All-out day of racing in Italy as Romain Bardet takes 4th and Max Poole 10th

A full-gas day of racing before the final rest day saw a big fight to make the breakaway early-on in the stage. Team Picnic PostNL were present in covering the moves but nothing could get away. Over the short and steep climb Romain Bardet made it into what looked like the group that would snap the elastic, but a few dangerous GC riders had snuck in and things then reset. At that point the peloton had split with Bardet, Max Poole and Gijs Leemreize in the front group.

Attacks continued and eventually Leemreize made it into the big break to represent the team, while behind the split in the peloton was undone. However, a strong tempo was set on the Monte Grappa climb and the break shredded while in the Maglia Rosa group there was some GC movement.

As a result, the front of the race was together in the valley before the next climb and things reset. There a promising group went clear and Bardet put in a big effort to bridge. Seemingly building up enough of an advantage to fight for the stage win, Verona made his race winning move at the bottom of the climb; going solo and not looking back.

Subsequently in the peloton, some GC teams decided to up the tempo once more and put some contenders into difficulty. After being looked after by Leemreize on the lower slopes, Poole rode superbly to climb as part of the ten best riders from the GC group as they crested the climb. Things slowed down somewhat briefly, before the tempo turned back on to try and further distance those dropped riders.

Ultimately Bardet’s group would just hold on to fight it out for second on the day behind Verona, with Bardet showing good speed to take fourth place. While a few seconds in arrears, Poole also showed his sprinting prowess to get up for tenth place on the stage; making it a double top ten on the day for Team Picnic PostNL.

At the finish an exhausted Bardet said: “I’m cooked. This was the kind of stage you’d usually expect in the third week: all-in. It was another brutally hard day. I only made it into the break after 150 kilometres, and it wasn’t an ideal stage for me, with no really steep sections and a flat finish. Still, I was happy to crest the Monte Grappa with the group of favourites, as there were only ten or 20 of us left at that point. Once I got into the break, I kept listening closely to the radio to hear how Max was doing in the Maglia Rosa group, and whether I needed to drop back. Full credit to Verona, it was an incredibly strong ride. It took guts to go solo with a 16 kilometre climb still to come. Honestly, I don’t think I had the legs to win today in the finale; I’ve been going deep every day for a week now and it’s taking its toll. I’ll have to recover now and from Tuesday on, we’ll need to pick my moments, because there are still some brutal stages ahead of us.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “It was a really solid day actually. There was a big fight to go into the first breakaway. We spent a lot of energy there to try and get in that break. In the end Romain came close a few times to getting in, but it was Gijs who got in there for us. Then the race exploded on the Monte Grappa. Max was climbing really well there and had Romain alongside him. The break reset and a new one went in the valley. Romain made a big effort to jump across to it, which also cost him a lot of energy, but it was a move that just stayed away to the finish with Romain sprinting to fourth. Behind, Max looked sharp all day in the GC group and was able to follow some of the best guys in the world and could sprint to tenth place on the stage. Going into the rest day it’s a good result and good for morale; so we’ll have a nice rest day now and see what next week brings.”