Carapaz and Del Toro gain time on Yates in relatively uneventful queen stage of the Giro, Prodhomme impressively holds off favorites

After a grueling start to the third week, with two monster mountain stages, the riders were given only one day of relative rest. After the flat stage on Thursday, it was time for another mountain stage on Friday, not just any stage. The ride to Champoluc was the queen stage, with almost 5,000 meters of climbing packed into 165 kilometers. It would be the first of a decisive series of two, so the stakes were high.

The GC contenders were eager to make a difference, but first, it was the turn of the breakaway riders. The battle began on the Croce Serra, the opening climb. There, Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Nicholas Prodhomme (Decathlon AG2R), Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal Quick-Step), and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education - EasyPost) managed to break away. However, the battle was still in full swing in the next valley, with Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) joining in.

Eventually, a large group of about 30 riders managed to catch up with the four leaders. Among them were Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana), Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Mads Pedersen and Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek), all of whom had already won a stage. But strong climbers such as Romain Bardet (Picnic (PostNL), Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Patrick Konrad (Lidl-Trek), Arensman, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Milan Vader (Q36.5), Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates) and Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar) were also in the mix. The highest-ranked rider was Antonio Tiberi, who was just under 15 minutes behind the pink jersey.

On the super tough Col Tzecore, about 35 riders were left: Pedersen, Groves, and Van Aert didn't make it to the top, but the most surprising rider to drop out was Arensman. He had struggled from the start of the climb and was caught by the peloton, which was controlled by UAE Team Emirates, along with the purple jersey wearer. Scaroni took the mountain points and kept himself somewhat in contention for the blue jersey, but then he had to win almost every mountain sprint to beat his teammate Lorenzo Fortunato.

There was a brief pause in the valley after the tough climb, during which the breakaway group's lead grew to around 3.30 minutes. Once on the next climb, the Col de Saint-Pantaléon, the pace in the peloton picked up, thanks to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. Giulio Pellizzari, wearing the white jersey, clearly had plans and put his team to work. The gap to the breakaway riders gradually closed, and the peloton quickly thinned out to around 35 riders. In the leading group, more and more riders were being dropped. Harper was very combative and split the group apart.

A dozen riders remained in the lead, but Israel-Premier Tech and Visma | Lease a Bike took control in the peloton. Under the pace of those teams, the peloton thinned out to a group of favorites of less than 20 riders. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) and Max Poole (Picnic PostNL) were among the early victims, while Steven Kruijswijk set a fast pace. The leaders saw their lead quickly diminish. At the top of the climb, only a handful of escapees remained: Lemmen, Bilbao, and Meintjes had to make up a small gap on Prodhomme, Verona, Tiberi, and Steinhauser.

Once on the Col de Joux, three men remained at the front: Prodhomme, Verona, and Tiberi proved the strongest. The Frenchman was particularly combative, and the Bahrain Victorious leader fell behind as the climber picked up the pace. But the favorites were closing in, thanks to the work of the strong Wilco Kelderman. The Visma | Lease, a Bike rider, powered ahead for Simon Yates, and a little later, Lemmen could also contribute. When he was exhausted, Del Toro's team took over.

With 5 kilometers to go, Pellizzari made his first move, but Rafal Majka quickly countered him. This restored calm in the group of favorites, which now consisted of a dozen riders. Carapaz briefly accelerated, but he decided to call it a day when his move was neutralized. Saturday's stage had clearly instilled fear in the riders, and the Col de Joux was therefore uneventful: we reached the top in a relatively large group, less than a minute behind Prodhomme, who was riding solo in search of victory.

After a short descent, the very tricky climb to Antagnod followed. The French climber from Decathlon AG2R did everything he could to stay out of the claws of the favorites. In fact, thanks to the control of UAE, he could even pull away. The final climb was so flat that no one tried to break away. Del Toro's Polish lieutenant kept the pace steady but not grueling. Clearly, the pink jersey did not want to win another stage.

This allowed Prodhomme to extend his lead from one minute to 1.30 minutes. With a bit of help from the team car here and there, the 28-year-old climber held his own. With 2 kilometers to go, it was Carapaz again with a breakaway, and this time, he had a lot more strength left. Only Del Toro could follow, and Yates had to let go. The acceleration came too late to catch Prodhomme, who crossed the finish line solo and claimed a magnificent victory. Del Toro won the sprint for second place, and Yates lost more than 20 seconds. In that sprint, Pellizzari crashed awkwardly, losing extra time.