2018 Giro d'Italia Stage 11 Results & Recap
Stage 11 of the 2018 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
By Stas Uittenbogaard
As the Giro enters its second half, the race again proves its reputation as a race that knows no boring stages. Despite only finishing with a fourth category climb, a course littered with pave, narrow bends, steep muro’s and equally exhilarating descents lead to battle of classification contendors in Osimo. The short stage, 156 kilometres compared to yesterday’s 225, culminated in a 5 kilometre chase through the city’s old town, with Zdenek Stybar (QST) and Tim Wellens (LTS) attacking as soon as the break of the day was reeled in. Simon Yates was the first to counter at 1400 metres from the finish, going up and over and eventually taking seconds on the road as well as bonus seconds over second place finisher –on the stage as well as on the provisional classification- Tom Dumoulin. The biggest victims of the day are Chris Froome (Sky) and Michael Woods (EFD) who lose 0’40” and 1’05” respectively, dropping out of the top 10.
Yates had already announced an aggressive attitude after yesterday’s stage, saying: “I am going to need every second I can so maybe I need to start sprinting for more than bonus seconds.”. Today, the Maglia Rosa said: “We decided before the stage that we wouldn't chase because normally on such a finale there are faster guys like Tim Wellens. Other teams chased for the stage win. The plan was that if it came back I would, of course, try. I'm glad to getting more time on Tom Dumoulin. He was chasing me and he looked better than other days on steep finishes. He's getting better as the race goes on.”
Apart from the battle for the stage and the classification, today’s stage was all about a rider who could not be part of the peloton: Michele Scarponi. The Astana rider died little over a year ago after being hit by a motorised vehicle in his hometown of Filottrano. The route today took a short tour throughout the town, with an intermediate sprint on top of the Muro di Filottrano marking the beginning of the finale of the stage. Scarponi’s teammate Luis Leon Sánchez crossed the line first at this intermediate sprint as crowds released blue and yellow balloons in their late neighbour’s honour.
PLAY BY PLAY
As the peloton rolled out of Assisi today at a bit past one local time, they were in for a fast first hour. Despite a flurry of attempts, no break would stick until after the uncategorized Nocera Umbra climb when Allesandro De Marchi (BMC) and Luis Leon Sánchez created a gap on the descent. They were joined by Masnada (ANS) and Maestri (BAR) after which Bahrain-Merida convinced the peloton to let Alex Turrin (WIL) go free as well, completing the set of Italian pro-continental squads at front. The break was not allowed a large gap however, as both LottoNL-Jumbo and Lotto Fix-All believed they had the perfect finisher for the day.
At Filottrano, the break of five turned into three as only the strongest survived; the two experienced world tour riders and Fausto Masnada, who surprised earlier this Giro by being the last of the break to be caught on the mountain stage to Gran Sasso d’Italia. Eventually however, the three were caught as the peloton entered the finish town of Osimo. Zdenek Stybar, a former winner of the not completely dissimilar Strade Bianchi one day race, was the first to attack, quickly countered by Tim Wellens. The duo distanced the pack on the Via Costa Del Borgo, the first of two muro’s in Osimo’s old town. Behind, the pack crumbled as riders got caught behind crashes and in narrow corners. Colombian champion Sergio Henao (Sky) was one of those hitting the pave.
On the second climb, the Via Olimpia, the duo was caught through the work of Mitchelton Scott’s riders including blue jersey Esteban Chaves. Simon Yates launched at 1400 metres to go. The ultimate kilometre of the stage turned into a time trial between him and Tom Dumoulin, who used his steady rhythm to chase his more explosive rival. Yates crossed the line 2 seconds in front of Dumoulin, taking 10 bonus seconds to boot. The gap to his other competitors was slightly bigger, as they got stuck behind pile-ups or were simply unable to follow the Brit’s pace. Davide Formolo of Bora Hansgrohe was third at five seconds, followed by a group including Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain Merida, 4th overall) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama FDJ, 3rd overall) at 8 seconds. Fabio Aru (UAE) and Richard Carapaz follow at around 20 seconds. The biggest victims of the day are Chris Froome (Sky) and Michael Woods (EFD) who lose 0’40” and 1’05” respectively, dropping out of the top 10. \n
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