Verona wins fifteenth Giro stage with impressive solo effort, Roglic loses time due to INEOS offensive

Saturday's stage was quite chaotic. A crash involving Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) left many riders behind a breakaway in the peloton. As a result, many contenders lost time in the general classification, while Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) even had to leave the Giro. Despite the chaos, Kasper Asgreen managed to win the stage for EF Education-EasyPost.

With the grueling Monte Grappa on the program, another chaotic day was expected on Sunday. In an otherwise almost entirely flat opening phase, the riders would arrive at Monte Grappa after just over 100 kilometers. The climb to Dori would follow in the final, promising exciting action just before the rest day.

It was also predicted that there would be a lot of interest in the early breakaway. In a super fast opening phase, we saw many riders trying, including Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek). However, no one managed to get away.

After 45 kilometers, we saw the peloton suddenly split on a kilometer-long wall with an average gradient of 12.2%. The most notable victim was Tiberi, who had missed the breakaway after crashing the day before. Bahrain Victorious had to close the gap in time trial mode, which they managed to do after some time.

As many as 35 riders were at the front. Einer Rubio (Movistar) was the best-placed, 4 minutes and 26 seconds behind pink jersey wearer Isaac Del Toro. Partly because of this, UAE Team Emirates-XRG took control of the peloton. With Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL) and Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), there were two Dutch riders in the breakaway. At the same time, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) were also dangerous contenders for the stage win.

Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), Nicola Conci (XDS-Astana), and Davide De Pretto (Jayco AlUla) arrived at the foot of Monte Grappa, slightly ahead of their fellow breakaway riders. Conci then went solo briefly on the first sections while riders dropped one by one in both the peloton and the breakaway group. After the Italian was caught, there was not much excitement. Even in the peloton, where UAE Team Emirates-XRG set the pace, no one seemed to have any plans.

In the breakaway group, Steinhauser attacked seven kilometers from the top. The German was immediately joined by Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana), causing the breakaway group to fall apart at the front. Juan Ayuso suddenly came to a standstill, but with a new bike, he quickly continued. Just as the UAE Spaniard returned to the peloton, it was – how could it be otherwise – INEOS Grenadiers who once again seemed to have a game plan. The pace picked up considerably with Ben Turner at the front, causing the peloton to thin out quite a bit.

The strategy? To accelerate on Monte Grappa with Egan Bernal, as it turned out. The Colombian sprinted away from his opponents with just under five kilometers to go, but Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) followed. Teammate Thymen Arensman joined them shortly afterward, followed by Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech). They eventually reached the top with a 20-second lead, where Fortunato had collected 40 mountain points a minute earlier.

Del Toro did not (or was not allowed to?) join them while his team started the chase behind them. Led by UAE, the gap was closed on the descent, bringing all the GC contenders back together. Meanwhile, local rider Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) had set off on his solo adventure. The Italian had a half-minute lead over the significantly reduced peloton when he reached the bottom.

Behind Frigo, the remaining breakaway riders realized after the descent that there were still plenty of opportunities for the stage win. Ten riders quickly closed in on the leaders. Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL) were among those who made it to the front. The peloton was happy to let them compete for the stage win, allowing them to build up a four-minute lead.

The final began with the Dori climb, where Carlos Verona immediately accelerated on the first ascending sections. The Spaniard from Lidl-Trek built up a nice lead and saw Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal Quick-Step) behind him, trying to get on his wheel. Meanwhile, INEOS retook the lead of the peloton, just as we had seen on Monte Grappa. The warning was issued!

Filippo Zana (Jayco AlUla) then rode up to Garofoli, who was chasing, but they still had half a minute to make up on the strong Verona. Behind them, Bernal was the first to accelerate at a strange moment, but then he held back. This was followed by an acceleration from Arensman, but he, too, could not break away. INEOS failed to capitalize this time, allowing UAE, which still had almost the entire team in the peloton, to take control.

It was then EF Education-EasyPost's turn to set the pace. The peloton was reduced to a group of favorites, and leader Carapaz was ready to be launched. The man from Ecuador accelerated significantly and saw that Del Toro, Ayuso, and Tiberi, among others, could keep up. Primoz Roglic was unable to follow and was left far behind. Once the other favorites for the overall victory realized this, they continued. A new attack by Carapaz followed just as Roglic seemed to be catching up again.

Gee then shifted into a higher gear. Del Toro jumped onto his wheel in Pogacar style, followed by Simon Yates. Del Toro seemed very comfortable and stopped the attacks one by one. At the top, Roglic's disadvantage was no less than one minute, while Zana and Garofoli had closed in on the leader Verona to fifteen seconds.

This resulted in a fascinating battle in the relatively flat final phase on two fronts. At the front, Verona seemed to be cruising towards the stage victory, while a group behind him ensured it would remain exciting. Behind them, various teams were still working hard to put as much time as possible between Roglic and the rest of the peloton.

It was a happy ending for Verona, who gave his Lidl-Trek team something to cheer about again with a brilliant solo ride after their leader, Ciccone, had to abandon the race. The big loser of the day was ultimately Roglic, who lost extra time on his opponents after an exciting stage.