Primož Roglič did not wear the pink shirt, but he proved on the royal stage that he could turn the Giro in his favor on Saturday. On the climb to the finish, he was the first to attack Thomas, who returned it to him, and the Slovenian again had the last word, pinching off three seconds from the leader.
The stage was won by the 23-year-old Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), who, besides Derek Gee (2nd place) and Magnus Cort (3rd), was the only one who persisted in the run until the end. The favorites battled for fourth place, who did not flaunt their strength on the first four climbs of the day, but in the last kilometer of the steep climb on Tre Cime di Laveredo, it was full steam ahead.
Too bad it didn’t work out in the split secondsRoglič probably hoped that he would get close to Thomas in the overall total, but he was again very tough, he started a counterattack, and in the finish sprint, Roglič squeezed out the maximum from himself, so that (already for the psychological effect) he detached himself a little from a Brit. It’s a shame that Roglič didn’t manage to take 3rd place (Cort was just a little bit faster), because he would have gained four seconds off.
Svete Višarje will give an answer about the winnerTherefore, the British Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) remains in the pink shirt, the second-placed Primož Roglič is 26 seconds behind, Almeida 59. Now what has been foreshadowed throughout the race is clear: on Saturday in Sveti Višarje, there will be a mountain time trial, “as the world he hasn’t seen it yet,” the decision was made as to who will be the winner of the 106th Race around Italy: Thomas, Roglič or maybe even Almeida, who was 23 seconds behind Roglič today.
High above 2000 metersThe royal stage in the mostly sun-kissed Dolomites offered five steep climbs on which the caravan had to overcome as much as 5,400 meters of altitude, including the pass Wow. The descent to Cortina was followed by Tre Croci and Tre Cime di Laveredo (slope up to 18%), which at 2,304 meters above sea level represented “Cimo Coppi”, the highest point of this year’s race.
Longarone-Tre Cime di Lavaredo, 183 km: 1. S. BUITRAGO KOL 5:28:08 2. D. GEE VB 0:56 3. M. CORT DAN 1:46 4. P. ROGLIC SLO isti cas 5. G. THOMAS VB 1:49 6. J. ALMEIDA POR 2:09 7. D. CARUSO ITA isti 8. T. ARENSMAN NIZ cas 9. T. PINOT FRA 2:16 10. E. RUBIO KOL 2:26
Source: Rtvslo
