Bongiorno a Fiuggi, signore, signori! This is stage 8 of the 2020 Giro d'Italia, as we head into week number two! And we have something new today: the first category 1 climb - which is the final climb of the day, which should provide us with a great spectacle!
We already said it, today's stage will kick off in Fiuggi - and we guess the riders have made good use of the spas around here, after yesterday's marathon stage! But unlike yesterday, the specialists for flat roads won't appreciate today's stage at all, as we're off to a steady up-and-down!
At least, given that the start line is at almost 600m above sea level, the first kilometers will be mainly downhill. But well, the organizers serve the riders a warm-up appetizer, the hill up to Veroli just about 20km into the race. Although not classified, it's a rather steep uphill section, already testing the riders' legs a bit.
But that's not all - by far not. After the descent down to about 220m above sea level, as well as one of the only short flat sections of the day, the riders will start the climb to Forca d'Acero (Maple Fork) - about 1,250m of elevation gain within 30km. It isn't a really steep climb - but a long one. We'll see who will be able to keep up on this category 2 mountain, whose top will be reached after 79.4km - i.e. with more than 100 kilometers still to go. Whoever loses contact on this climb might really struggle making the time limit!
This pass is the entry point to the Abruzzo national park - meaning that the climb belongs to the Appennino abruzzese, the part containing the Apennine's highest peaks. We'll then have a multi-step descent, discontinued by many short, uncategorized hills. After the first such hill and the following descent, the riders reach the intermediate sprint in Villa Scontrone, after exactly 120km.
Another climb to Rionero Sannitico, descent to Ponte Vaudra, and then the very steep ascent to Valico del Macerone - uncategorized in this edition as well. Only 45km to go from there, including a downhill to Isernia, a much less difficult climb up to Castelpetroso - and then the final descent to San Massimo, from where the final climb starts.
This climb is about 10km long and ends in San Massimo's ski resort of Campitello Matese, which is situated in the Matese mountain chain. But as we're not in winter, we won't go skiing, but crowning the conqueror of the first category 1 KoM sprint - although the finish line once again isn't exactly at the top, but after a short descent.
With a maximum of 26 KoM points on offer, will we have a new KoM leader tonight, or can Malecki and Budenieks still hold on to their joint lead? And can Maglia Rosa Malecki defend this jersey for one more day, given he's not among the strongest climbers? Will we see a sixth straight breakaway win, or will finally one of the stage favorites stand on top?
When speaking of them, let's see who the bookies rank highest today. Without any surprise, the strongest climbers come first, namely Taaramäe, Spilak and Kritskiy. Especially the Slovene will need a great stage to reduce his handicap from stage 4. Reis, Barguil and Haig are then ranked ahead of stronger climber (on paper) Amador, who is accompanied by Shikai, Schleck and Bongiorno on the 1-star-list. Let's hope that all these great riders finally step into action and bring us some fireworks today!
It's another beautiful day here in Italy, with just a few clouds and no wind - so everything is set for a great day! Let's get that stage started!
3 - 2 - 1 - gone! And gone are Boom - once more - Haugard, Bernal and constant underperformers Costagli and Campero. I'm not quite sure if Haugard has the correct profile in his mind, but well... Maybe he just wants to gain some advantage on the pack to not miss the time limit?
And on it goes, with Turek and Maglia Bianca Barthe, followed by Setiawa and Gradek. Munoz, Kosic and Salcone are trying to jump away, too.
But a dozen doesn't seem to be enough, so Schönberger, stage 6 winner Nych and Kruijswijk are attacking as well.
There's no cease-fire yet, as riders continue to leave behind the pack. We have Sakalou, Affonso and yesterday's winner Bugge, followed by Rajapakshage, who is himself chased by Izagirre and Abreu.
And we can as well see Fedeli (well, we can't see him, as he's hidden by the car) and Van Niekerk on the attack. How many does that make so far? And will the pack still be happy with the situation?
That makes 23 so far, and yes, the pack doesn't care so far. Instead, four more riders decide to escape a dull day in the pack: McKenna, Roman, Boswell and Sergis.
