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Race thread: ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Tour of Italy 2026 (final week), May 26โ€“31 (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works to c/procycling@lemmy.world
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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.

  1. Jonas Vingegaard ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Visma:
  2. Afonso Eulalio ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Bahrain: +2โ€ฒ24โ€ณ
  3. Felix Gall ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น Decathlon: +2โ€ฒ50โ€ณ
  4. Thymen Arensman ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Ineos: +3โ€ฒ03โ€ณ
  5. Jai Hindley Bora: +3โ€ฒ43โ€ณ
  6. Giulio Pellizzari ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bora: +4โ€ฒ22โ€ณ
  7. Michael Storer ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Tudor: +4โ€ฒ46โ€ณ
  8. Ben O'Connor ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Jayco: +5โ€ฒ22โ€ณ
  9. Derek Gee ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Lidl-Trek: +5โ€ฒ41โ€ณ
  10. Davide Piganzoli ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Visma: +6โ€ฒ13โ€ณ
  11. Mathys Rondel ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท Tudor: +6โ€ฒ58โ€ณ

Points classification

The podium order is still the same, but Milan, who scored only 2 points in a week, may have given up.

  1. Paul Magnier ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท Soudal-QS: 145 pts
  2. Jhonatan Narvaez ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ UAE: 131
  3. Jonathan Milan ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 78
  4. Davide Ballerini ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Astana: 70
  5. Manuele Tarozzi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น 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.

  1. Manuele Tarozzi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 60
  2. Diego Sevilla ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Polti: 48
  3. Mattia Bais ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น polti: 44
  4. Martin Marcellusi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 25
  5. Jonathan Milan ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 23

RB Sprints classification

The classification stalled, basically only Eulalio kept on scoring.

  1. Manuele Tarozzi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 31
  2. Afonso Eulalio ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Bahrain: 30
  3. Diego Sevilla ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Polti: 22

Mountain classification

Sevilla could only score 3 points this week.

  1. Jonas Vingegaard ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Visma: 161
  2. Jardi Van der Lee ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ EF: 77
  3. Giulio Ciccone ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 75
  4. Felix Gall ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น Decathlon: 72
  5. Diego Sevilla ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ 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.

  1. Diego Sevilla ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Polti: 753
  2. Mattia Bais ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น polti: 516
  3. Manuele Tarozzi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 458
  4. Martin Marcellusi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 403
  5. Mirco Maestri ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Polti: 347

Teams classification

2 teams are clearly above the others.

  1. Visma ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ
  2. RB Bora ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช +0โ€ฒ24โ€ณ
  3. Tudor๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ +22โ€ฒ05โ€ณ
  4. Ineos ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง +22โ€ฒ07โ€ณ
  5. Q36.5 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ +30โ€ฒ58โ€ณ
  6. Decathlon ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท +49โ€ฒ06โ€ณ

Stages

Stage 16, Tuesday 26

113 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ 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.

Press to see detailed maps and profiles

Stage 17, Wednesday 27

202 km, medium difficulty (25 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ splits

A stage for breakaways, punchers and guys doing secondary/tertiary classifications.

Press to see detailed maps and profiles

Stage 18, Thursday 28

171 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 1โ€ณ 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.

Press to see detailed maps and profiles

Stage 19, Friday 29

151 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ 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.

Press to see detailed maps and profiles

Stage 20, Saturday 30

200 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ splits

The last mountain stage, with a main climb done twice.

Press to see detailed maps and profiles

Stage 21, Sunday 31

131 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3โ€ณ splits

A flat stage to finish on 8 laps of the circuit in the capital city.

Press to see detailed maps and profiles

top 15 comments
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[โ€“] Akasazh@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Great summary, looking forward for the last week!

[โ€“] ryrybang@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Today should be good. Exciting stage profile for a Tuesday.

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Stage 16, Tuesday 26

113 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ 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.

We indeed saw several races in one during this hot day all over Western Europe. There were several breakaways, until Narvaez (๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ UAE) got in one.

J. Milan (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek) has indeed stopped fighting for the Cyclamen jersey. He pulled the peloton, chasing the breakaway to allow Ciccone๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น to join it; and once inside the right breakaway Ciccone๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น didn't at all defend Cyclamen points against Narvaez๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ who had come only for that.

