This week offers stages for climbers and GC leaders, as well as stages for punchers. Sprinters will have the last day in Rome for them (providing they can catch a breakaway of Italian contis...)
Standings after 15 stages
General time classification
Le gap between the Dane and the Portuguese hasn't changed in a week in absolute value, just the sign has changed :-) Scaroni was 5^th^ but had to withdraw.
- Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma:
- Afonso Eulalio 🇵🇹 Bahrain: +2′24″
- Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon: +2′50″
- Thymen Arensman 🇳🇱 Ineos: +3′03″
- Jai Hindley Bora: +3′43″
- Giulio Pellizzari 🇮🇹 Bora: +4′22″
- Michael Storer 🇦🇺 Tudor: +4′46″
- Ben O'Connor 🇦🇺 Jayco: +5′22″
- Derek Gee 🇨🇦 Lidl-Trek: +5′41″
- Davide Piganzoli 🇮🇹 Visma: +6′13″
- Mathys Rondel 🇫🇷 Tudor: +6′58″
Points classification
The podium order is still the same, but Milan, who scored only 2 points in a week, may have given up.
- Paul Magnier 🇫🇷 Soudal-QS: 145 pts
- Jhonatan Narvaez 🇪🇨 UAE: 131
- Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 78
- Davide Ballerini 🇮🇹 Astana: 70
- Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 48
Intermediary Sprints classification
Top-5 has the same members, but all riders from Italian teams kept on scoring while Milan didn't at all.
- Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 60
- Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 48
- Mattia Bais 🇮🇹 polti: 44
- Martin Marcellusi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 25
- Jonathan Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 23
RB Sprints classification
The classification stalled, basically only Eulalio kept on scoring.
- Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 31
- Afonso Eulalio 🇵🇹 Bahrain: 30
- Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 22
Mountain classification
Sevilla could only score 3 points this week.
- Jonas Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma: 161
- Jardi Van der Lee 🇳🇱 EF: 77
- Giulio Ciccone 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek: 75
- Felix Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon: 72
- Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 63
Fuga classification
Only 30 km more for Sevilla this week. Often the breakaway groups were too large to count. But M. Bais managed to score more than 250 km.
- Diego Sevilla 🇪🇸 Polti: 753
- Mattia Bais 🇮🇹 polti: 516
- Manuele Tarozzi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 458
- Martin Marcellusi 🇮🇹 Bardiani: 403
- Mirco Maestri 🇮🇹 Polti: 347
Teams classification
2 teams are clearly above the others.
- Visma 🇳🇱
- RB Bora 🇩🇪 +0′24″
- Tudor🇨🇠+22′05″
- Ineos 🇬🇧 +22′07″
- Q36.5 🇨🇠+30′58″
- Decathlon 🇫🇷 +49′06″
Stages
Stage 16, Tuesday 26
113 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits
This stage exhibits a funny design: its middle part is very much for punchers, but then there is a break, and finally a long finish-on-top for pure climbers.
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Stage 17, Wednesday 27
202 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits
A stage for breakaways, punchers and guys doing secondary/tertiary classifications.
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Stage 18, Thursday 28
171 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 1″ splits
It could have been a stage for sprinters, if it wasn't for this last hump just 10 km from the line. Don't be fooled by its classification as 4^th^ category, it is not not a false flat but a wall, 1 km at 12%. A few years ago, we would have said this was tailored for Alaphilippe.
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Stage 19, Friday 29
151 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits
We find a bit of mountain here! 6 climbs including the cima Coppi of this year (Passo Giau) and almost 5000 m of elevation... For the GPM, Passo Giau will be worth 50 points, Passo Duran (the 1^st^ climb of the day) 40 pts, and the other 4, 18 points each; therefore 162 points are available.
Allowed delay will be around 55 mn, so there is very little hope to eliminate even a sick sprinter.
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Stage 20, Saturday 30
200 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1″ splits
The last mountain stage, with a main climb done twice.
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Stage 21, Sunday 31
131 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3″ splits
A flat stage to finish on 8 laps of the circuit in the capital city.
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Stage 16, Tuesday 26
We indeed saw several races in one during this hot day all over Western Europe. There were several breakaways, until Narvaez (🇪🇨 UAE) got in one.
J. Milan (🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek) has indeed stopped fighting for the Cyclamen jersey. He pulled the peloton, chasing the breakaway to allow Ciccone🇮🇹 to join it; and once inside the right breakaway Ciccone🇮🇹 didn't at all defend Cyclamen points against Narvaez🇪🇨 who had come only for that.
Van der Lee tried hard to defend the Blue jersey he was wearing (in place of Vingegaard (🇩🇰 Visma)) but it was going too fast and he scored almost nothing, while Ciccone🇮🇹 was coming first in all 4 mid-stage climbs. However, with his stage win, Vingegaard🇩🇰 scores basically as many points as the Italian and remains well ahead.
Visma and Decathlon wanted again to fight for the stage, so the Italian Pinot got disappointed once more.
Nobody (including me) seemed to understand the reason why Bora accelerated at the bottom of the main, final climb. The main result of this short movement, was to blow up their own co-leader Pellizzari🇮🇹.
Kuss (🇺🇸 Visma) was as useless as usual, but Piganzoli🇮🇹 did his share, dropping many opponents before launching Vingegaard🇩🇰 and dropping a while, before coming back for his own GC position. I thought that Vingegaard🇩🇰 would ask him to go more slowly in order to attack only around 4 km from the line as he often does (or even wouldn't attack until inside the last km), but nope, I was wrong and the Dane attacked with more than 6 km to go. Gall (🇦🇹 Decathlon) attempted to follow for about 27 metres before giving up, and was soon caught up by a few survivors. Gee was dropped at least twice, but surprisingly managed to come back each time and finished with the 4-5 men group Gall🇦🇹 won in the end for time bonus. Bernal (🇨🇴 Ineos) was on a good day and (successfully) did a lot of work to bring back Arensman🇳🇱 towards the front, without completely collapsing after.
Eulalio (🇵🇹 Bahrain) was dropped early with O'Connor (🇦🇺 Jayco), but finished rather well again (with the old skeleton Poels (🇳🇱 now at Unibet) who never seem to give up), unlike the Australian. He leaves the GC podium but will still be wearing the White jersey with 2 minutes over Piganzoli (🇮🇹 Visma).
Pellizzari🇮🇹, completely out for GC, may be another thorn in Ciccone🇮🇹's foot for next stages victories.
not surprising... Gee has always been like this. Never follows the surges. Just rides his own race...
Roller coaster of emotions as a fan...