Kasper Asgreen (EF Schooling-EasyPost) held on for a well-known breakaway victory on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia, the Dane’s triumph approaching a day of sudden GC drama due to a crash on the closing circuit.
Because the race visited the Italy-Slovenia cross-border metropolis of Gorizia-Nova Gorica, what was anticipated to be an easy dash stage was turned on its head by a multi-rider crash within the peloton 23km from the road.
GC contenders Primož Roglič (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso (UAE Crew Emirates-XRG), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), and Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) have been all caught out within the fall, shedding main time on the finish of the 195km stage.
Out entrance, Asgreen took benefit of the break up within the peloton and ensuing chaos to go solo 6.5km from the road.
He left behind breakaway survivors Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) to solo dwelling and win the stage by 16 seconds as Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike) led a 16-rider peloton throughout the road.
Maglia rosa Isaac del Toro (UAE Crew Emirates-XRG) was secure among the many lead group, as have been different main GC names Richard Carapaz (EF Schooling-EasyPost), Simon Yates (Visma-Lease A Bike), Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious), and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech).
The following group on the street, at 1:04 down on Asgreen and people dropping 48 seconds to Del Toro et al, have been Juan Ayuso (UAE Crew Emirates-XRG), Primož Roglič (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the Ineos Grenadiers duo of Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman, and Michael Storer (Tudor).
It was an excellent worse day for Italy’s high GC hopefuls. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) got here dwelling two minutes all the way down to lose 1:44 to the lead group, whereas Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) misplaced minutes after resuming from the crash over six minutes down.
The brand new GC image sees Del Toro holding pink by an prolonged 1:20 from Simon Yates, whereas Ayuso lies third at 1:26. Roglič stays fifth, now at 2:23 down relatively than 1:35, whereas Tiberi drops 5 locations to eighth at 3:02.
The way it unfolded
With the mountainous ultimate week of the Giro d’Italia looming, solely a handful of probabilities remained for the sprinters of the peloton, with stage 14’s journey to the Slovenian border offering one other alternative.
The largely flat stage, that includes slightly below 1,000 metres of climbing, headed 195km east from Treviso to the cross-border metropolis of Nova Gorica-Gorizia. Simply three fourth-category climbs lay in await the peloton, with Goniace (3.5km at 4.9%) and two ascents of Saver (700m at 7.7%) coming within the ultimate 40km of the stage.
The break of the day took a while to go clear as assaults flew from the beginning. The primary 20km of the stage noticed a powerful group bounce away, together with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Kasper Asgreen (EF Schooling-EasyPost), Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty), Josef Cerny (Soudal-QuickStep), and Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale).
That breakaway try wouldn’t succeed, nonetheless, however Asgreen continued to push alone on the entrance. He drew a sole chaser in Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta), earlier than Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty), and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) additionally got here throughout.
Assaults continued behind, however as Visma-Lease a Bike and Alpecin-Deceuninck set about taking management of the peloton with 160km to go, that quintet was set because the break of the day. They’d take 90 seconds on the primary group, however Meintjes solely lasted 10km with the leaders earlier than dropping again.
On the pan-flat run to the border, rain showers got here and went after which got here again once more, although little else of observe occurred because the riders raced eastwards. Maestri led over the primary intermediate dash at Morsano al Tagliamento earlier than Marcellusi beat him to the road at Talmassons, 94km from the end.
Each sprints noticed De Bondt bounce out of the peloton to dash in opposition to maglia ciclamino Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), an odd matchup given the Belgian lay seventh within the standings, 178 factors down on the Dane. He took the singular level on supply on every event, in any case.
On the subsequent dash, the Crimson Bull Kilometre at 62km to go, the break race on with an 80-second lead whereas Maestri led the way in which as soon as once more as Visma-Lease a Bike and Alpecin-Deceuninck continued on the head of the peloton.
Throngs of Slovenian followers, out in pressure to help their hero Roglič, greeted the Giro on the border, the place the riders lastly hit the primary climb of the day at Gonlace, 42km from the road.
The break quickly turned a trio on the way in which up as Davy dropped off the again. Asgreen led them excessive whereas again within the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers accelerated to the entrance, bringing the hole all the way down to a minute.
On town circuit, a tightening bend at 23km to go introduced the primary main drama of the day because the squeeze within the peloton introduced on a multi-rider crash and a break up within the group. Lidl-Trek GC chief Giulio Ciccone went down arduous and took a while to get going once more, resuming six minutes off the lead.
The break up additionally noticed a swathe of different GC riders – together with Roglič, Ayuso, Bernal, and Tiberi – on the again foot, compelled to chase a lead peloton which included race chief Del plus Carapaz, Simon Yates, and Gee.
Out entrance, the break was hanging on to a 25-second lead heading into the ultimate 10km. Roglič, Ayuso, Bernal and his teammate Arensman lay 1:10 down, whereas Tiberi and a number of other teammates chased from a two-minute deficit.
Regardless of the perfect efforts of Visma-Lease a Bike chasing the break for his or her sprinter Kooij, it will be the break which fought for the victory – or certainly one of their quantity, at the very least. Asgreen, the only WorldTour consultant within the transfer, went for it on the day’s ultimate climb with 6.5km to go.
He held onto an ever-tightening hole throughout the closing kilometres. Nevertheless, it was a bonus which hovered across the 10 to 15-second mark relatively than melting into single figures.
The Dane, a winner from the break on the Tour de France two years in the past, held on to carry off the choose chase group and file the 14th victory of his profession, EF’s second in 4 days on the Giro.
16 seconds later, the fastmen Groves, Kooij, and Orluis Aular (Movistar) led dwelling the chase, whereas, additional again, a swathe of main Giro contenders have been left counting their losses.
Outcomes
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