Van der Lee tried hard to defend the Blue jersey he was wearing (in place of Vingegaard (๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Visma)) but it was going too fast and he scored almost nothing, while Ciccone๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น was coming first in all 4 mid-stage climbs. However, with his stage win, Vingegaard๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ 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 Pellizzari๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น.

Kuss (๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Visma) was as useless as usual, but Piganzoli๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น did his share, dropping many opponents before launching Vingegaard๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ and dropping a while, before coming back for his own GC position. I thought that Vingegaard๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ 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 (๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น 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 Gall๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น won in the end for time bonus. Bernal (๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Ineos) was on a good day and (successfully) did a lot of work to bring back Arensman๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ towards the front, without completely collapsing after.

Eulalio (๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Bahrain) was dropped early with O'Connor (๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Jayco), but finished rather well again (with the old skeleton Poels (๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ 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 (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Visma).

Pellizzari๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, completely out for GC, may be another thorn in Ciccone๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น's foot for next stages victories.

[โ€“] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago

Gee was dropped at least twice, but surprisingly managed to come back each time

not surprising... Gee has always been like this. Never follows the surges. Just rides his own race...

Roller coaster of emotions as a fan...

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Debriefing

In GC, the first Pro-Team riders are :

  • Storer ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ 7^th^ for Tudor
  • Rondel ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท 11^th^ for Tudor too
  • Poels ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ 22^nd^ for Unibet
  • Crescioli ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น 27^th^ for Polti

Tudor and Unibet belong to the 5 major PTs, while Polti is a medium PT: there's no surprise, money talks. Bardiani didn't try to bring a GC guy, I reckon.

EF didn't place anyone in GC. M. Beloki๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ started well and was just 5-10 minutes behind in GC for 2 weeks, but then he signed his new contract at Ineos, stopped caring about doing something for his current team, and lost almost 2 hours...

Different circumstances but same result for Picnic who brought 3 guys with a climber/GC profile (Barguil-Hamilton-Leemreize), except that none of them has any sort of legs... In 3 weeks, one 9^th^ place for Barguil on a stage won by a breakaway to which he didn't belong, when he just went ahead of a lifeless peloton; and one 10^th^ place by their sprinter. Anyway, nobody cares about anything in this team, so that's fine.

Talking about riders who started well, in the second half of the Giro, O'Connor (๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ Jayco) lost time and GC positions each time there was some action in the finish; he finished 16^th^ at 24 mn... To a lesser degree, Rondel๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท also weakened in the second half of the tour, but while he was regularly losing time, the loss was contained so that he didn't lose GC positions after the Time Trial.

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Stage 20, Saturday 30

200 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ splits

The last mountain stage, with a main climb done twice.

Tarozzi (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani) and Warbasse (๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Tudor) did a chase for more than 50 km, alone 1 mn behind a breakaway of 5. Tarozzi๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น needed the I.S. points for the Traganti Volanti classification that he leads just a few points ahead of the next guys. Unfortunately for him, not only he arrived cooked in the group after over an hour of 2 vs 5 effort, not only the I.S. was on top of a climb, but in the group there were both Leknessund (๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด Uno-X) and Silva (๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡พ Astana), who, as I said yesterday, rank 4^th^ and 3^rd^ in Cyclamen jersey classification! So poor Tarozzi๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น was beaten by both in the sprint, and his first place in Traganti Volanti classification is not 100% secured (even though he scored a few points, which is better than nothing and will make things easier to control tomorrow).

Naturally, none of the 3 French Eurosport commentators could understand why those 2 guys went for the sprint and didn't leave it to Tarozzi๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, for none of those 3 commentators can be arsed to give a quick look at classifications before the start of the stage, or even during the first 70 km of the stage despite 1 or 2 of them spending their time looking at a computer screen instead of watching the race. Also, none except the old consultant (Jacky Durand) reads a few pages of regulations in 3 weeks (you'd expect it would rather be the role of the journalist but he spends his time browsing PCS...).

Arrieta (๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ UAE) became first in the RB classification. Does UAE really need this?

None of the teams with a leader in/near top-10 attempted anything before the final watts contest today: nobody sent people ahead in a breakaway, and nobody tried anything in the first major climb, even after Visma slew down, and nobody had time to try anything in the last climb (before Vingegaard attacked, then there was a little bit of action behind, but the culling had already been performed). There wasn't a single change in top-11 (only Bernal (๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Ineos) overperformed a bit compared to his GC rank, but not enough (and he had to drag Arensman๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง all the way up)). I had fallen asleep when Vingegaard crossed the line, and missed his handlebar licking...

