Salsomaggiore, 20th of May – 2014
After yesterday’s rest day, the sprinters were granted a golden opportunity of taking a stage win in this otherwise mountainous edition of Giro d’Italia. Today’s 173 kilometer long tenth stage was completely with a small ramp in the finale but with a flat run-iin. At the same time, the GC riders and climbers had a chance of getting back in to the rhythm after a slow day yesterday.
Two escapees dominated the stage. Andrea Fedi(Neri Sottoli) and Marco Bandiera (Androni) formed the long-lasting break while the sprinter teams joined forces to make sure their sprinters were given the perfect opportunity.
With 20 kilometers to go, the front tandem still had more than two minutes and the sprinter teams started accelerating significantly. Both in order to reel the duo back in but also to prevent any new attacks but Tinkoff-Saxo’s Nicolas Roche didn’t miss the chance to give it a go and stirred up things on the short climb.
Even though a crash near the finish line marred the otherwise exciting finale, it was the expected stage winner, Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ) who pushed his bake across the finish line first.
Roche
Tinkoff-Saxo DS, Lars Michaelsen was happy about today’s events:
“It was a high pace finale with a short slpoe and a technical descent shortly before the finish and Nico had a decent go going up the ramp. Other than that, our goal was to keep Majka near the front and the guys delivered perfectly. Tomorrow, we’re headed out to do an interesting stage with a mountainous finale where we first of all have to keep Majka protected and out of trouble,” said Michaelsen.
Rafal Majka retained overall third while Cadel Evans (BMC) kept the overall lead.
