An innocuous-looking profile led to a battle for the GC standings on stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia. The flat profile had a fourth category climb towards the end, that acted as a launching platform for attacks from the GC contenders. With the support of his teammates, Rafal Majka finished the stage safely in 14th position. After a strong ride, tracking his GC rivals throughout, Rafal climbs a place in the GC, now sitting in sixth overall.
In what could best be described as a flat stage with a sting in the tail, the 227km route from Modena to Asolo looked innocent on the profile – a pan flat day for almost 200km, before a fourth category climb and an undulating run in to the finish. There was every chance of a last minute break to the finish, or that an early break might use the last 30km to cement their advantage. The key thing was not to underestimate the impact this stage could have on the race.
An early attempt to break away came after just a few kilometres. A group of nine, which included Manuele Boaro in their midst, managed to stay out front, however with other teams not happy with the move the escapees were pulled back into the fold. The average speed of the first hour of the race was a huge 51.5km/h – a speed that was bound to take its toll on some in the peloton.
Sport Director, Tristan Hoffman, had expected a break to go early, and so had made sure the team was prepared. “We were paying attention at the start of the day for the big break and Boaro was there for us in the first move, but some teams in the bunch weren’t happy, so it came back and a small break followed.”
A little over an hour and a half of racing, and a break finally managed to get away. Three riders opened up a gap, and with no threats to the GC in the group, the peloton was happy to allow the escape to go – and go it did, rapidly taking eight minutes on the peloton, a gap that soon after increased to ten minutes.
As the race approached the fourth category Forcella Mostaccin, which had slopes that hit a maximum gradient of 16%, the gap was down to just over three minutes. There was every chance teams would be planning an attack on the slopes of the fourth category climb, and so couldn’t allow the break too much of a gap in front.
Just before the climb, however, a crash caused a split in the peloton, which affected Evgeny Petrov. While the Russian rider was able to rejoin the race, he was in some pain but fought on to finish the stage at his own pace. Further information will follow after medical assessments this evening.
With the first of the escapees reaching the top of the climb, the rest of the breakaway was falling apart behind them, while the peloton was only a little over twenty seconds behind, gradually swallowing up the break.
Hoffman explained the situation on the road further: “The guys stayed around Rafal to stay safe for the stage and prepare for the final. There was a huge crash with about 30km to go and a few guys were involved. The whole peloton split up here and it was quite nervous, and also Evgeny Petrov was in pain and will need to see the doctor after the stage to assess the damage.”
The break almost caught, and just before the technical descent, the GC contenders started their attacks, and their rivals found they had no option but to go with them. As was the case in previous days, Rafal Majka had no problem holding the wheels of his GC rivals, matching them at every turn and every pedalstroke. As the group reached the bottom of the descent however, riders found themselves stretched out and a trio on the front opened up an advantage. Pulled back in by the chasers, another attack went and this time the Maglia Rosa went out with one other on the front. With the chasing group made up almost entirely of GC contenders, there was no way they would let this attack go without a fight, especially as the Maglia Rosa duo quickly became a trio – the ten second advantage could make all the difference on the GC.
As the Maglia Rosa trio entered the packed streets of Asolo, the chasing group was only eight seconds behind, with 4km to go. Rafal had the support of Manuele Boaro to keep the pace high and bring the Tinkoff leader to the finish. With the trio across the line, Manuele controlled the pace of the group of chasers, making sure no further attacks came, and ensuring the group all finished with the same time. Rafal crossed the line in 14th position, with Manuele shortly afterwards in 26th. Rafal’s strong performance earns him another step up the GC, and he finishes the day in sixth.
After the stage, Manuele Boaro gave his thoughts: “The big crash that took place had a big impact on the race today, but fortunately Rafal wasn’t affected by this and we were able to keep him safety in the front group – this was the most important task of the stage.
“I myself would have liked to attack solo but the legs I had weren’t able to do it at the end today. Overall after 11 stages I’m happy with how the team is positioned and how my shape is, and we still have ten stages, of which some are really important. We will continue working to hopefully help Rafal make some big differences over his GC rivals.”
As on previous stages, it was a team effort from start to finish, as Hoffman explained. “Tosatto did a great ride to bring Rafal in the front for the final climb and then he stayed well positioned at the front. It was good to see Boaro hanging in there on the climb too, and helping Rafal after. On paper this wasn’t a stage with big time gaps but it proved tricky and we were ready for that.”
A pan-flat stage awaits riders tomorrow. The 182km route from Noale to Bibione takes place on an entirely flat parcours which finishes on two laps of an 8km circuit in the finishing town. While teams will be looking forward to a sprint, having been denied the opportunity today, the aim for Tinkoff will be to keep Rafal safe so that he can remain competitive for Friday’s tough mountain stage. As Hoffman explained from the finish. “Tomorrow is a totally flat stage, so hopefully that should be bit less stressed, but today showed that at the Giro every day you need to stay at the front and pay attention. Tomorrow will be less crazy in the final and then we have the mountains from Friday.”
Stage 11 Result
1. Diego Ulissi (ITA) Lampre-Merida 04:56:32
2. Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar Team +00:00:00
3. Bob Jungels (LUX) Etixx-Quick Step +00:00:00
4. Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA) Trek-Segafredo +00:00:13
5. Sonny Colbrelli (ITA) Bardiani CSF +00:00:13
14. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:00:13
26. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:13
45. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +00:02:22
46. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:02:22
100. Pawel Poljanski (POL) Tinkoff +00:11:56
105. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:11:56
133. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +00:13:15
134. Jesus Hernandez (SPA) Tinkoff +00:13:15
182. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:18:28
GC After Stage 11
1. Bob Jungels (LUX) Etixx-Quick Step 45:16:20
2. Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar Team +00:00:24
3. Alejandro Valverde (SPA) Movistar Team +00:01:07
4. Steven Kruiswijk (NED) Team LottoNL-Jumbo +00:01:07
5. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) Astana Pro Team +00:01:09
6. Rafal Majka (POL) Tinkoff +00:02:01
37. Pawel Poljanski (POL) Tinkoff +00:26:53
38. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:27:18
41. Ivan Rovny (RUS) Tinkoff +00:30:45
60. Evgeny Petrov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:52:28
67. Jesus Hernandez (SPA) Tinkoff +00:59:03
86. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +01:08:07
103. Matteo Tosatto (ITA) Tinkoff +01:13:27
114. Jay McCarthy (AUS) Tinkoff +01:18:36
