesterday's successful breakaway. They trail Malecki by 23" and 33", respectively.
But now, back to the race, as the riders will soon arrive on the top of this first categorized climb!
Gabburo launches the sprint with 1.3km to go, while the pack - led by Naud - is 3'26" further down the road.
However, if the Italian has planned to lead out teammate Bizkarra for the KoM sprint, that probably won't work out, as the latter is only in 8th position.
But no, that wasn't a leadout, as Gabburo just wins the sprint on his own! He crosses the line inches ahead of Holmes and Mano:
Meaning that Gabburo draws level with Bizkarra and Malecki for 2nd, all of them being 6 points behind Budenieks who takes a day off in the pack. No danger for his jersey so far, but 12 points still at stake!
The peloton is led over the top by Oliveira and Afewerki - 5'30" behind the escapees! Which means that they lost on average one minute per five kilometers - they're taking it very, very easy today.
What we can see up front, by the way, is that Gillett and Harper are doing absolutely no work at all. While this is understandable in the former's case - having two teammates participating in the group's share of the workload - the latter actually has no excuse for not doing anything. Except for having a horrible day, maybe?
The pack is then clearly putting the foot on the accelerator, as they bring down the gap by two minutes as we approach the intermediate sprint. Sagiv, Sendeku, Naud, Granjel Cabrera, Nizzolo and Afewerki are doing the work - quite some sprinters taking turns now. Probably working for their team leaders, as it's way too late to catch the breakaway prior to the intermediate sprint.
At the said intermediate sprint, it's a 1-2 for Isostar - Specialized:
Only four riders actually sprinted; Serrano just happened to lead the remainder of the breakaway across the line.
Gabburo and Bizkarra move up to 3rd and 4th in the points standings after this sprint - let's see if they can again add some points at the finish line!
Nizzolo then seems to sprint across the line, leading the pack - but he's really "just" pushing hard, with the peloton's deficit down to 3'20". 95km to go, and the next short uphill section to Carrodano right ahead.
No, it's not Suryadi who's left behind, but his teammate Arif Prayogo. And it's not because the latter couldn't keep up, but simply because of a puncture. He'll rejoin the pack some minutes later.
Sendeku is putting in a massive amount of work today, and he has actually already brought down the gap to 2'26"! If they continue riding so fast, they'll catch the escapees in no time - if they don't speed up on their own!
Naud is the other guy making this race really fast so far, leading the pack in the descent prior to the (uncategorized) climb up to the highest point of today's stage, the Passo del Bracco.
The breakaway's advantage is really melting away, just two minutes left!
The duo Kennaugh - Crncevic is currently leading the breakaway, trying to stay ahead of the pack for as long as possible!
However, the latter is closing in relentlessly; 1'46" of the gap that once was 5'30" are left!
Meanwhile, the high pace of the bunch definitely starts to create some damage, as the first riders have to fold. Kolev, Clarke and again Suryadi are among the first who have to let go, but Major, the whole Lierse SK team bar Fedeli, plus several sprinters and time trialists have lost contact as well.
The peloton is still riding faster than the breakaway; 1'39" of deficit left.
Towards the top, they have however slowed down a bit, allowing the escapees to expand their advantage back to 2'13". Naud, Spanopoulos, Eislers, Mavrikakis, Madouas and Oliveira are sharing the workload, with Demare still very well placed, showing no sign of fatigue so far.
Up front, it's now Mano pulling the group - and for the second day in a row, it's Fedeli who is the first to no longer keep up. Sure, the young Italian still has a lot to learn - he does it the hard way!
The gap to the pack keeps increasing for the moment, it stands at 2'32" currently. Maybe it's because Naud punctured, as he was one of the hardest workers so far.
And by the way, Suryadi is again dead last in the race, trailing the next group by half a minute. 70 kilometers to go.
Oliveira has upped the pace again, just reeling in Fedeli. The GC favorites are all attentive, they know that the pack may break apart any time with this high speed.