The stage was clearly designed to allow strategical actions. It wasn't a simple, single climb, finish-on-top. There was a 25 km long flat zone between the two major climbs which allowed the team strategy of using as a relay someone sent ahead earlier. And to go ahead earlier, the 3^rd^ category climb 50 km before the first main climb was perfect. They even had moved the I.S. (usually coming much later in the stage) just before it, so that the GC strategy could start after an eventual battle for Cyclamen, not interfering with its preparation and even benefiting of the hesitation that often comes after an I.S.

Visma didn't care about the Blue jersey and gifted it to Ciccone (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek), who rode more for Vingegaard๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ than he did for his leader Gee๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ.

Visma also managed to blow up for nothing its own pretender to the White jersey Piganzoli๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น...

Kuss was as useless, or badly used, as usual. His stage victory didn't change this.

[โ€“] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Gee helped ciccone at every opportunity and ciccone instantly ran out of energy as soon as it was his turn to work for gee. Ciccone is officialy on my shit list now.

Kudos to gee for jumping into the top 5 all by himself with basically no help from any teammates.

Arensman's corpse had to be dragged uphill by bernal every day, hindley had pellizzari when he needed him....gee had to do it all by himself.

Trek should be ashamed of this giro. Couldnt even get milan a win (hopefully tomorrow with a derek gee leadout)

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

Ciccone must have put in his contract that he can do whatever he wants during his national tour. I can't see any other logical reason.

I didn't believe in Gee before the tour, or even in the beginning of it; yet after 2 weeks it was clear, even to me, that he could get a nice GC result. As the team was built for fair part around Milan, there wouldn't be much workforce available for help, so it was important that the co-leader would help him, after said co-leader was already offered many personal chances since the beginning of the tour. But no.

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Stage 19, Friday 29

151 km, high difficulty (15 pts), no sprint zone, 1โ€ณ splits

Massive GPM points are available today: 162! Here is the current Blue jersey classification:

  1. Jonas Vingegaard ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Visma: 214 pts
  2. Giulio Ciccone ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 133
  3. Felix Gall ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น Decathlon: 96
  4. Einer Rubio ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Movistar: 88
  5. Jardi Van der Lee ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ EF: 84

Yep, Vingegaard๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ went to grab the points of the 4^th^ category climb today...

[โ€“] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Lol the rubio drama alone is worth watching the stage

Another second for gee, :( We used to call this saganth place but we should rename it

I love eulalio more and more every day

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Like Scaroni the other day, Narvaez (๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ UAE) was dropped and withdrew early in the stage. While this confirms that Magnier will get the Cyclamen jersey, it opens one seat on the podium of that classification. This evening, points are such:

  1. Paul Magnier ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท Soudal-QS: 195
  2. Jonathan Milan ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 103
  3. Guillermo Silva ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡พ Astana: 82
  4. Andreas Leknessund ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด Uno-X: 79
  5. Jasper Stuyven ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช Soudal-QS: 75
  6. Mattia Bais ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Polti: 74

As there are 12 points on each of the 2 remaining I.S. and Magnier doesn't need to score any extra point any more, getting/staying on that podium can be an important goal for those riders and their team, especially Astana, Uno-X and Polti.

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Stage 18, Thursday 28

171 km, low difficulty (50 pts), 3 km sprint zone, 1โ€ณ 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.

Standings before the stage for a few of the secondary classifications which are still fought over:

Points classification

  1. Jhonatan Narvaez ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡จ UAE: 157 pts ๐Ÿ”ผ
  2. Paul Magnier ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท Soudal-QS: 145 ๐Ÿ”ฝ
  3. Andreas Leknessund ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ด Uno-X: 79 ๐Ÿ”ผ
  4. Jonathan Milan ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 78 ๐Ÿ”ฝ

Many riders can still fight for 3^rd^ place (worth 95 UCI points).

Intermediary Sprints classification

  1. Manuele Tarozzi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 60
  2. Diego Sevilla ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Polti: 48
  3. Mattia Narvaez ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น polti: 44 ๐Ÿ”ผ
  4. Mattia Bais ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น polti: 44 ๐Ÿ”ฝ
  5. Martin Marcellusi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 25

RB Sprints classification

Rubio has been in many breakaways lately.

