This Giro takes its mountain stages seriously. After yesterday long day today the riders face three Cat 1 climbs and a Cat 2 across 203k. The race starts with two iconic climbs, the Colle dell’Agnello and the Col d’Izoard before crossing the Cat 2 Col du Lautaret and finishing on Les Deux Alpes.
No surprises in who tops the favorites list. Second favorite Madrazo will look to bounce back after a bad day yesterday.
30k gone, the Colle dell’Agnello doesn’t start officially for another 30k but it is steadily uphill already. 33 riders in the break and 8 more trying to join them. But the peloton thinks that is too many and is chasing. If the second group reaches the first before they get caught we could see a complete regrouping.
The two groups do come together but instead of chasing them down the peloton decides they can live with it. So, with 160k to go a 41-rider group has a 2’49 lead over the peloton.
It would have been much easier for the reporter if they had chased it down, here is the list, but sorry no minijerseys:
Aegon:
Vansevenant
Aker:
Van Poucke, Amezawa, Primozic, Bravo
cycleYorkshire:
Romo, Viviani
De Stilj:
Elosegui, Affini
Duolingo:
Gabburo
EA Vesuvio:
Smit, Munton
ELCO:
Giannoutsos (best on GC, 21st, +7’43), Ioannidis, Kastrantas
The 2nd peloton starts the Colle dell’Agnello (22k at 6.7% but the last 8k are much steeper) just 2’21 behind the 1st peloton (aka the break). Gayral has done all the work for the last 20k, Isostar must not be happy they somehow missed out.
15k to climb for the break. Campbell and Gabburo the first riders dropped. Affini on the front now but ELCO and Gazelle doing much of the work for obvious reasons. Behind Isostar stopped chasing for a while and the lead has grown to 3’50 but now Villella has come to the front and may be picking things up.
5k to climb, the pace has not relented and the break is down to 21 riders. Phodingam currently leading. The lead over the peloton is just 2’44 with Andersen having taken over from Villella. There are already 30 riders out the back of the peloton, still 125k and a lot of climbing to go.
3k to climb. Sosnitskiy is the first of the top climbers to be dropped from the break. Isostar took a brief break while Verschaeve made it to the front to replaced Andersen but now he is working and the lead is 3’13.
2k to climb, ISA’s Osorio makes the first attack. Sosnitskiy had made it back to the front group, not clear what happened to him there. The lead is 3’24 but Verschaeve is done, not clear if Isostar plans to sacrifice another rider.
1.2k to climb, Smith on the front, Osorio on his wheel then Amezawa. The rest are gapped but some of them should be able to rejoin over the top.
Smith takes maximum points. He could build a huge KOM lead today if he is as strong as he was yesterday. The front 3 have 49 seconds over the next group of 2. Their lead is up to 4’36 as Isostar have relented for now.
102k to ride, 8k to the start of he Col d’Izoard. The front group is back to 14 riders, with the next group at 2’36. The peloton is now at 3’49, UBS and Isostar working on the descent. The 14 survivors at the front are:
Amezawa Elosegui Giannoutsos Lastra Van der Poel Figueiredo Leknessund Sosnitskiy Schelling Koshevoy Osorio Smith Munoz Osorio
96k to go and a 96-rider peloton reaches the Izoard (14k at 6.7%) with Verschaeve back on the front. They trail the leading group by 3’49. No other riders have been able to rejoin the front of the race, there are still 8 other survivors between the break and peloton.
With 5k to ride Leknessund is the first rider dropped from the break. The peloton at 2’50 with Pronskiy on the front now. All the other riders in between have been caught by the pack.
2.4k to climb, Amezawa on the front. Koshevoy, Van der Poel and Giannoutsos dropped. The Greek rider still trying to claw his way back. The peloton is at 3’09 and other teams seem to have taken up the chase. Prado and Gavars on the front.
Amezawa attacks just before the 1k to climb sign. Lastra also dropped and Giannoutsos has not been able to rejoin yet.
Amezawa takes maximum points ahead of Osorio, Smith, and Munoz. Elosegui a little further back and then the two Gazelle riders and Schelling. Long descent now before the Cat 2 climb. Amezawa tied for 2nd in KOM with 42 points but he is over 30 points behind Smith.
Isostar back at it as Jaramillo leads the peloton over 3’22 behind.
