The second of three Dolomites stages seemed to break loose on the first climb of the day. At Ineos they noticed a difficult moment from Roglic early in the stage. Laurens De Plus and Thymen Arensman pushed through, but the Slovenian did not crack.
After a long stretch in the valley, we finally got some fighting in the castle on the steep Coi, and then on two fronts. At the front, the capricious Pinot and the Italian champion Zana remained from a group of 7 adventurers.
At the place where they made the difference in the front, the completely reborn Roglic also tried to do that. Kuss gave the perfect cross, but the Olympic time trial champion didn’t really head in either.
Almeida, still excellent on Monte Bondone, and Dunbar were thrown overboard, the year-old Thomas easily stuck in the wheel of the Slovenian. The two of them beat the young Portuguese for 21 seconds. A duel on Tre Cime di Lavaredo therefore seems to be in the making.
And in the front? There Pinot did everything to make life miserable for Zana, but Zana remained icy calm in the wheel and raced in the last straight line to the best victory of his career.
On his 37th birthday, Geraint Thomas has come one step closer to Giro overall victory. The leader of Ineos was the only one on Val di Zoldo who could follow a reborn Primoz Roglic. “It was a good day: I gave Almeida some extra time and I was not released by Roglic.”
“Primoz likes changes of pace: one time he drove fast, the other at ease. I actually didn’t know how he felt today until he went very fast again in the last 2 kilometers. Roglic was very strong today.”
“Almeida had a lesser day today, Roglic was a bit less on Tuesday. Now it comes down to staying consistent.”
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