Anger and Generosity at the Giro d'Italia.
Which action generates higher wattage and a big time stage win.
Anger and generosity — which one is more conducive to victory?
On stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia, the clear answer was generosity but let’s start with anger because it’s more entertaining.
Italian climber Giulio Ciccone (Lidl Trek) has been trying this entire race to get a mountain stage win. Yet each time he fought his way into the break and then launched ahead solo, he was caught in the final kilometers.
The pink kersey of Jonas Vingegaard and his powerful Visma Lease-a-Bike team caught and killed him each time. This is not Ciccone’s dream Giro.
Which put Ciccone in a foul, frustrated, pissy mood. He’s lashed out at other riders, yelled and shouted at them, rode alongside his team car during the race, complaining about this and that, slings and arrows of misfortune. It’s become almost comical.
Today it was more of the same, anti-social behavior. He made the break and after Einer Rubio (Movistar) pissed him off for some unintended slight, he decided once again to go it alone.
You can generate plenty of extra watts when you’re angry. Guys like Lance Armstrong and Marco Pantani constantly used anger for fuel. They converted that negative energy into a higher power output. (No surprise that Pantani is Ciccone’s idol.)
So the Italian channeled all that anger and ripped the long 20 kilometer descent, pulling out a minute gap. He held that advantage through the short valley section and hit the base of the final five kilometer climb to the finish at Pian di Pezzè (4.9 km at 9.7%).
Things were looking good early in the ascent but it’s hard to keep all that anger going. It does eventually wear off. Back in the chase group Sepp Kuss (Visma Lease-a-Bike), Jai Hindley (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), Derek Gee (Lidl Trek) and Thymen Arensman (NetCompany INEOS) all had designs on a stage win and/or a jump up the GC standings. Plenty of motivation chasing Ciccone.
There were now but three kilometers left and here is where gratitude wins. Jonas Vingegaard made it clear several days ago that he’d be happy to help give one of his hardworking teammates a stage victory if the chance arose.
Well, the tactical circumstances were perfect for Sepp Kuss. He accelerated out of the chase group and dropped everyone. Only Derek Gee, who had no doubt gotten the message from his team car that his teammate Ciccone was cooked, now had a green light to attack. It’s his chance to move up the GC standings. He sets off after Kuss.
A minute back, Vingegaard simply marks Felix Gall and enjoys a perfect day for Visma. While he certainly has the power to chase down Kuss, he prefers to thank the American for all the work he has done in the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana. In other words, Go, Sepp, Go.
In one final act of frustration and anger, Ciccone swats away a fan running alongside him. Moments later Kuss passes him on the way to victory. Not long after, Derek Gee also shoots by. Another disappointing day for Ciccone.
You can sum up stage 19 off the Giro d’Italia any number of ways. Perhaps the simplest one is that gratitude and generosity beat anger.