No, that's no replay, these are indeed more attackers: Danacik, Vanbilsen, Zoidl and van der Poel. But now it's enough, isn't it?
At least, no team seems to have further aspirations to place someone up front. And the remaining teams aren't too worried, either, with Van Winden setting an easy pace. So we should soon have all these escapees regroup, right?
Indeed. After not even 15 kilometers covered, the enormous Breakaway of the Day has taken shape, comprising 31 riders. There are definitely too many of them to present them all individually, so let's just recall their names and let's see who stands out of this group.
McKenna
Schönberger
Danacik
Turek
Bernal
Izagirre
Barthe
Nych
Roman
Bugge
Gradek
Costagli
Salcone
Rajapakshage
van der Poel
Boom
Sakalou
Sergis
Zoidl
Van Niekerk
Campero
Affonso
Fedeli
Vanbilsen
Kosic
Haugard
Munoz
Boswell
Kruijswijk
Setiawa
Abreu
The strongest climber should be Costagli, who didn't have a very convincing Giro so far. Next is Campero, who moreover should have great support by Affonso, while Roman can count on yesterday's stage winner Bugge - if the latter's legs are fresh enough, that is.
Then, we probably should have the strong duos on our list, such as Sakalou - Sergis, Zoidl - Van Niekerk or Bernal - Izagirre. The latter apparently has decided that if the hilly stages don't work out in his favor, he'll rather try in the mountains. Why not?
Let's also take a look at what Moser - Sygic can get out of their massive presence of four riders in this group - they haven't sent a great climber up front, but McKenna or Schönberger could benefit from some good teamwork.
Polar match their strength in terms of numbers, having sent two thirds of their team in the breakaway! These two teams just shouldn't do a Grieg-Maersk-like strategy - we've seen yesterday that this doesn't work out too well...
We furthermore have another great puncheur in Boswell - as well as a top cobbler in Vanbilsen. Who on the same time leads the fraction of the "anti-climbers", to which we must count the Volvo duo Kosic - Haugard as well. Setiawa, Gradek, Turek and Rajapakshage may have picked the wrong stage to attack, too.
Finally, let's take a look at the GC. And that one is pretty interesting, as we have 2nd placed Barthe in this group, as well as Boom (7th) and Nych (8th). Let's see if they can gain further ground on the GC favorites!
In total, we have 15 teams represented in this group - meaning that only 9 teams will be available to share the workload in the pack! Let's see how that one turns out... At the moment, the gap stands at three minutes.
As they attack the first "real" climb, with maximum gradients around 8%, the advantage has only slightly grown, to 3'30".
However, as Fernandes leads the peloton over the top of this short hill, their deficit is up to 5'34" - meaning that Barthe has the virtual Maglia Rosa! But well, with almost 160 kilometers to go, this isn't that worrying - and the day's biggest obstacle is right ahead.
Mraouni first has another obstacle to overcome, to be specific the gap he has to the pack due to a puncture. Which he does without difficulty, though.
Um... is Appollonio's radio broken, or why is he chasing while two of his teammates are up front? Or have Volvo just realized they sent the wrong guys, and are preparing another attack?
Anyway, the gap has stabilized around 5'30" now.
As we are approaching the longest climb so far of this Giro, let's take a look at the profile. As you can see, it's an extremely long ascent, but not a hard one. There is a short section with slopes aroung 10%, but with less than 5% overall, this one shouldn't confront too many riders with unresolvable problems.
The climb is on for the breakaway! The weakest climber leads them - let's see if Vanbilsen will still be around 30 kilometers later!
In the peloton, it's mainly Fernandes setting the pace. He is seconded by the likes of Yatsevich and Van Winden - not the greatest climbers, to put it politically correct.
The gap has slightly decreased, and is now 5'12". Let's see what that mountain does to this deficit.
The escapees are about to reach the short intermediate descent. All 31 of them are still inside the group - a first obstacle conquered!
Meanwhile, the names leading the pack include Leung, Van Winden, Yatsevich, Wohler or Kanter - needless to say they haven't approached a lot.
