Just before 5pm in Champoluc, the finishing town for stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia – a stage which featured five categorised ascents amounting to a total of over 4500 metres of elevation gain – television crews and media stood waiting to tell the stories of the day’s racing. There had been palpable tension and excitement in the air throughout the afternoon. Would pink jersey wearer Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) crack under pressure? Which of his rivals would try to attack him first? Could this be the day that the winner of La Corsa Rosa would be decided?
As the end of the stage grew closer and the peloton raced between snow-capped mountains, lush green hills and under a picture-perfect blue sky, however, the enthusiasm began to dwindle. Up and over Col Saint Pantaléon went the general classification group, then the Col de Joux, yet very little action was unfolding on the TV screens at the finish. For all the hype, for all the anticipation, this alpine showdown was failing to deliver. Richard Carapaz (EF Education First-EasyPost) was the first to show his hand in the end, but it was a short-lived dig which came just 700 metres from the summit of the penultimate climb. Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) tried next, but by this point the riders were already starting to descend. It had all come back together. The entertainment fell flat.
In the end, on the last climb – much to the delight of the cycling world with eyes on the race – EF’s Ecuadorian superstar took the risk. Carapaz popped out of the general classification group with just under 7 kilometres of the stage remaining and 1.7km to the summit of the Antagnod and got his gap. On his wheel, of course, was maglia rosa Del Toro, and the pair were neck and neck as the line approached. Up ahead, Nicolas Prodhomme took the stage win from the breakaway for Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team before Carapaz and Del Toro sprinted out for second place behind. Five hours of racing and 4950 metres of climbing later, there was still nothing to separate them. They raced mano a mano. In fact, after stage 19, there were no position changes in the top-eight of the general classification of the Giro whatsoever.
Why didn’t the attacks come sooner? What stopped the action that so many had expected ahead of the day from unfolding?
“With the wind, some of the climbs were half tailwind and half headwind. If you try to go solo from quite far out, there's a risk of a headwind and you can pay for that effort. That's why some riders didn't try anything,” Del Toro said in his post-race press conference. “On the final climb, there weren't a lot of riders left, so you could see the damage from all the days and weeks of racing. Today was not an easy day.”
Other riders who were part of the select group of GC men at the end of stage 19 shared a similar sentiment to the UAE Team Emirates rider. Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), who lies ninth overall after stage 19 told media afterwards: “I think nobody could attack because we were already on the limit. With the speed we were going, nowhere could really go anywhere. What could you do? 7w/kg for the whole last climb. That's why they waited until the end to really kick it off.”
One team who couldn't really shed any light at all on the events of stage 19 was Visma-Lease a Bike, who seemed as muddled as the rest of us when they reached the finish in Champoluc. Simon Yates, who ended up losing 24 seconds on the general classification to Del Toro after his teammates paced for the majority of the stage, said that his day “went nothing like the plan.” The British rider wouldn’t expand on what he meant in his statement, and his sports director didn’t make things much clearer.
“I heard that Simon said that it was not according to the plan. I think that is something that we will discuss this evening. In some details it was a little bit different but in general I think we followed what we wanted to do,” Marc Reef commented after the stage. “We still have one day ahead. You saw in the final how it was, also on the other days, that those two guys are more explosive than Simon - that is not something new. That was something we wanted to try to prevent but that is not what worked out.
“In the end it came down to who had the best legs and Isaac Del Toro and Richard Carapaz were just a bit stronger. On the penultimate climb Simon was able to follow those guys, but in the final that was no longer possible. Then it is a fair fight.”
A fair fight indeed, but an entertaining one? Debatable. At this point in a Grand Tour, on a stage with these kinds of parcours, it was fair to expect more action than we got just two days before the Giro will reach its conclusion in Rome. Perhaps it was the wind conditions, accumulative fatigue or a sense of dread at what is to come on stage 20, but the race reached a stalemate. Will it be the same again this Saturday on the roads to Sestrière? With the final mountains on the cards, it is still all to play for. The pink jersey is still there for the taking, but the question is: who will reach out and try to snatch it?
