Italian cycling cafe, Stelvio Bike Experience, has fulfilled its competition pledge by awarding Lars Bak of Lotto-Soudal 100 bottles of Kwaremont beer for being the heaviest rider of the Passo dello Stelvio on the Giro d’Italia’s 16th stage.
The peloton on Tuesday had to take on a 222km route that covered the Mortirolo, the Stelvio and a final ascent of the day up the Umbrail Pass before descending to the finish in Bormio.
Lightweight climbers like stage winner Vincenzo Nibali may have enjoyed the day out, but the heavier riders like Bak in the gruppetto wouldn’t have had much to ride for and were probably looking to just survive.
Official: heaviest rider finishing il tappone #giro💯 1. Bak/LTS (80 kg) 2. Bialoblocki/CCC (79kg) 3. Stamsnijder/SUN (77kg) #100belgianbeers pic.twitter.com/RJxulzgXJa
— Renaat Schotte (@wielerman) May 23, 2017
The winner of the beer weighed in at 80kg ahead of Marcin Bialoblocki of CCC (79kg) and Tom Stamsnijder of Team Sunweb (77kg) taking what is surely the race’s most coveted new prize.
>>> Watch: Stage 16 highlights as Tom Dumoulin fights to keep pink jersey
Stamsnijder’s team-mate, Laurens Ten Dam had previously joked that their team should adjust their plans to protect the third placed heavyweight but even though the rider had made it over peak, he wasn’t heavy enough to over take Bak.
@tom_dumoulin @Tom_Stamsnijder Ok. Tom. Change of plans. @Tom_Stamsnijder will be protected till stage 16. We'll make sure he'll eat 2 bowls of pasta every morning! #beer
— laurenstendam (@laurenstendam) May 4, 2017
The competition wasn’t without its controversy though with Trek-Segafredo rider, Jasper Stuyven, questioning the decision stating that he weighed over the winning weight of 80kg.
@wielerman I am over 80… 🤔
— Jasper Stuyven (@Jasperstuyven) May 23, 2017
It’s unclear how the results were gathered, whether every rider was invited to a weighing scale or not but either way, Bak will want to finish the race before he makes a start on those beers.