But so far, there aren't any notable riders dropping off, as it's still mainly sprinters and time trialists. And some lower-level domestiques, of course. 148 riders left in the pack, which trails the leaders by 2'04".
However, now we do have one slightly bigger name caught behind; it's Shikai's presumed top domestique Costagli, who has dropped back to a group around Afewerki and Kennaugh, as the riders approach the end of the descent. Sure, the Italian isn't a strong downhiller, but he definitely shouldn't be back there! Let's see if he can return up front on the next hill, the Passo del Termine!
And here's the profile of this climb, likely the hardest one of the day. The first four kilometers are close to 10% of average gradients, whereas the climb eases off on the last 2.5km. There are still about 50km to go from the top, so we're unlikely to see big attacks yet - but the riders should still be on their guard!
The breakaway has just reached the incline, with 1'56" of advantage remaining. Let's see if that's enough to take the KoM sprint ahead of the pack!
Blums is the one leading the peloton into this climb - surely a strong rider, let's see if he does some more damage to the pack! Which is down to 118 riders, by the way.
Oliveira, Madouas and Hepburn are next in the line, whereas the GC riders are slightly further behind. Taaramäe is attentive as ever - but where is Spilak? The Slovene used to be side-by-side with the Estonian, but he isn't in the first positions now.
Up front, Gabburo's dream of back-to-back stage wins is starting to fade away, as he has to let go with still 4.3km of climbing left! Grossschartner is about to lose contact, too, leaving 11 riders up front.
The pack has meanwhile reduced the gap to 1'39" - but the speed can't be too high, as Costagli has made his way back.
Meanwhile, our cameras have finally spotted Spilak - much closer to the rear than to the front of the pack! We haven't got any notice of a mechanical problem, so we don't have the least idea of what he's doing back here!
Nearby, we could see Campero, Kirsch and Costagli as the strongest climbers back there - they should really hurry up and gain some positions now!
Mavrikakis then is the one who definitely ends Gabburo's dreams, as he and Grossschartner are reeled in with 3 kilometers of climbing to go for the pack - that was quick!
There's just a gap of 1'26" left to the breakaway - the smallest margin since the beginning of the stage!
And we get the message that there are only 42 riders left in what is now called the peloton - with Maglia Rosa, Azzurra and Bianca left behind, along with some not-yet named stage favorites!
We have now got some pictures of this second group - which sees Spilak in second position! Other riders in this group include Izagirre, Bernal, McCarthy, Ji, Wirtgen, Kirsch, Anacona and Kozhatayev, with Roman, Campero and Costagli even further back!
However, the gap is small - and Spilak has already moved up a lot of positions since we last saw him, so he should definitely be able to reach the front soon.
But his competitors are sensing a golden chance here, and so Bongiorno now sends Mavrikakis and Van Niekerk up front to make the Slovene's task as hard as possible!
The "peloton" is only counting 38 riders now, with more and more of them dropping off. Besides Spilak, all the "big names" are still here - let's try to get an overview:
Taaramäe
Amezawa
Pruus
Vangstad
Demare
Arndt
Madouas
Niu
Talansky
Barguil
McKenna
Kritskiy
Schleck
Reis
Teklehaimanot
Haig
Bayly
Shikai
Aru
Sendeku
Vakoc
Chiarello
Blums
Faglum Karlsson
Carapaz
Bongiorno
Mavrikakis
Van Niekerk
Grossschartner
Iturria
Laengen
Nesset
Amador
Abreu
Valls
Karnulin
Brenes
Gabburo
Can they keep up this high pace and hold off Spilak?
Although the gap between the groups isn't huge, Spilak is just about in the middle of this second group, right behind Kirsch. Besides these two, Anacona and Velits are the strongest climbers back here, along with puncheurs like Izagirre and McCarthy.
They really have to hope that the first group eventually slows down, or it could be a terrible day, especially for the GC contenders inside this group!