51k to go as the break passes the sprint point. Back to 8 riders: Amezawa, Elosegui, Figueiredo, Sosnitskiy, Schelling, Osorio, Smith, and Munoz. The rest are back in the peloton or will be soon. The peloton is down to 45 riders and trails by just 1’51. Top 20 in GC all still there.
The break starts the Cat 2 Col du Lautaret (9.4k at 5.3%) with a 3’05 lead. Jaramillo has hit the wall and so far nobody is taking over from him.
Schelling is quickly dropped again.
Munoz with the first attack with 1.8k to climb. Figueiredo immediately dropped. Lead is up to 4’36 as Evonik seem happy to let Jaramillo hang out on the front.
Over the top the 3 survivors are Amezawa, Smith and Sosnitskiy, two of the top three from yesterday.
Once all the points are awarded the KOM standings are:
Sosnitskiy is gapped by the other two and may not be able to rejoin, they have about 25k of downhill before the final climb. The peloton is an even 5 minutes behind.
Sosnitskiy was getting close to rejoining but punctures. Gazelle may need to re-examine their approach to tires. The rain can’t be helping.
Prado working in the peloton and the gap is steady at about 5 minutes.
9k to ride for the leaders. They are about to start the final climb to Les Deux Alpes, 8.5k at 6.9%. Sosnitskiy got a quick tire change and was joined by Figueiredo and Munoz but they haven’t been able to get closer than about 30 seconds. Osoroio and Elosegui are another 23 seconds back. The peloton has closed to 3’52 with Petelin joining Prado in the chase.
Munoz drags Sosnitskiy back up to the front. They can thank Figueiredo who did a lot of the chasing after Sosnitskiy’s puncture. 6.9k to go the peloton at 3’43.
Lecuisinier decides he can’t waste all of Isostar’s great work and attacks with 7.5k to go.
Lecuisinier toying with the chasing domestiques, they keep almost catching him only for him to attack again. McNulty his current victim. 5.3k to go for the Pink Jersey. All the top 20 still present in the chase group.
All the race visible on one stretch of the climb, the leaders just turning the corner in the distance. The four leaders have 2.9k to ride and 1’27 on Lecuisinier who has 25 seconds on the McNulty led chase group. Still no GC contenders dropped.
1.8k for the leaders, Sosnitskiy is dropped but Lecuisinier is almost up to them. McNulty leading the chase group which is now 21 riders. Nesset (9th on GC) and Almeida (18th) have been dropped.
1k banner for the leaders. Smith attacks as Lecuisinier reaches them. Munoz is dropped. The chase group in the foreground is 52 seconds behind that lead group. Mavrikakis (14th) and Goos (12th) have been dropped.
600 meters, Smith trying to hang on to Lecuisinier’s wheel but it looks like the Frenchman will deny him back-to-back stage wins. Amezawa hoping to hold on for another podium. The first 5 of the chasers ( Madrazo, Bernal, Oomen, Barguil, and Sivakov) have a gap on the rest. Roglic (19th) has cracked and is further back.
Lecuisinier wins Stage 10. He will be stopping by the Isostar bus later with some gifts. Perhaps they though he was Phinney. The five chasers mentioned have opened up a 14 second lead on Geoghegan Hart and another 8 seconds on the next group which includes Galta (3rd) and Powless (5th). Meintjes, 6th on GC, is losing time further back.
Smith holds on for 2nd adding more KOM points to his lead. Another great day for him. The 5 GC chasers now have 25 seconds on Geoghegan Hart and 33 seconds on the Galta group.
Bernal just edges Madrazo for 3rd. Then Oomen, Barguil, Amezawa and Sivakov. They lose 44 seconds on the stage winner
Geoghegan Hart and Galta take 9th and 10th ahead of Kirsch and Powless. This group lose another 31 seconds.
A big day for Lecuisinier as he tightens his grip on the race and takes a stage win. His lead is now 1’27 over Bernal. Sivakov passes Galta to take 3rd, the Norwegian dropping to 4th. Madrazo back into the to 10 as he moves up to 9th. Nesset is the one who drops out he is now 13th.
Lecuisinier is also up to 3rd in the points competition. No change in any jerseys except the team competition where Gazelle takes the lead as their breakaway efforts aren’t totally wasted.
The last in this set of 3 mountain stages tomorrow. A simply 242k jaunt which includes the Colle delle Finestre and the Sestriere.
Giro d’Italia 