But still, the pace is too high for some of the very weakest climbers! We see Major and Boudat dropping - that could be quite a long day for those!
Ah, now we see why! Rosskopf has clearly upped the pace in the pack, with the gap almost instantly dropping below 5 minutes.
More and more riders are shed by the pack; besides the two formerly mentioned, we now have as well Dillier, Kolev, O'Shea and Van Zandbeek behind the peloton. Will this be the last time we see them? Will they go home tonight?
Well, it was expected, and now Vanbilsen indeed has to let go of the breakaway group. Still 6 kilometers of climbing left for him - which will likely make him lose more time than what he could possibly gain back on the descent.
Generali are now pushing pretty hard, with Dyball and Brown in the mix as well. Which makes us wave goodbye to a few more riders: Wolf, Frison, Suryadi, Campenaerts and Van Winden, who worked until he was burnt out.
Goss joins Wolf behind the pack, while Nizzolo, Appollonio and Leung are just losing contact a little futher up the road.
With 1.1km to the mountain top, Abreu sprints away from the group. Boswell is the first to react, with the others seemingly taking it a little easier so far.
Top puncheur Boswell easily sprints past Abreu to claim maximum points on top of Forca d'Acero. The latter is even caught by the rest of the group - let's see who takes the remaining points!
Roman outsprints the Venezuelan as well; the latter has to settle for 3rd. Here are the full points:
This result already ensures that none of the escapees could take the exclusive lead in the KoM standings now; Boswell could at most match the co-leaders if he wins the stage.
Even though some gaps occur among the breakaway riders on the final inclines, they regroup on the downhill, having only lost Vanbilsen on this long climb.
Just before the pack reaches the final slopes of the climb - which are somewhat flatter - Yatsevich pays for his leading efforts and gets dropped as well. Meyer doesn't look great, either, but could just hang on thanks to the lesser gradients.
Rosskopf then leads the pack across the top, having gained another minute on the climb. The peloton is trailing the breakaway by 4'04" - with still more than 100 mostly undulating kilometers to go!
The pack is now quickly closing in, and they can already see the leaders on this counterslope, before the escapees will descend to the intermediate sprint. 3'18" left.
Once more nobody is interested in the points at this intermediate sprint. They cross the line in the following order:
Generali and EA Vesuvio have joined forces to chase down the breakaway. However, this hasn't been very fruitful on the downhill, as the gap is still at 3'15". 65 kilometers yet to cover.
Let's just take one last picture of Major - who already trails by almost 20 minutes when reaching the intermediate sprint. It doesn't look great for him and those right in front of him.
Meanwhile, the front of the race is approaching the steep yet uncategorized climb of Valico del Macerone. Less than 4 kilometers long, but the first 2.5km are close to 10% in average gradients - not an easy one after 140km!
Affonso leads the breakaway into what must feel like a wall to them. Let's see if all of them make it across the top inside the group.
About three minutes later - yes, the gap is still quite constant - Kneisky leads the pack when entering the same climb. The GC favorites are very attentive, well knowing that a mistake at this point could cost them dear.
As had to be expected, Haugard finally has to let go of the breakaway and will soon be caught by the Generali-led pack. Taaramäe and Haig in the first positions - do they plan an attack already now?
Further up the hill, we can see Kosic struggling as well, meaning Volvo might lose both of their escapees on this same hill.
The gap is now down to 2'41"; the pack slowly approaches, with 45km still to go.
Kosic actually made it back on the descent, but Vendrame still decides his teammate isn't enough of an excuse for not leading any more, pulling the peloton down the hill. 2'25" remaining for the final 40 kilometers.
The hill has made an impact in the pack, too. Covi, Sajnok, Arif Prayogo, Meyer, Dewulf and Clarke are the next distanced riders.
But now the pack is moving really fast, having reduced the deficit to 1'32" within the next 10 kilometers. Rajapakshage and again Kosic are dropping off the leading group, whereas the pack waves goodbye to Dal Col, Hofstetter and Granjel Cabrera. Still no big names, but a shrinking peloton is a clear sign of a fast pace.