But let's not forget that we still have a breakaway - which is just reduced to 10 riders, as Harper drops off with little more than a kilometer of climbing left. Bizkarra is the one launching the sprint - will he pull it through this time?
No, he can't - it's Fung winning the sprint ahead of Barthe.
The Spaniard still has a chance of taking over the Maglia Azzurra, though, by winning the last category 3 sprint!
These three, together with Conti, seem to leave behind their companions, who really are struggling!
Crncevic leads Kennaugh, Mano, Serrano, Holmes and Gillett over the line, 48" behind the leading quartet.
And here's the "pack", which is down to 27 riders - again with a deficit of more than two minutes! The gap has gone up to 2'17", despite the heavy Festina chase!
Still in this group are:
Taaramäe
Demare
Arndt
Talansky
Barguil
Kritskiy
Schleck
Reis
Teklehaimanot
Haig
Bayly
Shikai
Aru
Vakoc
Chiarello
Faglum Karlsson
Carapaz
Bongiorno
Mavrikakis
Van Niekerk
Laengen
Nesset
Amador
Valls
Karnulin
Brenes
Gabburo
Harper is still half a minute up front, hanging somewhere in the middle between breakaway and peloton.
A group with McKenna, Abreu, Sendeku, Pruus and Vangstad trails by 40", and Anacona, Velits, Izagirre, Kirsch, McCarthy and Maglia Rosa Malecki are 1'09" back.
Spilak wasn't even able to hold Kirsch's wheel - he must be on a horrible day, as he's another minute down the road! At least he has Rosskopf and Fernandes by his side - can they bring him back to the front on the upcoming flatter part?
Here we have some images of group Spilak, who even has another teammate alongside him, with Oliveira - but it's Hsu who leads the group, not the Generali train! And the gap to group Taaramäe has gone up above 3 minutes by now!
But Van Niekerk is clearly getting tired now, even struggling to reel Harper in. They're still just 27, but the group Maglia Rosa is clearly closing in, trailing by just 35 seconds now!
This group of 11 riders is really just a few meters back, as they reach the end of the downhill! The following riders can be spotted here:
Malecki
Kirsch
Izagirre
Kozhatayev
Salinas
McKenna
McCarthy
Kruijswijk
Abreu
Pruus
Vangstad
Group Anacona trails by another minute, with Spilak two more minutes behind!
It looks as if the escapees - having regrouped again in the meantime - had already reached the seaside, but the sea level is actually more than 200m lower. With 30km to go, let's try to get an overview:
Breakaway (10 riders)
+ 1'51"
Group Taaramäe, consisting of the 27 riders we saw before plus Harper plus the Maglia Rosa group (39 riders)
+ 3'36"
Group Anacona, Velits (24 riders)
+ 5'24"
Group Spilak, Ji, Boswell, Iino (22 riders)
+ 6'56"
Group Roman, Wirtgen, Costagli (45 riders)
We now have pouring rain - which seems quite fitting to Spilak's GC hopes going down the drain... or can he make an amazing comeback on the final kilometers of the stage?
As the Festina boys don't seem to have much left in their tank, it's now McKenna and Bayly taking over, with the gap to the breakaway still at 1'56". The two next groups are slightly faster, both having reduced their deficit by about 15 seconds.
Spilak has finally decided that his teammates can't provide the support he needs anymore, and he's trying to ride to the front all alone!
He's behind the duo of Grossschartner and Sendeku, which in turn is chasing Anacona, who couldn't keep up with "his" group any more! Therefore we'll call it group Velits from now on...
Spilak has indeed already gained half a minute, trailing the breakaway by 4'47" - and group Taaramäe by 2'59".
Let's jump straight to the red kite - with one lap to go, nota bene! The breakaway still has a lead of 1'44" on this group, from which Harper has been dropped - and we have 17km to go!
That would be a nice margin on a flat finale, but we still have the climb to Biassa right ahead - let's see if one of those riders in here tries to get an advantage on his main rivals by attacking there!
