Del Toro and Van Aert win big. Roglic win trouble at Giro
Del Toro wins the pink jersey, Van Aert takes the stage in dramatic fashion
Confirmation, redemption and misfortune, all rolled into one Giro d’Italia stage.
It was a day of high drama, turns and turns, crashes and bad luck as the white gravel of Strade Bianche made its impact on the Giro d’Italia.
The five sectors of gravel put everyone to the test and there were several winners and one big loser.
Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) of Mexico came in to his first Giro as plan B for the UAE squad that was already banking on Juan Ayuso to contend for overall victory. Del Toro was just the back-up, a trick card to play.
However, at 50 kilometers to go, Plan B switched to Plan A. Del Toro put in a searing attack from a select group that featured Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) and his teammate Brandon Rivera. This long 9.3 slog over the gravel proved to be a dusty launchpad for Del Toro, a former winner of the Tour de l’Avenir.
With his captain 45 seconds behind in the second group, Del Toro got his green light and off he went. Bernal, so strong on the gravel, suddenly blew up, swerving across the road, all momentum gone. Only one rider was able to stick to his wheel.
Which brings us to our redemption story: Wout van Aert. His story the last two seasons has been one of disappointment, terrible crashes and worse luck. His early season results were a disappointment — with two fourth places, just off the podium, in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix
He came into this Giro with hopes of taking the opening sprint stage and the pink jersey. That would quiet the whispers about what was going wrong — was it a mystery illness, the wrong train program, a psychological issue, too many candy bars?
Van Aert knows the white gravel of Strade Bianchi better than almost anyone in the peloton. He’s come in first, in third twice and fourth — not to mention his 49 victories in every kind of race from classics to time trials to mountain top finishes in grand tours. Still, given his extended string of unfortunate events and gradients up to 12% on the final Via Santa Caterina uphill to Siena, most experts gave a decisive edge to Del Toro.
Sure enough, when they hit the steepest pitch, Van Aert was hanging on for dear life, his body rocking all over his Cervelo. But somehow, someway, he did hang and when the grade softened, he shot past the diminutive UAE climber. It was unexpected, the return of the Van Aert of old, the multi-talented master of all disciplines. Redemption was his — a victory he described as beyond words — and perhaps for many fans — beyond expectation.
"It's easy to say this victory means a lot to me, I almost can't explain it,” said Van Aert. “It had to be here I believe, because this place is where my road career started back in 2018 and to win this stage after a long period without delivering. Finally again... It feels so good."
And finally, we come to the sad part of the drama — the actor who suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune — a crash, an ill-timed puncture, the lack of teammates, the curse of being Primoz.
At almost precisely the moment Del Toro attacked Van Aert, it was also the moment when Roglic hit the deck as a few riders crashed in front of him. It’s the usual story, right? It seems to be pre-ordained fate that Roglic, even when he wins, must suffer in depth, must receive an outsized portion of bad luck. Despite this, he still wins because he’s one of the most resilient and mentally tough riders in the sport.
But today on the Strade Bianche Lite version of this Giro stage, he could not recover. The crash set him back, the puncture shortly after set him further back, the lack of teammates or outside help from other riders trying to protect their GC positions — all these factors ultimately doomed him. A 45 second gap became a minute became impossible, became a disaster. In the end, he’d lose over 2 minutes to Del Toro and over 1 minute to Ayuso. He finds himself in a very Primoz situation.
"It was just hard, no? The pace in the front... In the back I didn't feel really the best of the best. We take it, we finished it, we have to see what to do next,” said Roglic. He’s used to this — but he and his Bora squad have not one, but two challenges to overcome.
Stage results
Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) 4h15'08''
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +00''
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +58''
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +58''
Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'00''
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +1'00''
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'07''
Thymen Arensman (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'10''
Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'10''
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'10''
General classification
Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 33h36'45''
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'13''
Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +1'30''
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +1'40''
Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) +1'41''
Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) +1'42''
Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) +1'57''
Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +1'59''
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) +2'01''
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +2'25''