After thirteen exceptionally difficult days of racing, the Giro hit its Queen Stage today. Going into the stage sixth in the GC, Rafal had shown strong performances throughout the race so far, with huge efforts from the team keeping him safe and helping him move up the GC. After a hard day on a constantly undulating parcours, Rafal crossed the line in eighth, holding onto his sixth spot in the GC.
The toughest day of the Giro d’Italia arrived in style. On stunning roads in the Dolomites, the profile more closely resembled a saw than a bike race, with barely a kilometre of flat terrain between the start in Alpago and the finish, 210km later, in Corvara. With seven exceptionally tough climbs to test the GC riders, the steepest gradient at 14% on the first category Passo Giau, cresting a little over 50km from the finish line.
For many riders, at the sight of the parcours, their aim would be to simply get through the stage, but for the GC riders, they would be looking for opportunities to attack their rivals and create time differences. This was to be an exceptionally difficult day – the stage was not just long, it crossed some of the most difficult climbs in the Dolomites too.
The moment the flag was dropped and the race left the neutralised zone, the attacks began. While nothing stuck, the attacking style was to set the tone for the stage. After the relentless difficulty of the previous day, the peloton had little desire to spend the full length of the stage chasing down an escape.
After 45km of racing, the split came, not because of an attack, but because of the relentless pace of the peloton and riders simply not being able to hang on. The group of thirty seven riders soon created a gap of twenty five seconds, which steadily grew to 3’30” after just a few kilometres. With the best-placed rider in the front group more than five minutes behind the Maglia Rosa, the peloton was comfortable with the group building up an advantage.
After nearly 100km of the racing, the pace in the peloton was relaxed. The race was entering the categorised climbs now, and it was imperative to conserve energy and be ready to react to any attacks from the GC contenders. Tinkoff were comfortably together here, riding in support of Rafal Majka. With the road veering upwards, the breakaway riders being gradually caught and with riders began to be dropped off the back of the peloton, the Polish leader was well protected to contest the final climbs.
As the stage entered its final 50km, with the gap at eight minutes, the pace began to rise steadily, gradually reeling back the advantage to five minutes 10km later. As the pace rose and the grassy mountain plains were replaced by snow on the ground, the Maglia Rosa was slowly falling off the back, with a select group of GC riders, which included Rafal Majka, sitting 4’30” behind the duo out in front, and with forty five seconds over the trailing Maglia Rosa.
With 40km to go, there were only twelve riders left in the GC group. While at the head of this group, Vincenzo Nibali of Astana had a rider in support, Rafal appeared to have little difficulty staying with the Italian. After a fast descent of the Passo Giau, the race leader, Andrey Amador, managed to rejoin the GC group in time for the second category Passo Valparola, while the duo at the front of the race became a trio. The final categorised climb had a maximum gradient of 14% and an average gradient of 5.9% over a little more than 10km, and as the final climb before the stage’s uphill finish, was the point an attack was likely.
From 27km out, Vincenzo Nibali went on the attack, taking two men with him. Rafal, in the chasing group, still had him in his sights, pulling hard to stop him escaping further up the road, closing in before catching Nibali’s group. It was a huge effort for Rafal to bridge to this group, but he left several of his GC rivals further down the road – including the Maglia Rosa, who was again suffering and being dropped – but after further attacks, the group began to be strung out along the road and Rafal was left chasing, with six groups in front of the Maglia Rosa and three minutes separating them.
At the stage’s finish, Sport Director, Tristan Hoffman, praised Rafal’s commitment and spirited ride today. “We hoped of course for a little bit more when Chaves and Kruijswijk went but Rafal and the others couldn’t follow at this point. He was chasing at 30 seconds with Nibali for a long time but then had to set his own pace, but he kept fighting right to the end and only three riders from the peloton were stronger than him today.”
While there were just 20km remaining, there was a lot of racing still to be done, with the descent of the Passo Valparola and the final ramp up to the finish line in Corvara. The final kilometre saw the race climb the Muro del Gatto – the infamous 360m section hitting a maximum gradient of 19%. After over 200km of racing, this section of road would more closely resemble a wall to the tired riders. As the descent of the Valparola began, Rafal was in a group of three, just a short distance behind the solo Nibali, and a minute off the front group. With smooth, well-surfaced roads, the descent was fast, and enabled Rafal’s group to put some distance on the faltering Maglia Rosa and some of his GC rivals.
As the race neared its close and the solo breakaway was caught, Rafal was still fighting hard as his group hit the Muro del Gatto. Buoyed by the support of the Polish fans on this short but steep climb, Rafal reached the finish 2’29” after the stage winner, in eighth position, keeping hold of his sixth position in the GC rankings.
After the stage, Rafal looked back on his performance and looked to the coming final week. “As said before, it would be a tough and long Giro with strong rivals. Today, it was a very difficult stage that required a huge effort and, unfortunately, I suffered a bit at the finale. I lost time to some GC contenders and gained against others. We still have a week ahead of us and we will keep fighting every day.”
The Tinkoff leader’s ability as a GC rider came through strongly today, as Hoffman observed, riding hard and not making mistakes. “He had a good gap on the guys from Movistar but they did a very good downhill and final kilometres so he didn’t move up the GC, but he took time on some of those in front. It was a really tough stage, and Rafal didn’t make any mistakes – he followed, ate and drank well and never gave up.”
Stage 15 is an uphill time trial. At 10.85km in length, the route is far from easy, climbing the Alpe di Siusi from Castelrotto. Starting with a gentle 1.8% section, the route quickly ramps up to an average of 8.4% before hitting slopes of 11% just as riders will start going into the red. The wide and well-paved roads will encourage fast times, but pacing will be the key here. Rafal goes into tomorrow’s stage with just fourteen seconds between him and fifth in the GC. After a hard day today taking its toll on riders, the day is wide open and may even lead to a few surprises – and with a rest day on Monday to recover, some may go deeper than others. After the toughest stage, Hoffman was looking ahead and waiting to see what Rafal’s rivals would do next. “We can look forward to the time trial now, and then the rest day. There’s still a lot to come, and I believe those who lost time today will want to fight back so we will see what happens. Tomorrow’s uphill TT is going to be really tough and I expect the same guys as today at the front. Rafal just has to go full gas but we have confidence in him and he’s shown he’s riding strongly.”
Stage Result
1 Esteban Chaves (COL) Orica-GreenEdge 06:06:16
2 Steven Kruijswijk (NED) Team LottoNL-Jumbo +00:00:00
3 Georg Preidler (AUT) Team Giant-Alpecin +00:00:00
4 Darwin Atapuma (COL) BMC Racing Team +00:00:06
5 Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Astana Pro Team +00:00:37
8. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:02:29
40. Jesus Hernandez (SPA) Tinkoff +00:14:21
41. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:14:21
42. Pawel Poljanski (POL) Tinkoff +00:17:12
88. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:31:20
89. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:31:20
96. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +00:32:41
147. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:43:47
153. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:43:47
GC After Stage 14
1 Steven Kruijswijk (NED) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 60:12:43
2 Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Astana Pro Team +00:00:41
3 Esteban Chaves (COL) Orica-GreenEdge +00:01:32
4 Alejandro Valverde (SPA) Movistar Team +00:03:06
5 Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar Team +00:03:15
6. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:03:29
38. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:56:34
41. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +01:04:00
44. Pawel Poljanski (POL) Tinkoff +01:07:08
52. Jesus Hernandez (SPA) Tinkoff +01:24:52
73. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +01:59:18
97. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +02:15:12
110. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +02:21:42
111. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +02:22:19