Abreu is leading the escapees close to the top of the last hill before the finale. The pack is trailing by 1'24" and is about to catch Turek, who fell off seconds before. Setiawa has just been shed as well, leaving 25 riders up front.
Just over the top of the said hill, Abreu, Costagli and Bernal decide it's time to move!
The attack is enough to shake off Gradek and Nych, with Salcone losing some meters as well!
van der Poel jumps up front as well! 27km to go, whereof about half are downhill.
Fernandes has again upped the pace back in the bunch, with even some gaps occurring now! Only Taaramäe, Kritskiy, Spilak, Barguil, Haig, Amador, Shikai and Schleck were positioned close enough to the front to be on the right side of this one!
Some more riders have caught up with the first group, including Faglum Karlsson - that's probably why Carapaz is setting a really high pace now, surely limiting his own chances for a great result today.
Still, the gap to the front group has slightly increased again, due to the acceleration up front.
20 kilometers to the finish line, so about 6km until the start of the final climb. 18 riders remain in this group, with the four leaders still some seconds ahead. And the pack still 1'12" behind this group.
The breakaway group has fallen into pieces, as we're on the last 500 flat meters of the day!
Amezawa is setting a huge pace, and is about to reel in Van Niekerk and Campero, who once again won't be able to show his great climbing skills.
We then have a group of five some seconds ahead: Sergis, Roman, Izagirre, Fedeli and Kruijswijk.
Up front are left:
McKenna
Schönberger
Danacik
Bernal
Barthe
van der Poel
Boom
Costagli
Zoidl
Munoz
Abreu
Sakalou
Bugge
Affonso
Boswell
The pack trails by one minute flat!
And here's the profile of today's final ascent! Overall, the climb up to Campitello Matese isn't very hard, but about half way up we'll have slopes of more than 10% - a great place to launch an attack and then extend the lead on the rest of the climb!
The top of the climb is reached about 400 meters from the finish line, hence we'll have a very short descent to the end - but now it's upwards for the next 13 kilometers!
Now it's Pruus taking over in the pack. Aker - MOT are working pretty hard lately - to prepare the ground for a decisive attack?
2nd overall Barthe was dropped from the front on the first slopes - and fell back to the peloton in no time, even left behind by the group that's between the pack and the front. Affonso was with him and is just a few meters ahead of the pack as well.
Bugge, Danacik and Schönberger have fallen back to the second group as well, which is trailing the leaders by 27".
For the pack, it's still 1 minute to the front - when will we see the first attacks from the peloton?
But instead of increasing further, the pace has now clearly dropped in the pack! Amezawa had taken the lead again, but he was definitely completely empty, clearly slowing down the whole bunch!
Which means that the gap has gone up again to 1'48" as finally a fresher looking rider takes over with Girdlestone.
Let's try to get an overview with 12km to go:
Costagli
Bernal
Sakalou
Zoidl
McKenna
Munoz
Abreu
Boswell
van der Poel
Boom
+ 28"
Roman
Sergis
Kruijswijk
Izagirre
Fedeli
+ 1'48"
Peloton
Only Aegon - Peroni still have two riders left up front - a great performance, given that both aren't exactly among the top climbers.
After Girdlestone had to lead the pack as well while being already completely exhausted, Harper finally decides that the speed could be a little higher again. With the breakaway riding clearly faster than the pack on the last kilometers, that could be a wise choice - the gap is up to 2'24" now!
Already with 10 kilomters to go, Costagli feels like he's still got a lot left in his legs and tries to ride away solo! Munoz is trying to get to his wheel, while McKenna shows no reaction and tries to ride a steady pace.
While Harper was forced to do more work than he actually could do in an efficient way, Grigrian takes over under the 10km banner. But given that his teammate is still in the fight for the stage win, we can't really call this a chase - he's rather controlling the pack.
Where are the attacks?
Well, we saw one up front - and the attack from Costagli seems to stick! He's already 40" ahead of the chasers, by which Munoz is about to be caught. He had to accept that he simply wasn't strong enough to keep up with the Italian up front!
