Did gambling on the breakaway with Poels backfire? “Kept his cards a little too close to his chest”

After a wild start to the stage with a break of around forty riders, just five were left standing after the tough San Pellegrino climb. Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) secured valuable mountain points there, before a group of four joined on the descent. That group included teammate Wout Poels, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla), and Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

During that downhill, the gap grew from just forty seconds to over two minutes, giving the leaders new hope. But as the stage went on, Lidl-Trek, Q36.5, and eventually the GC riders began to take control. The breakaway’s fate was sealed.

Out on the road, Wout Poels was seen having a few words with Luke Plapp, who didn’t seem to be pulling through in the break. Speaking to CyclingProNet after the stage, the Aussie confirmed that was part of the plan. “If you’ve already won a stage, you’ve got a bit more freedom to take risks. They were more committed to making it work, while I chose to keep my cards closer to my chest and gamble a bit. I pretended I was hurting, but I actually felt pretty good.”

“My idea was to just hang in and try something at the finish,” Plapp said. “It was a gamble worth taking, because even if I had ridden full gas with them, we probably wouldn’t have made it. It was also fun to play around a bit. I’ve got a few mates back home who’ll have enjoyed watching that, because we’ve talked a lot about trying something like this. Once you’ve got a stage win in the bag, you can race a bit more relaxed.”

Pello Bilbao backed Plapp’s tactical approach. “We knew this stage offered a good opportunity for the break, but also that it could become tricky for the GC guys. The gap never really opened up, and there was definitely some poker being played in the break. The experienced riders knew exactly how it was going to unfold,” the Basque rider said with a smile.

“I didn’t feel great myself. If I had, I would have tried to attack. XDS-Astana had two guys up there, so it was tough to pull off any surprises,” Bilbao added. “That’s why I chose to save energy, but that attack from Richard Carapaz was just so strong.”

Wout Poels didn’t speak at the finish, but teammate Lorenzo Fortunato did, wearing the mountains jersey. “It was a good day for the team. My goal was to take mountain points, but when we gained more time, I told Poels I’d ride full gas for him. That way he could go for the stage win. But behind us, the peloton started chasing hard. We kept pushing, but it just wasn’t enough. We’ll definitely try again.”