Meanwhile, Spilak is gaining more and more ground, having almost caught Grossschartner, Sendeku and even Anacona! Let's see what he'll be able to do on the hill!
And here's the profile of that final climb of the day! It's another pretty tough one, at least on the first three kilometers, with average gradients around 10% again! The final 800 meters are then getting flatter and flatter, before the top is reached with exactly 11 kilometers to go.
Here we go, the remaining breakaway riders are tackling this final obstacle! Let's just get a reminder of who they are:
Kennaugh
Holmes
Crncevic
Serrano
Gillett
Fung
Mano
Bizkarra
Barthe
Conti
Let's recall that Bizkarra is just trailing Malecki - who is in the peloton - by 35", so he might actually have a shot at taking over the GC lead!
But for this, they need to stay ahead of the chasing pack - let's see if they have enough left, or if one of the stage favorites - largely equal to the GC contenders - take this one!
The climb is on for the chasers as well! 38 riders left here, trailing the escapees by only 1'27"!
Harper is at 2'38", group Velits at 3'05" - and Spilak "only" at 3'48", already about to catch that "second peloton"! It's still 2'21" to group Taaramäe, though - how much can he still gain back? His advantage could be Brown and Ludvigsson sitting in that group - but why didn't Generali actually call them back to help their leader?
Here he is, Spilak has reached group Velits! However, he seems to be pretty tired by now, taking Brown's wheel. Ludvigsson has taken the lead in the group to chase down the peloton, which is still in sight!
But in numbers, it's a gap of 2'03", so they've still got something to do!
By the way, Anacona trails group Spilak by 1'11", having an even worse day...
McKenna is the first rider to drop off the peloton - understandably, after all the work he's done on the last few kilometers!
But more importantly, the peloton can now clearly see the escapees, who are just 1'17" ahead! No attacks in either group so far, though.
However, that changes now, with one kilometer remaining to the top! As almost always, it's Bizkarra launching the sprint - just to be overtaken again?
Gillett can't keep up with the leading group anymore, while things are still pretty calm in the peloton - no attack so far, making repeated breakaway wins more and more realistic!
This time Bizkarra's attack sticks, meaning he takes the lead in the KoM standings! Only Conti can keep up with the Spaniard, let's see where that leads!
Fung, Barthe and Mano take the next positions on top, making it the following points distribution:
They trail by 23" with 11 km to go, thereof about 8 downhill!
Holmes, Kennaugh, Crncevic and Serrano cross the line ahead of the peloton as well, with only Gillett having been caught on this climb!
They already have a 52" gap on the leaders, though - which will be really tough to close!
The pack is then led over the top by Barguil 24 seconds later, counting 31 riders. McCarthy and Kirsch are the most notable riders dropped on this climb!
And Spilak? The Slovene has just moved to the front now, he needed a break after the great effort he put in to catch this group.
As nobody else was able to push hard, this unfortunately means that his deficit has again grown to 4'25" - which is 3'13" behind group Taaramäe! And now that the latter has reached the top with his group, we definitely have to call it a nightmare day for Spilak!
Actually, Barguil pushed so hard over the top that a group of four broke free from the pack: Barguil, Chiarello, Bongiorno and - ironically - Talansky! While his leader is about to lose the Giro - or at least getting a huge deficit - the lieutenant is actually fighting for the stage win!
By the way, Maglia Rosa Malecki is still inside the pack, putting up an amazing fight for his jersey - but they'll have to catch Bizkarra for him to actually defend it successfully!
The attackers, now led by Chiarello, have just caught the quartet of Holmes, Kennaugh, Crncevic and Serrano!
However, the leading duo - Bizkarra and Conti - are still 52" ahead, closely followed by Barthe, Fung and Mano! With just 6 kilometers remaining, it really looks like a fight between these five riders for the stage win!
5 kilometers to the line! Fung, Mano and Barthe are still trailing by just a few meters - can they close this gap? Conti and Bizkarra are still sharing the workload, knowing they've got a great chance to take this stage!
