Two Belgians impress but miss out on victory: 'steep two kilometres that does me in'

Jasper Stuyven and Toon Aerts were both involved in the fight for victory on the thirteenth stage of the Giro d'Italia. It did not result in a win for either of them: Stuyven finished third, Aerts thirteenth. The two riders looked back on their day in very different ways.

Stuyven stayed with the lead group for a long time, but on the final climb he had to let the best climbers go. He fought back somewhat on the descent and won the sprint for third. It was his second podium and third top-five finish of this Giro — another strong result, still no win. "That's a song they've been singing about me for years," he responds to Sporza. "But it feels good to be riding like this. It makes it easier to keep believing."

Yet the Soudal Quick-Step rider is frustrated all the same. "Again it's a steep two kilometres that does me in. I think Groupama-FDJ cut everyone's legs off very quickly by riding at such a high tempo, but Bettiol was sitting comfortably in the wheel. I think he had a superb day — the kind of day I would have needed to perhaps get a bit closer to the top."

Stuyven had prepared well for the stage. "I had put some energy into studying the descent. That did come in useful, though Bettiol is also a good descender. I rode all-out. I'd rather go all-in for a win than start calculating too early for the podium. A bit of luck is eluding me at the right moment, but I can't complain. I'll keep trying."

Aerts had finished an impressive second the day before in Novi Ligure, but on stage thirteen he could not match the best climbers in the finale and came in thirteenth. Yet he is far less downbeat about it than his compatriot. "It's important that I show myself. We stay in the flow. I also used up a lot of energy yesterday, and I really felt the deficit at the end of the climb."

There may have been more in the tank had he not given so much in the early part of the stage. "I could have stayed with Stuyven's group, but in the opening phase of the stage we had to ride at the front as four riders for a long time to get into the break. I think that lasted about 20 kilometres. That was incredibly tough. I think that's where I used the energy that I was missing in the last 700 metres of the climb."

His legs were already carrying a bit of fatigue by then — yet he had hoped for a better result. "Honestly, I did feel good during the stage. I wanted to have a go, but that was on the flat roads. And maybe some riders found yesterday's stage a lot easier than I did."