Nothing has changed behind this group, we still have the same five riders about 50" behind. The pack is already trailing Costagli by 2'48"!
Iino is now leading the peloton as they reach the steeper slopes of that climb. However, there seems to be not much power left in his legs, as the pack's deficit has gone up to 3'16"! It's really time to attack now, with just about 7km to go!
Meanwhile, the second group of chasers has finally joined the first one - with the exception of Izagirre, about to be caught by the pack, and Fedeli. Costagli is 1'17" ahead, the peloton 2'25" behind - making a total distance of 3'42" between Costagli and the stage favorites!
What a great day that could be for Italy, with a home rider winning this 8th stage! However, Costagli still has 5 uphill kilometers to go.
And his chasers have now stabilized the gap at around 1'15" - they need to ride faster to catch him, though!
In this second group, we have McKenna, Kruijswijk, Bernal and the duo Sergis - Sakalou. What a great performance by Sergis and Kruijswijk, who both were about to be caught by the peloton at the start of the climb - and who are now fighting for the stage win, or at least a podium!
Behind this group of five, we have a sixpack: Abreu, Roman, Munoz, Boswell, Zoidl and van der Poel, while Boom just had to let go. And just coming around the corner, we see Fedeli, who still hasn't been caught by the pack!
And when speaking of the pack: they are more than 4 minutes behind now, deliberately throwing away yet another stage win!
With 5 kilometers left, Zoidl had to let go of the second chasing group as well, and has already dropped behind Boom.
And the peloton is at... 5 minutes! Seriously?!? What are they actually gaining money for?
Costagli still has a comfortable lead of more than a minute with only three kilometers remaining!
Meanwhile, Sakalou is dropped by McKenna's steady yet pretty high pace.
The first of the remaining breakaway riders to be caught is actually Zoidl, with Fedeli still a few meters ahead of a peloton in slow-motion! Let's just take a look at the current timings:
Costagli
+ 1'03"
Bernal
Sergis
Kruijswijk
McKenna
+ 1'25"
Sakalou
+ 3'45"
Roman
Munoz
Abreu
Boswell
van der Poel
+ 4'47"
Boom
+ 5'30"
Fedeli
+ 5'43"
Bunch of snails
Yes, Radio Tour has just communicated the largest gap between the front of the race and the pack in this whole stage! What is happening here? Does nobody want to win this Giro? For the stage win, it's too late anyway...
And it's probably needless to say that Maglia Rosa Malecki is sitting safe in the pack... With Kruijswijk up front, his team actually didn't have to work at all today, therefore being able to fully focus on the current GC leader.
Costagli has already left behind the Fiamma Rossa, meaning there are only a few ascending meters left! With his still pretty comfortable gap of 1'03", the dream of his first ever GT stage win - in his home GT nota bene - could materialize really soon!
Bernal, Sergis, Kruijswijk and McKenna are doing really well, riding at the same pace as the leader - but this probably means they will just be fighting for 2nd!
Sakalou is already more than 2 minutes behind, but still another 2 minutes ahead of group Roman.
And the peloton? Well, Taaramäe has come to the front now, but given that Boom has still not been caught, he isn't really pushing. All the GC contenders are in the first positions now, so it will be impossible to launch a surprise attack.
Uh-oh, just ahead of the red kite, Bernal probably has to bid goodbye to his podium ambitions for today! Kruijswijk, McKenna and Sergis are preparing for a final push for 2nd, whereas Costagli already sees that final turn that marks the end of the climb!
Teodoro Costagli never looked back after his decisive attack! He just rode away from the others with 10 kilometers to go and celebrates an amazing solo win here in Campitello Matese! Congratulations to the Italian for this great victory on home soil!
Sergis then loses contact with Kruijswijk and McKenna just on the very last meters of the climb! The latter two will definitely sprint for 2nd - can the Irishman make use of the better position and of his superior acceleration? Or will his routine help Kruijswijk secure that spot?
But just as they head onto the final 500 meters, we finally get some promising images from the pack, where Spilak has launched the finale with his attack! Barguil, Taaramäe and Chiarello are following closely, whereas all the others are caught behind helpers Amezawa and Niu! Well, the latter is actually protecting his leader Arndt, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing...
