Movistar hit back after tactical questions: 'It opens the book'

It was expected in advance, and Movistar duly cranked up the pace in the twelfth Giro stage. The Spanish team did not win, and their tactics were questioned by plenty of people. So how does Movistar — forced to change tack early in the race — view their own performance? Team director Matt White gave a detailed response.

The team had to tear up their plans early on when leader Enric Mas lost significant time on Blockhaus. "We went for a couple of stages early in the race, and then with Enric Mas out of the GC battle, it opens the book to a lot more attacks," White told Cyclingnews.

Mas dropping out of the GC battle was not the only setback for the Spanish team. "We can go after certain stages a lot more now, and we can also go on the attack and in the breaks in the mountains, too. We lost Javier Romo today due to illness, but we'll keep attacking," White added.

The Australian director had been targeting specific stages. "We identified a few stages where selections like this one could be possible. Orluis Aular is fast, but he's not a pure sprinter. He prefers reduced sprints and can handle the fatigue and load of hard stages."

Thursday's stage, like stage four, was a good opportunity for the Ecuadorian sprinter. "This was a great chance for him, so we took it on," White said. The Spanish team pushed the pace again on the climbs, and the pure sprinters paid the price.

Those sprinters were not pleased about it. "It's hard to understand Movistar's tactics, to be honest. Of course, they have a fast rider, but… maybe they do it for show? In the end, they drop the sprinters, but they don't win," said a bitter Paul Magnier after being dropped on the climb.

Fortunately for the Spanish team, they got help from Netcompany-INEOS and EF Education-EasyPost. "We knew that if we didn't get help, it wouldn't have worked — that's something we can't control. But our intent was good; we did the damage. Then other teams came to our aid," White said.

In the end, it all came to nothing. "It didn't work out, but it was worth trying," White reflected on the stage won by Alec Segaert. The Australian director had nothing but admiration for the Belgian. "It was perfect timing — he's a beast. He attacked on the outside of two corners and over Visma, which was smart."

The Dutch outfit subsequently did very little. "Visma had no interest in the sprint — they didn't even react. The only thing they did was protect Vingegaard and make sure he came safely through the final corner," White recalled. And so Segaert was gone, and no one saw him again.

"When you've got that five seconds, it's hard to pull a rider like him back, even if you have fresh riders — which no one in the front group really had today. Tactically, it was a great move from him. He and Bahrain must be happy, but we can be happy too. Our time will come."