The last mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia, starting in Feltre and finishing in Croce d’Aune led the peloton over 193 km through the Dolomites. On the way the riders had to contend with five consecutive, difficult climbs and a total of 5000 vertical meters.
The second-category Cima Campo right at the beginning was followed by the ascent to the Passo Manghen, the designated Cima Coppi of this year’s Giro, before the Passo Rollo had to be conquered. After a 40km descent the course led over the 11km long and 5 per cent steep Passo Corce d’Aune. A short but technical descent followed before a final haul up to the last climb of the Croce d’Aune and Monte Avena. The route descended for 4km before it bounced back to sharp uphill gradients over the last few kilometres.
A breakaway got underway a little into the race and by the time the group approached the Passo Manghen, the leaders had 4 minutes on the field. Movistar and BORA-hansgrohe set the pace back in a very reduced peloton. At this point, Davide Formolo did not have the legs and dropped back to the main field. Just before cresting the Passo Manghen, Astana increased the tempo and the group of favorites dwindled in numbers, but on the descent of the Passo Manghen, Rafal Majka was able to catch up to the group which also contained V. Nibali. On a flatter passage following the descent, several riders attacked from of the group of GC contenders and tried to close the gap to the front group. At the halfway mark, there were 5 riders in the lead, 3 chasers and, 2:30 minutes behind, a group surrounding the Maglia Rosa which also contained Rafal Majka. On the last part of the ascent to the Passo Rollo, two more riders caught up with the five leaders while the distance to the Maglia Rosa group stretched to more than 3:30 minutes. Back in the group of favorites, several riders then attacked and moved to the front of affairs. In the technical descent of the Croce, Rafal overcooked a curve but was able to quickly get back up on his bike, taking on the final climb in the Roglic group.
With 500 metres to the line, M. Landa was out in front but in the final sprint he was nipped to the line by P. Bilbao, who ended up taking the victory. Rafal crossed the finish line in 9th place, 44 seconds in arrears of the stage winner. The Polish BORA-hansgrohe rider gave his all today to maintain a good placing in the general classification and he was ultimately able to keep his seventh position.
Stage Result
01 P. Bilbao 5:46:02
02 M. Landa +0:00
03 G. Ciccone +0:02
09 R. Majka +0:44
From the finish line
“Everyone expected this to be a tough stage, and it lived up to the expectations. I unfortunately crashed in a corner in the final 10km. It was a shame, because before I crashedm I was in a good position with Nibali, Roglic and Carapaz at the top of the climb. Then I had to catch up but surprisingly it was not too difficult, and it only took about half a minute to bridge the gap, but of course this cost energy. I finished in the top ten of the stage, and we were able to defend my seventh position overall. Thanks must go to my teammates for supporting me for as long as they could. We’ve now coming closer to achieving our aims to place a rider in the Top 10, and we just have the time trial to come now.” – Rafal Majka
“We went into the race with a dual-pronged strategy, and two important goals. The first and most important was to ensure that Pascal was brought safely to the finish, and half of the team was put to that purpose. A special mention is in order for our fast men, who pulled this off perfectly. With 5,500 metres of elevation gain this was no easy feat. Of course we also wanted to support Davide and Rafal and that worked out very well. In this respect, not only the sprinters supporting Pascal are deserving of mention, but also riders like Jay McCarthy, who worked very hard and supported Rafal very well. In the end, our plan to push forward in the general classification didn’t quite work out. However, with his strong ninth place on the stage, Rafal sits in seventh in the overall standings. And tomorrow we might even try to move up one place in the general classification. However, after three stage wins, the Maglia Ciclamino and Rafal’s top 10, we are more than satisfied and now we just want to ensure, that we can proceed to bring all of these to the finish line tomorrow.” – Christian Poemer, Sports Director
