Peter Sagan takes victory on Stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia after his team BORA-hansgrohe rode full gas in the final kilometres. The Slovakian made it around a series of high-speed sweeping corners on the tail of Sebastian Molano (UAE-Team Emirates) before surging past him to take his first Giro full-on sprint win. Molano’s teammate, Fernando Gaviria, had to settle for second with Israel Start-Up Nation’s Davide Cimolai rounding out the podium. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) remains in pink but Deceuninck-Quick Step rival Remco Evenepoel snatched a second back when the two teams battled for intermediate sprint seconds.
If at first you don’t succeed…
A hilly parcours ending in a sprint. How many times have we watched BORA-hansgrohe set out with the plan of dropping the out-and-out fast men on the climbs to give Sagz a better chance at the sprint? They try it every chance they get and it usually ends up with them burning through riders, not being able to keep the pace high enough up when the hills run out, and the fast men coming back to nick the glory. More of a damp fizzle than the explosion of the pink confetti canon.
Well NOT TODAY!!! Today they gambled on the shortest stage of the Giro, played it perfectly and Peter finished it off with some style.
Plan Part 1 : Drop those sprinters, baby!
The whole team came to front and rode hard on the two climbs in the last 40km.
🇮🇹 #Giro#BORAhansgrohe is on the front of the field, as sprinters are beginning to be dropped. Under 50km remaining. pic.twitter.com/eNZgpejwy8
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) May 17, 2021
It worked. Tim Merlier (Alpecin Fenix) and Jumbo-Vismas’s Dylan Groenewegen never saw the front of the race again and many others were put into the red.
Two big victims of Bora's pace so far: Tim Merlier and Dylan Groenewegen. #Giro pic.twitter.com/kdVopYak7T
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) May 17, 2021
#Giro
Game over for most sprinters after Bora Hansgrohe's pace on the climbs.
No opportunity for @moschettiteo today, but @SunJjak will certainly give it a go.— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) May 17, 2021
Plan Part 2 : Make sure they don’t come back to ruin the party!
This is the trickier part to deliver, especially when the climbs are behind you.
Bora-Hansgrohe just squashed the sprinters on the day's final climb, but there are still 30km to go for Nizzolo, Groenewegen, and Merlier to catch back on. #giroditalia2021
— VeloNews (@velonews) May 17, 2021
However, unlike previous attempts the BORA gang got some help from an Israel Start-Up Nation willing to ride for their man Davide Cimolai. With both teams piling on the pace at the front, it was nigh-on impossible for anyone to make it back. It didn’t stop Qhubeka-Assos from trying and for several kilometres we watched Victor Campenaerts and Giacomo Nizzolo trying to TT back into contention.
🇮🇹 #Giro
🏁27km
Campenaerts still trying to get Nizzolo back in contact with the front group.#BicyclesChangeLives
— Team Qhubeka ASSOS (@QhubekaAssos) May 17, 2021
🇮🇹 #Giro
Valiant effort from @VCampenaerts & @Giacomonizzolo but they aren't able to regain contact with the lead group.
🏁20km#BicyclesChangeLives
— Team Qhubeka ASSOS (@QhubekaAssos) May 17, 2021
You have to applaud the effort, even as you question the sense in it
"Ahhh, it was fun while it lasted. You'll have to be my Victor(y) today…"#Giro104🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/ooxba81ifp
— Will Newton (@InsidePeloton96) May 17, 2021
I’m also questioning the route for these high speed finishes. Every roundabout and corner left me feeling nauseous. Look at the final 2 kilometres!
Cimolai nearly binned it on that roundabout #Giro104
— Tim Bonville-Ginn (@TimBonvilleGinn) May 17, 2021
Max Kantor (Team DSM) took a tumble on the run to the line causing a split and holding up some GC riders. All were awarded the same as the winner and no one lost time.
Bad luck for us as Max Kanter went down in the last corner, but he got back on his bike and finished the stage okay! 👍🏻#Giro pic.twitter.com/b6vtGzelPn
— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) May 17, 2021
Plan Part 3: Over to you, Peter
Bora still had plenty of riders to deliver Peter under the flamme rouge and he took care of it with typical Sagan style. Using Gaviria’s own lead-out man to get the jump and keeping the power on to keep his rivals behind him. The victory also moved him to the top of the points category and into the maglia ciclamino. Let the battle commence for intermediate bonus points.
🧑⚖️Peter lays down the law at Foligno!
