DeMarchi was one of the first attackers as he forced an early move of seven riders clear before pushing the pace in the group and dropping all but Derek Gee. The duo were eventually joined by Magnus Cort and stage seven winner Davide Bias, with the quartet working well together to extend their advantage out to a maximum of more than five minutes.
The treacherous conditions swung the stage in favor of the escapees as splits, crashes and mechanicals caused havoc back in the bunch on the wet descent, but with all the climbing completed, the fight for the stage victory remained in the balance.
Despite the numbers disadvantage, De Marchi and his breakaway companions continued to hold the chasing pack at bay and the deficit still hovered around the one-minute mark with 15km to go.
As the break raced under the 3km to go banner it was clear the remaining trio would stay away to fight for the stage win.
Alessandro De Marchi – 3rd place:
“It was another really big day, a really hard one, especially because of the bad weather conditions, it made the race even harder, it was already tricky with the first 80km going uphill. I found the good move at the beginning of the first climb going into the hilly section of the stage and then it was about surviving on the climbs with the cold and rainy weather. Once we got to the top, we were all committed to keeping the pace high and playing our cards on the flat part in the last 50km.
I was confident because both Gee and Cort were really strong, so I was confident that we could play for the result. In the end it went as expected because they are both really fast and with that kind of finish, flat and completely straight in the last 3km, it was really difficult to find the moment to surprise them.””
2023 Giro d’Italia – Stage 10:
- Magnus Cort 4:51:15
- Derek Gee ST
- Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:02
