Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) soloed to victory on stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia after attacking solo on the final climb and gritting his teeth to hold on to the finish in Castelnovo ne'Monti.
In a typically blistering attack with 9km left to ride, Carapaz opened up a gap of more than half a minute, and despite some concerted riding from UAE Team Emirates behind, held on for the win by 10 seconds.
Coupled with the 10sec win bonus, Carapaz moved several places up the GC, though Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), who came in second, remains in the pink jersey. Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) was third, with Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) fourth.
The stage – 186km across Tuscany from Viareggio on Italy's west coast to Castelnovo ne'Monti – was a mountainous one, but with the biggest climb coming midway through and just two cat-twos in the second half, the spoils were expected to go to the breakaway.
However, after Ciccone's team-mate Mads Pedersen closing a gap of more than a minute to a five-man break in the run-in to the final climb, suddenly the GC riders had all to play for.
As Pidcock said afterwards: "It was one of those 'non-GC' days where everyone goes all-in… or sees the chance that it could be a full GC day even though it most likely would have been a breakaway day. But in the end it was hard enough that it was a GC day.
"We went for the stage but Carapaz was unbelievably strong there," Pidcock added. "We were pacing it over the top, but the way Carapaz went up that climb was pretty impressive."
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For Carapaz's EF Education-EasyPost team, today's victory was only the fourth of the season and will be desperately welcomed. But sports director Juan Manuel Garate said the team had always believed in Carapaz, who had been preparing for this ride since the Vuelta a España last year.
"He takes everything very seriously now, he does everything very professional way," said Garate of Carapaz. "We started talking about this Giro in September last year, right after the Vuelta. He prepared himself in a super good way. His spring was not very good, but he raised his hand and said, 'I'm going to be good at the Giro, so believe'."
He added: "Obviously after yesterday's TT we lost a little bit more than expected but the determination he has is amazing and we have no doubts he will keep on fighting."
Pello Bilbao leads the day's break
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it happened
A long and mostly flat opening half, as the peloton headed towards the day's main dish of the category-one Alpe San Pellegrino, did not stop plenty of riders attempting to break clear of the bunch. However, it wasn't until the bunch was approaching the San Pellegrino that a move by Wout Poels (XDS-Astana) and Wilco Kelderman of Visma-Lease a Bike gained some real traction.
That, it turned out, was the catalyst for the day's main breakaway, with a number of riders hitting the slopes of the mountain out front. These included the day's five main protagonists – Poels, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Luke Plapp (Jayco-AlUla) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana).
It was mountains leader Fortunato who crested first, searching for more points. He was caught some kilometres later but would go on to take the spoils on the following climb of the Toana too and remains well out front in the competition.
Approaching the final climb of the day the break seemed as though it might go the distance – until Lidl-Trek and more specifically Pedersen turned on the afterburners in pursuit. The gap was quickly closed down and though Poels put in a determined final attempt to go it alone, the catch was made at the bottom of the final climb – at which point Carapaz was free to do his thing.
1. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, 186km in 4:35:20 2. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, at 10sec 3. Giulio Ciccone, (Ita) Lidl-Trek 4. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Q36.5 Pro Cycling 5. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 6. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 7. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar 9. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-PremierTech 10. Diego Ulissi (Ita) XDS-Astana, all at same time
General Classification after stage 11
1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 38:47:01 2. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +31s 3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:07 4. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:09 5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:24 6. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:56 7. Giulio Ciccone, (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:09 8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:16 9. Adam Yates (GBr) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:33 10. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, at s.t.
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After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields.
Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.
A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.
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