2017 Giro d'Italia Stage 13 Results & Recap
Stage 13 of the 2017 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
\nStage 13 is lucky for Gaviria taking the sprint win
Stage 13 was basically a rolling “rest day”. The usual early, no hope break was caught at 20 kilometers to go and Fernando Gaviria took a wild bunch sprint win - his fourth of this year’s Giro.
Today was designed for the sprinters - 167 pan flat kilometers. If all things went according to plan, the day would end in a field sprint.
The stage finale, past Casteggio, follows the traditional Milan-Sanremo route. After leaving Reggio Emilia, the route first heads for Cavriago, and then (past Montecchio Emilia) goes back onto the ss. 9 “Via Emilia” leading to Piacenza following a straight course.
Past Piacenza, the route takes the former Statale Padana Inferiore all the way to the finish, passing through several cities that have been featured in many Giro stages, and in the Milan-Sanremo finale. Arrival in Tortona, as the Giro did in 1989.
The final kilometres are essentially straight, with just a few roundabouts along the route. There is one last bend (on a roundabout) approx. 500 meters before the finish. The home straight is 450 meters long, on 7.5-meter wide asphalt road.
One rider who wouldn’t cross the finish line today was Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas. He sustained injuries in a crash during Sunday’s Stage 9. In a team press release Thomas said, “I’ve been suffering since my crash on Sunday. I’ve had an issue with my shoulder which is manageable, but my knee has also been getting worse each day.”\n \n“I’ll turn my attention to the Tour de France now, and I want to arrive there with the same good form I started the Giro with.”
As expected, at kilometer zero there were several attacks, but finally one got a gap. Four riders Pavel Brutt (Gazprom - Rusvelo), Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates), Vincenzo Albanese (Bardiani CSF), and Johann Van Zyl (Dimension Data). However Van Zyl didn’t last long in the break as he was called back to the main group.
The break of three riders knew they were doomed and didn’t seem motivated to push forward and gain the expected four to five minutes. Instead they kept their effort steady, as did the peloton. The result was a strange stalemate. No one wanted to ride hard and the gap remained at around one minute and then finally grew to almost two minutes with 108 kilometers remaining in the stage.
At the first intermediate sprint Albanese (Bardiani-CSF) took an uncontested sprint for the purple points jersey - which meant nothing for him. Almost two minutes behind the peloton rolled through the same spot and current points jersey leader, Quick Step Floor’s Fernando Gaviria took fourth place, adding more points to his already good lead in that competition.
With 95 kilometers remaining, the gap between the break and the peloton finally reached the over two minute mark. That lead didn’t last long and with 80 kilometers remaining the time gap shrank to one minute and 17 seconds.
Before the start of today’s stage Caleb Ewan spoke to Eurosport, "Hopefully a small group goes away and it comes back for a group sprint". It looked like he got his wish as with 50k to go the break remained at a minute and a half. The peloton had no interest in catching the break - just keep them in a catchable distance.
With 35 kilometers remaining the break was started to be reeled in with the time gap at just a minute advantage. And with each kilometer ridden the advantage was reduced. It was only a matter of time before they were caught.
With 20 kilometers remaining the break was caught and the teams started to organize their sprint trains. Spread out across the road there was no doubt that stage 13 was going to end in a bunch sprint.
In the last kilometer of the stage the riders were in full flight with Bora leading out the pack for their sprinter Sam Bennett. However, it was not to be as Gaviria came out of nowhere, and passing everyone on the right hand side of the road, easily taking the win. This was his fourth stage win in this year’s Giro! Behind him Bennett was rubbing shoulders with a Quick Step Floors rider, with that rider almost crashing as his foot came out of the pedal.
The overall general classification favorites crossed the line together with no change to the standings.
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