Barguil, Chiarello, Bongiorno and Talansky have actually left behind the former breakaway riders, which are now caught by Karnulin, leading the pack's chase for these four!
The leaders are down on the flat, and they just have two kilometers to go! There's still a tiny gap between the duo Conti and Bizkarra and the trio of Mano, Fung and Barthe, but the latter are moving slightly faster!
But probably more worrying is that Chiarello already leads the chasers around the corner in the background - these four definitely have more energy left than the escapees! Who will take it?
Under the Fiamma Rossa, it still looks good for the breakaway, but it ain't over yet! Conti is currently in the lead, making it a perfect starting position for Bizkarra!
Fung, Mano and Barthe just don't seem to have enough left to catch them - but 1,000 meters can be very, very long sometimes!
The sprint is on! Bizkarra has just left Conti's slipstream and is about to overtake the Italian!
Behind, Fung is ahead of Barthe, with Mano in the last position of these three.
Bongiorno is meanwhile launching the sprint from the chasing group, with the pack a few 100 meters behind! That could be very precious seconds won for the four attackers!
But let's just focus on the fight for the stage win now! With 500m to go, Bizkarra has almost drawn level with Conti, making good use of his great starting position! Can the Italian counter?
The situation hasn't changed a lot on the last 100 meters, with Conti still having a slight edge over Bizkarra!
Behind, Barthe has now overtaken Fung and is closing in - can he even challenge for the win?
The peloton is closing in as well on Talansky, Barguil, Chiarello and Bongiorno - how much can they limit their damage?
It's just 200 meters remaining, with Conti still ahead! Bizkarra has got the same speed, but he doesn't seem to be able to get those final inches to overtake the Italian!
Only 100m to the line, with Conti still in the lead! An incredibly close finale between these two! Who gets it?
It's Valerio Conti! It's just amazing how we now have three Italian winners in three days from as many different teams!
But for Mikel Bizkarra, it must be frustrating to miss out on the stage win for the second time in a row - and by just that little! Furthermore, unlike yesterday, he had the perfect position going into the sprint and just couldn't make it.
However, you'll see, he'll get a big consolation prize!
Let's just watch the fight for 3rd, in which Barthe seems to have the edge over the King Power duo.
Indeed, Cyril Barthe gets that final podium spot for PCT team Polar! Ka Hoo Fung and Yuttana Mano have to settle for 4th and 5th - which is still a very strong result for King Power!
But what happens behind? Was the attacking quartet able to fend off the pack? How much will they lose on the winners and gain on the peloton? Let's find out!
It's actually the closest decision of the day - but Francesco Bongiorno edges out Andrew Talansky by about half an inch! Warren Barguil, the initiator of this attack, gets the 8th place today.
William Chiarello lost a few meters in the end and has to settle for 9th.
Maglia Rosa Kamil Malecki then wins the sprint of the bunch, ahead of Petr Vakoc, Gonzalo Serrano, Arnaud Demare, Nikias Arndt and Rein Taaramäe, who picks up the final two points.
The rest of today's Top 20 is as follows:
16. Jack Haig
17. Timofey Kritskiy
18. Denys Karnulin
19. Richard Antonio Carapaz
20. Jorge Abreu
But what's much more interesting are the gaps given today. And here's the judges' ruling:
The Top 5 all get the time of the winner, which is 3h57'07".
Bongiorno in 6th is 32" back - just as the whole pack up to Kruijswijk in 40th place! You can well imagine the reclamations of Bongiorno, Barguil and Talansky, who arrived clearly ahead of Malecki. But the problem was actually Chiarello finishing between the two groups. Instead of giving separate finish times to the first trio, Chiarello and then the pack, the officials just decided to put all of them on the same time - a highly controversial decision, for sure!
But that's what they ruled, and that's what finally stands. Be it justified or not.
But well, this guy would have loved if he had just been robbed of a few seconds - instead, Spilak loses a few minutes! He finishes in 48th position - 4'41" behind today's winner, and hence 4'09" behind the peloton! What a huge, huge bummer!