400 meters left for Kruijswijk and McKenna, with the Dutchman taking the inner lane in this final turn. Can McKenna benefit from a bigger speed by taking the outside?
It doesn't seem so, as he's still behind with 300m to the line! Who will take it?
In the meantime, Spilak, Taaramäe, Barguil and Chiarello have caught Boswell and van der Poel, with Roman, Abreu and Munoz still some meters ahead.
It doesn't actually look like a good idea that Talansky is bringing Haig back to the front - where his leader is just trying to gain back a few seconds!
Arndt is still on Niu's wheel; he seems to have a lot of confidence in his Chinese domestique. Kritskiy, Valls, Schleck, Aru, Bongiorno and all the others are still there - with GC leader Malecki just next to Shikai. No, he won't lose that jersey today, that's for sure!
And by the way, Maglia Ciclamino Demare is still in this group as well, proving just how amazingly slowly the peloton climbed up this mountain...
But let's get back to the sprint for 2nd, where McKenna is now clearly the faster rider on the closing meters! Can he still get that 2nd place?
No, he can't - Steven Kruijswijk wins this sprint and gets his team another stage podium! That's a great result for a rider who was almost swallowed by the pack with 15km to go - well done!
Sean McKenna will probably have mixed feelings about his 3rd place. On one hand, it's always great to get a GT stage podium. But on the other side, his team wasn't able to play their numbers well enough to get the big win. But given that Costagli was just superior today, this might finally not hurt that much.
4th place then goes to Kaspars Sergis, who worked all his way back together with Kruijswijk - but finally didn't have enough power, despite the help of his teammate. The Latvian loses 1'04" on the day, with Kruijswijk and McKenna crossing the line 45" after the stage winner.
Back to the fight in the pack then! Spilak and Taaramäe have now opened a slight gap to Chiarello with just a bit more than 1,000m to go! However, Talansky should definitely not take the lead now!
Niu is still doing a great job for Arndt as well, with the German still being protected unlike most others!
Egan Bernal finishes ahead of the peloton as well, coming in 1'32" behind Costagli. 5th place is definitely a strong result from the youngster - we can expect much more from him already next year, for sure!
Just after the red kite, Spilak and Taaramäe catch up with Roman, Munoz and Abreu - but they likely won't be able to catch Sakalou as well.
Niu is still leading out Arndt, while Talansky has finally understood he shouldn't push too hard now!
With 700m to go, Taaramäe is about to draw level with Spilak, who has done all the work so far! Can the Estonian gain back the few seconds he lost on the likes of Haig in the TTT? And will Spilak reap the fruits of his labor?
Andrei Sakalou then makes it two Top 6 finishes for Evonik - ELKO - however, with no podium included, this still won't be a very satisfying result for the team. He crosses the line 2'32" after Costagli, and we're now waiting for the GC contenders!
Taaramäe has now clearly left behind Spilak, as he heads into the final descending meters! The duo still has a small gap on Arndt, who has finally left Niu's slipstream and might have the most energy left!
Rein Taaramäe indeed claims today's 7th place, showing his muscles on the final kilometers. He loses 3'36" to Costagli - but how much can he gain on the rest?
Well, you guess the answer: nothing. at. all. Simon Spilak in 8th place gets the same time, just as a very strong Nikias Arndt in 9th.
And so does Timofey Kritskiy, who gets the final spot inside the Top 10. Jack Haig finishes 11th, whereas the officials have to review the images of Andy Schleck and Andrew Talansky crossing the line. The former apparently was a few millimeters ahead to claim 12th.
Warren Barguil is 14th, and Yikui Niu crowns his stellar leadout with today's 15th place.
Jorge Abreu and Chen Shikai are the next riders to cross the line.
And even the group led by William Chiarello, wo claims 18th place, gets the same time. Fabio Aru and Daniel Munoz round off today's Top 20.
However, here the officials DO give a gap, as Kozhatayev, Mager and Maglia Rosa Malecki are clocked at 4'12" - losing 36" to Taaramäe. Still, given the advantage the Pole had pre-stage, he's far from losing this pink jersey.
