Poole back on track after unfortunate setback, according to Picnic PostNL: "This is a great boost"

Leemreize was part of the first big breakaway, where about 35 riders managed to escape. “It was really a battle for the breakaway; it took almost two hours before we got away,” he said in the flash interview. "When we finally got away, I think everyone was really exhausted. There wasn't really any cooperation at the front; we were attacking each other more than riding together."

Due to the presence of Einer Rubio, who was still high in the rankings, the peloton gave the group little space, where UAE Team Emirates - XRG set the pace. "On the long climb, the peloton fell apart; then everything came back together. Romain jumped with them then, so we were in a good position again. I hear he finished fourth in the end, so another good day."

Bardet only joined the breakaway after Monte Grappa and had to dig deep to stay with them. I'm cooked,' he said on the team's website. "This was the kind of stage you’d usually expect in the third week: all-in. It was another brutally hard day. I only made it into the break after 150 kilometres, and it wasn’t an ideal stage for me, with no really steep sections and a flat finish. Still, I was happy to crest the Monte Grappa with the group of favourites, as there were only ten or 20 of us left at that point."

At Picnic PostNL, they are still hopeful for a good ranking for Poole, who is currently in 17th place. "Once I got into the break, I kept listening closely to the radio to hear how Max was doing in the Maglia Rosa group, and whether I needed to drop back," explained his French teammate, who also praised the winner in Verona. "Full credit to Verona, it was an incredibly strong ride. It took guts to go solo with a 16 kilometre climb still to come. Honestly, I don’t think I had the legs to win today in the finale; I’ve been going deep every day for a week now and it’s taking its toll. I’ll have to recover now and from Tuesday on, we’ll need to pick my moments, because there are still some brutal stages ahead of us."

After an inconsistent Giro for leader Poole, things are looking up again. Coach Matt Winston sees that his two best climbers are performing at an excellent level but that the whole team is also in good shape. "It was a really solid day actually. There was a big fight to go into the first breakaway. We spent a lot of energy there to try and get in that break. In the end, Romain came close a few times to getting in, but it was Gijs who got in there for us. Then the race exploded on the Monte Grappa. Max was climbing really well there and had Romain alongside him."

"The break reset and a new one went in the valley. Romain made a big effort to jump across to it, which also cost him a lot of energy, but it was a move that just stayed away to the finish with Romain sprinting to fourth." The British coach is pleased with the progress of his compatriot Poole. "Max looked sharp all day in the GC group and was able to follow some of the best guys in the world and could sprint to tenth place on the stage. Going into the rest day, it’s a good result and good for morale, so we’ll have a nice rest day now and see what next week brings."

The Giro for Picnic PostNL has already been a success, with Casper van Uden's fantastic stage win in the fourth stage to Lecce. In Viadana, he also finished second, behind Olav Kooij. Poole has already finished in the top 10 three times and could have been much higher in the GC had he not had so much bad luck in the gravel stage to Siena. He lost 5 minutes to winner Wout van Aert and 3.50 minutes to most of his opponents.