At least, Generali had Talansky in the first group - but that surely didn't go according to their plans. Spilak will now have to attack whenever there's a chance to do so - and we're thinking he really will do, which would make it a great race. But for now, we'll prefer leaving him alone, he'll surely not be a good interview partner right now...
It was an even a worse day for Anacona, who crosses the line together with co-leader Ji, losing almost 9 minutes. Sure, they had one rider up front with Vakoc - but that's definitely no climber, and so ISA - Hexacta will have to adapt their strategy. Breakaways, that probably means.
While ISA - Hexacta are definitely the most losing team today with both of their leaders dropping out of contention, Spilak definitely is the biggest individual loser, having been one of the Top 3 GC favorites. But let's leave the losers behind for now and head over to the winners!
Here he is, today's stage winner - to the great pleasure of the local fans, it's an Italian for the third time in a row, it's Valerio Conti!
The eBuddy rider was all alone in the breakaway, while other teams had up to three riders - but on the last hill, he was the only one being able to follow Mikel Bizkarra's move. After a great collaboration, it was a head-to-head sprint - which he won by a tiny margin! Congratulations on his first ever GT stage win!
Being clearly the strongest from a chasing group of three, Cyril Barthe from PCT team Polar gets the final spot on the podium, proving it was a good decision to invite them to this race!
He joined the winning breakaway two days in a row, and stepped on the stage podium as many times - although missing out on a stage win, today could be Mikel Bizkarra's greatest day of the career, as he takes over the Maglia Rosa!
It finally was a close call, though, when the peloton almost caught the breakaway in the end - but the 32" gap allowed the Spaniard to leave dethroned leader Kamil Malecki 17" behind!
And Davide Gabburo makes it an even better day for Isostar - Specialized, as holding on to the peloton means he keeps a spot on the provisional GC podium in 3rd place.
All other riders trail by 3 minutes and more, with Haig and Reis still being the closest GC contenders with 3'40" back - let's see if Bizkarra - who is a good climber - can be the first rider to defend the pink jersey!
And it's pretty much a one-man-show on the podium, as Mikel Bizkarra leads both the points and the KoM standings, hence putting on Maglia Ciclamino and Maglia Azzurra on stage!
In the points standings, he leads with 61 points, 10 points ahead of Arnaud Demare - who finally passed Davide Appollonio by one point, but must be really frustrated about those back-to-back breakaway wins! Nonetheless, he will wear the Maglia Ciclamino tomorrow in Bizkarra's stead.
And in the KoM standings, Mikel Bizkarra is the leader with 18 points, ahead of Kristaps Budenieks with 16. The Latvian will wear the jersey tomorrow, though. 3rd place goes to Kamil Malecki and Davide Gabburo, both having 10 points.
Despite a great fight, Kamil Malecki finally lost the Maglia Rosa - but at least he easily keeps the Maglia Bianca. He now leads 2'50" ahead of Ka Hoo Fung and Yuttana Mano, who both were able to gain back a few seconds with their breakaway appearance.
However, the really strong climbers are already a few more minutes behind - possibly allowing him to keep that jersey for a few more days? We'll see.
With another great team performance - one rider on the stage podium and two in the peloton - Isostar - Specialized extend their lead in the team standings, now leading 3'31" ahead of Gazelle and already 5'35" ahead of King Power!
However, now having the GC leader in their team, it's questionable if they'll still have as many breakaway appearances. We'll see - in any case, they aren't weak climbers, either!
And that's it. What looked like another rather easy hilly stage became a nightmare for Spilak - we still don't know what happened to him, why exactly he was so far back in the pack that he got caught on the wrong side of the split.
But let's not ignore that we really got some great racing today, with most other GC contenders showing they are ready for bigger tasks. The first of which awaits us tomorrow - with our first mountain top finish of this Giro in Abetone! Will Spilak start his revenge already tomorrow? Stay tuned!
Giro d'Italia 