When speaking of losing: among the losers today we have once again Brenes, who simply hasn't found his climbing legs so far and finishes 4'25" back. Ji was in this group as well, and Carapaz, after having led the chase for some time, only comes in about 7 minutes after the stage winner!
Among the biggest losers we surely have Haugard as well. After having been dropped by the breakaway, he dropped down all the way to the end of the race, finishing almost 55 minutes later than Costagli. With the cutoff being set at 1h13', though, all riders will be allowed to the start line again tomorrow!
But we'll talk about tomorrow later - for now, let's join the locals in celebrating Teodoro Costagli's great win here in Campitello Matese! He knew from the start he probably was the strongest climber, he had great helpers with him - and he finally did a 10km solo to grab the stage win - congratulations! What an amazing way to get your first GT stage win!
Steven Kruijswijk showed a great performance as well, first catching up with the front group after having already felt the peloton breathing down his neck, and then riding all the way to 2nd! And it's a good result as well for Sean McKenna, who narrowly lost the sprint for 2nd after having done a lot of work in the chasing group.
A total of 6 escapees finished ahead of the stage favorites - it's the sixth stage in a row going to the breakaway! When will the pack finally decide to stop that winning streak?
And: today, we had the 4th out of 15 participating Italians winning a stage in their home GT - that's pretty amazing, too!
"Amazing" is absolutely the right word to describe Kamil Malecki's performance so far, too! With the pack deciding to make it an easy ride up the last mountain, the Pole never was in danger of losing a lot of time, not to mention the Maglia Rosa.
On the contrary: After Barthe, 2nd in the GC pre-stage, was dropped from the breakaway, he went on to lose almost half an hour, dropping down to 98th in the GC. Which means that we have now Kristaps Budenieks - who lost 13" on Malecki today - in 2nd place, 9'23" back!
Christian Mager in 3rd place is already 11'33" behind the leader, making it absolutely possible that the Pole will hold on to this jersey this whole week long!
Behind Steven Kruijswijk in 4th, we now have the best GC contender - which is still Jack Haig - up to 5th place, 12'14" down. Mikel Bizkarra is the only other breakaway rider who is still sitting in the Top 10 (9th), but the GC favorites are slowly taking over. Except on the very top. They can't afford many more stages like today - or we'll have a sensational GC winner...
...who is of course still in the lead in the U25 standings as well. Kristaps Budenieks is 2nd, ahead of Getachew Sendeku, who trails by 14'02" already. Bernal, who claimed 5th place today, has moved up to 5th, one second behind Taaramäe's domestique Amezawa.
And Kamil Malecki still shares the KoM lead with Kristaps Budenieks as well, both totalling 26 points; in fact, even Mikel Bizkarra stays in 3rd place with 18 points, as nobody won more than 16 points today (and had many of them before).
Arnaud Demare easily retains his lead in the points competition, where we didn't even see a single change among the Top 10, be it in terms of positions or even of points. He still leads with his 82 points, 10 points ahead of Kamil Malecki, and 16 ahead of Artem Nych, who missed out on moving up to 2nd by not competing in the intermediate sprint today.
With another hilly stage coming up, can the Frenchman increase his lead tomorrow?
And last but not least, Gazelle get yet another appearance on the podium, as they not only retain their lead in the team standings, but they extend it to 6'56", now ahead of Evonik - ELKO. Team Puma - SAP move up to 3rd after a very good stage result - but they already trail by 11'30".
Once again, we come to the end of the day's broadcast. And once again, we can hardly believe what we just saw. A peloton simply refusing to work on the final climb - while being already within one minute of the front and hence of the stage win - that sounds really crazy. And it was.
Nonetheless, Costagli won't care about this, as he'll celebrate a well deserved stage win tonight. But don't party too much, as another tough stage is awaiting us tomorrow - more than 200 kilometers are on the menu - and more total elevation gain than today! We're looking forward to that one - hoping for the big guns to finally start shooting!
Giro d'Italia 