🧑⚖️ Peter detta legge a Foligno!Powered by @supersapiensinc #Giro pic.twitter.com/Sx3rFVhnoS
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 17, 2021
💗 Giro d'Italia 2021 – Stage 🔟
🇸🇰 @petosagan wins in Foligno!
🇸🇰 @petosagan vince a Foligno!#Giro pic.twitter.com/q42bpeSajQ— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 17, 2021
His post race interview gives all the credit to an incredible team effort.
Only one rider crosses the line first but it's an entire team that works hard to make it happen! Thanks, everybody, this is a beautiful team victory. @BORAGmbH @Hansgrohe_PR @iamspecialized @sportful @ride100percent https://t.co/fevovJYxIA
— Peter Sagan (@petosagan) May 17, 2021
Sagz is not an out-and-out sprinter and I love to see the way he and his team get to work to give him the best chance they can. It doesn’t always work, but hot damn he brings the excitement.
These Sagan-wins are like balsam for my soul #Giro104
Bora creates these finales for him so often, and I just love when it pays off.
— Rasmus Nowak Brandt (@Brandtenburg94) May 17, 2021
Among the many things to like about Peter Sagan. He's not a pure sprinter, and the things his team do to get rid of pure sprinters make mundane Grand Tour stages interesting.
— William Fotheringham (@willfoth) May 17, 2021
When the finish is not the only exciting sprint
Only 15 seconds separated the race leader Egan Bernal from Remco Evenepoel at the start of the stage. That gap is now reduced to 14 as both young guns came out to fight for bonus seconds. No one is using the word boring now!
🛣️ Who says intermediate sprints are boring?
🛣️ Chi ha detto che gli sprint intermedi sono noiosi?#Giro pic.twitter.com/GoqjRftHwB
— Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 17, 2021
I watched in shock as Filippo Ganna set off with Bernal in tow. I can also get behind Bernanna as name for this duo – could they be the bromance of the Giro??
Bernanna🍌 on the move!#Giro104🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/gn0DDTmhWL
— Will Newton (@InsidePeloton96) May 17, 2021
The Quicksteppers brought Evenepoel into play, who had the beating of Bernal. The young Belgian was only denied the full three seconds by the quick thinking and even faster pedalling of Jhonatan Navarez (INEOS Grenadiers).
Cycling fans LOVED IT
Remco vs Bernal battling GC seconds at the intermediate sprint on a sprint stage
File that under things we absolutely love to see #Giro
— Issie 💙 (@IssieAtch) May 17, 2021
Blimey – not sure the sprinters are going to go that fast at the finish!
— Daniel Lloyd (@daniellloyd1) May 17, 2021
Especially when we see the rivalry and respect
nice gesture between Evenepoel and Bernal after the intermediary sprint … 🙂
— VeloVoices (@VeloVoices) May 17, 2021
Here’s what Bernal had to say post race
I didn’t plan to go for the intermediate sprint. I just saw the opportunity to go behind Remco. I took only one second but it didn’t take me any effort. We’re here also to enjoy the race and this was a nice way to do so. It was actually a harder stage than we thought it would be this morning. Bora did a great job. Tomorrow I’ll train during the rest day and I’ll prepare for the very important stage coming up on Wednesday.
The final words
Attila Valker’s hero just won the stage
— Journal Velo (@JournalVelo) May 17, 2021
Hey, anything could happen. https://t.co/VixWbkd5BM
— nyvelocity (@nyvelocity) May 17, 2021
Results
Stage 9 Top 5
1 Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) 3:10:56
2 Fernando Gaviria (UAE-Team Emirates) same time
3 Davide Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) s/t
4 Stefano Oldani (Lotto-Soudal) s/t
5 Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin Fenix) s/t
GC Top 10
1 Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) 38:30:17
2 Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) +0:14
3 Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana) +0:22
4 Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) +0:37
5 Attila Valter (Groupama-FDJ) +0:44
6 Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) +0:45
7 Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) +0:46
8 Dan Martin (Israel Start-up Nation) +0:52
9 Simon Yates (Team Bike Exchange) +0:56
10 Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates) +1:02
All the jerseys
🇮🇹 #Giro104
Jerseys after Stage 10💗🏆 Egan Bernal 🇨🇴
💜💨 Peter Sagan 🇸🇰
💙⛰️ Geoffrey Bouchard 🇫🇷
🤍👶 Egan Bernal 🇨🇴 pic.twitter.com/rTmBdGd40p— pro cycling trumps (@procycletrumps) May 17, 2021
Leader’s jersey Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers)
Points jersey Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe)
King of the Mountains Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r Citroen)
Best Young Rider Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers)
For full race reviews, go to cyclingnews.
Official race website: Giro d’Italia