Momentum with Ayuso: "If Roglic really had good legs, he wouldn’t have let that happen"

From the start of the stage, it was clear that Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe intended to relinquish the pink jersey of Primoz Roglic, but in the end, it was still a close call. "They wanted to lose the jersey to Lorenzo Fortunato, but he dropped back on the climb." In the end, Diego Ulissi, a teammate of Fortunato, took the pink jersey.

The Italian has a seventeen-second lead over Roglic, while Fortunato is still twelve seconds behind his teammate. "Who would have expected Fortunato to lose ground on that climb?” Bruyneel wonders. “He obviously used a lot of energy for those mountain sprints, which ultimately takes its toll."

Behind them, the GC contenders were also battling it out, with Tom Pidcock among those attacking. "I don't really understand it. I find it hard to believe that Pidcock thinks he can compete for the GC, and Sunday's stage is perfect for him, so I didn't really understand his attack," Bruyneel analyzed ahead of Sunday's gravel stage to Siena in the Giro.

In the end, there was also a sprint at the finish, with Juan Ayuso once again taking a second back on his big rival Roglic. "Ayuso wanted more seconds. The win is more mental than actual time. If Roglic had really good legs, he wouldn't have let that happen. It doesn't really impact what's to come, but it's the second day in a row that he can't keep up."