  1. Einer Rubio ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Movistar: 31 ๐Ÿ”ผ๐Ÿ”ผ๐Ÿ”ผ
  2. Manuele Tarozzi ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Bardiani: 31
  3. Afonso Eulalio ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Bahrain: 30

Mountain classification

Ciccone is going for it, but...

  1. Jonas Vingegaard ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ Visma: 211
  2. Giulio Ciccone ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek: 133 ๐Ÿ”ผ
  3. Felix Gall ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น Decathlon: 96 ๐Ÿ”ผ
  4. Einer Rubio ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Movistar: 88 ๐Ÿ”ผ
  5. Jardi Van der Lee ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ EF: 84 ๐Ÿ”ฝ
[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It was very difficult to understand the logic of most teams today, especially in the last 20 km.

Everyone expected a big breakaway and wanted to be in; yet when the peloton finally gave up, it was just composed of 2 Polti ahead (Mifsud๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท/๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡น and M. Bais๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น) who waited for an EF and an Alpecin who were in chasse-patate.

Then 25 km from the line, Lidl-Trek were pushing like crazy, and caught the breakaway several kilometres before the RB bonus sprint, despite having no interest in it, neither for time bonuses, not for RB classification. In fact, they completely stopped their effort when the breakaway was 10 metres ahead of the peloton, and while 3 of them were giving up, the 4^th^ one, Geens (๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช Alpecin) kept going and reached the RB sprint in first position.

Still at this RB sprint, everyone in the peloton was going slow and blocking riders from behind: riders interested in the RB classification, like the Bardiani riders, couldn't defend their chances. The GC leaders didn't try to score a few easy seconds. Even better, Arensman (๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑ Ineos), who is just 24 seconds behind Gall (and 33 ahead of Hindeley) in GC, could have scored 4 seconds easily, but he scored 0, as his own teammate deprived him of the 2 seconds he could have got without even sprinting, just staying at the front of the peloton behind a Decathlon rider...

Then there was the wall, which was supposed to be the launchpad for a stage victory of punchers. Again, the peloton was riding super fast in the few miles before it. And when the wall started... they all slew down, and nobody attacked. Not a strong puncher, not a small puncher: no one. After a while, only Eulalio (๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡น Barhrain), who had suffered a significant crash 30 or 40 km earlier, attempted something. But he was chased by... Kuss (๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Visma) and Vingegaard๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฐ pulling the peloton. Why did they do that? What was their objective? Another mystery. There was nothing to win for them.

So it was a sprinter finish, and the fight for Cyclamen is basically over. โ˜น๏ธ

[โ€“] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Eulalio has really shown himself to be a rider with panache. Count me as a eulalio fan from now on

gee-west burnt more GC matches again trying to help milan. What a great teammate!

[โ€“] Deschanel2027@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Stage 21, Sunday 31

131 km, no difficulty (50 pts), 5 km sprint zone, 3โ€ณ splits

A flat stage to finish on 8 laps of the circuit in the capital city.

I found it appalling that UAE went for the RB sprint to deprive Rubio (๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ Movistar) of 5.000 โ‚ฌ...

There were many little breakaways. The most significant was by Ganna (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Ineos), which was only caught 3 km from the line. He had 2 dead weights in his wheel who never pulled one second: Sobrero (๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น Lidl-Trek) and Stuyven (๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช Soudal-QS). It was a bit more understandable by Sobrero๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น as he didn't stand much chances vs the other 2 and Milan๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น was really eager to finally get his first victory, but Stuyven๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช, seriously... I was thinking it was a pity Ganna๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น had those guys with him and not others like Maestri๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, and he counter-attacked just when Ganna๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น's breakaway was finally caught, so yes, he was pissed he wasn't in that breakaway ๐Ÿ˜ƒ; but beside Maestri๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น, anyone collaborating a little bit would have made this breakaway beat the peloton as the sprinter teams behind were loosing all their elements.

Anyway, Soudal-QS was punished by an utterly shitty sprint of Magnier๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท, who was a bit blocked, but above all was completely cooked, as even the uphill false-flat was too much for him. Stuyven๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ช would have had 80% chances of winning if he had relayed Ganna๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น a bit...