Bianchi triumphs on Fausto Coppi’s mountain. 59 years after the legendary feat of the “Campionissimo” in the first ever Giro finish on the top of the Stelvio climb, Thomas De Gendt on Bianchi Oltre achieved an unforgettable solo win in Giro’s stage 20, 218 km from Caldes/Val di Sole to Passo dello Stelvio on Saturday, May 26th. Vacansoleil-DCM’s Belgian topped the legendary climb with a 56-second advantage on Damiano Cunego and 2:50 on Mikel Nieve Ituralde.
De Gendt moved away from the pink jersey-group on the dreadful Mortirolo ascent and managed to reach the lead of the stage, also thanks to the help of team-mate Matteo Carrara. De Gendt, whose Oltre shows a celebrative logo of the Giro-Tour double scored by Fausto Coppi 60 years ago in 1952, kept his peremptory pace on the Stelvio slopes, outdistancing Cunego and Nieve and going really close to the virtual leadership before Ryder Hesjedal and Joaquin Rodriguez started reacting from behind.
De Gendt went up from eight to fourth position in the General classification, with a 27-second gap from 3rd-placed Italian Michele Scarponi: the 25-year-old rider has a significant opportunity to step on the Giro’s final podium in the final ITT in Milan.
High-end model of Road range, Oltre is one of the best racing machine Bianchi has ever made. His carbon monocoque frame is a creature of Bianchi brand’s avant-garde technology, design and history. Oltre is a super high performance and extreme racing bike, feather-light in the mountains, tight on the turns and stiff in the sprints. X-Tex carbon technology and frame’s aerodynamic shape give it an incredibly efficient power transmission and stiffness to weight ratio.
