Rider reactions show why Van der Poel didn’t crack for nothing on brutal Tirreno stage: “The pace was really annoying”

Michael Valgren won the stage, but the Dane of EF Education–EasyPost had to dig deep to do it. “Valgren rode unbelievably — he deserved the win today,” Tobias Halland Johannessen said afterwards on Eurosport. According to the 26-year-old Norwegian of Uno-X Mobility, it had been suffering all day long.

“It felt like the Amstel Gold Race, constantly up and down. Every climb was hard, so it was proper racing today,” Johannessen explained, having launched an attack himself in the finale. “But I’d hoped someone would come with me. Once I was alone, it was better to wait. In the end I felt pretty good on the climb, but Isaac (del Toro) was stronger.”

That the general classification contenders were still going at each other on the final climb said everything about the day. Mathieu van der Poel stayed with the climbers for a long time, but the Dutchman from Alpecin–Premier Tech finally had to let go with just over five kilometres to go. The fact he lasted that long was already impressive — riders like Wout van Aert and Filippo Ganna had been dropped much earlier.

“It was really hard. If I’m honest, I suffered quite a lot just sitting in the wheel,” Giulio Ciccone said afterwards. “The pace in the bunch was really annoying. The break was flying, which made it difficult to chase on those steep kickers. It was a really tough day — and Saturday will be even harder.”

Under normal circumstances, Van der Poel will also have no real chance on Saturday in stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico. Del Toro (UAE) and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma | Lease a Bike) have already indicated they want to fight for the stage win, and Johannessen made it clear he is thinking along the same lines. “Tomorrow we’ll try again — it will be just as hard,” said the Norwegian. “I hope to do a bit better then.”

And Ciccone? He looked like he had emptied himself at the finish, but after ending stage 5 in fifth place — just behind Johannessen in fourth — he was still able to keep things in perspective. “It’s my first race in a long time, so my form isn’t super good yet,” he concluded. “I think I’m getting better day by day. We’ll see again tomorrow.”