2018 Giro d'Italia Stage 8 Results & Recap
Stage 8 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
Carapaz takes stage victory after a thundering attack on Montevergine\nBy Stas Uittenbogaard
Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz takes a spectacular stage victory at Montevergine di Mercogliano, the first grand tour victory for his country. The Movistar rider attacked late in the final after the peloton had nearly caught up with the break, dashing the hopes of Koen Bouwman (TLJ) and taking a stage win while wearing the Maglia Bianca of the youth classification. In the general classification there are few changes despite Chris Froome (SKY) crashing on the final climb and Thibaut Pinot (GFC) taking bonus seconds at the finish.\nThe 24 year-old Carapaz told reporters at the finish: “I’m very happy. Very emotional. I’ve done a lot of work before the Giro, so of course taking this first win makes me emotional. I had good legs so I decided to attack. It was the good moment to go alone, because I would have little chance to win in a sprint with rest. I take it day by day, it’s a long way to go and I’m still waiting to see what I can do in the rest of the giro.”
The day started out calmly, although it took almost thirty kilometres for a break to form. Once the break was formed, the seven riders in it swiftly gained five minutes on the peloton, an advantage that did not decrease until the final climb. Six riders of the break represented world tour teams: Koen Bouwmans (TLJ), Jan Polanc (UAE), Matej Mohoric (TBM), Matteo Montaguti (ALM), Tosh van der Sande (LTS) and Davide Villella (AST). The only rider for a pro-continental team in the break was Rodolfo Torres for Androni-Sidermec, with Bardiani-CSF, Israel Cycling Academy and Willier – Selle Italia missing out. Trek-Segafredo’s Mads Pedersen initially made it into the break as well, but dropped back quickly as the effort of bridging took too much out of the young Dane.\nWhat followed was a stalemate enforced by Mitchelton Scott, who were all too happy to let a harmless break reach the finish. Rodolfo Torres took first and second in the intermediate sprints in Agropoli and Salerno to protect his teammate’s lead in the intermediate sprint classification, with only Tosh van der Sande challenging for the second sprint.
At 45 kilometres to go, reports came in of rain at the finish line, and the peloton started getting nervous, as other GC-teams began to take interest in controlling the pace. At 30 kilometres to go Tim Wellens, one of the few riders in the peloton relishing a rainy finish, crashed and had to work his way back to the bunch that was finally starting to gain time on the break. At 20 kilometres to go, cooperation in the front group started to break down with Van der Sande putting in the first attacks. This only got worse as the advantage of the group dwindled to one minute and thirty second. Koen Bouwman, who had been keeping relatively quiet in the front group, placed the attack that finally broke the front in two as only Polanc, Mohoric and Montaguti could follow at 12 kilometres to go, well up on the climb to Montevergine. Another Bouwman attack at 4 kilometres to go saw him go solo, albeit with the peloton breathing down his neck.
The peloton steamrolled up the slippery slopes of Montevergine as GC teams struggled for control in order to place their riders as far to the front as possible. At six kilometres from the finish line, Chris Froome fell victim to the wet surface as he couldn’t stay upright in one of the climb’s many hairpins. His team quickly returned the Sky rider to the peloton, and he finished the stage with no time lost. At 1.4 km to go, Alexandre Geniez of AG2R attacked, which was quickly countered by white jersey wearer Richard Carapaz, who subsequently blasted up and over Koen Bouwman to take the stage victory. Thibaut Pinot started the sprint for bonus seconds early, just losing out to Davide Formolo on the line but taking four seconds as a bonus of third place seven seconds behind the stage winner. Carapaz climbs to eighth overall, nudging Fabio Aru (UAE) out of the top 10. Simon Yates comfortably keeps the overall lead, but was unable to increase his lead as he had hoped: “I wanted to ride at the front because of the rain in the final. The hairpin in the corners were slippery. We rode an easy tempo. I would have liked to take some bonus seconds but I got a little boxed in. However, it's still a good day for us, I think. The climb wasn’t that difficult, would’ve been hard to make much of a difference. Tomorrow is much different, if I have the legs I’ll have to try to attack, and if not, I won’t.”
Yates’ teammate Esteban Chaves, who sits in third on overall behind Sunweb’s Tom Dumoulin, retains the Maglia Azzurra of the climbing classification. With his four bonus seconds, Thibaut Pinot edges by Domenico Pozzovivvo for fourth place in the overall. Tomorrow will see another fierce battle up the slopes of a mountain top finish, with many protagonists keeping their powder dry today for the showdown on the Gran Sasso.
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