Photo Credit: Cor Vos

After yesterday’s rest day, the peloton were back in action once again as the final week of racing at the Giro d’Italia began this afternoon with a challenging 193 kilometres in the saddle and the summit finish at Sega di Ala.

It was a fast start to the stage with the opening 60 kilometres mostly downhill. The team worked well to cover any dangerous moves, bringing back a counter attack that had went off in pursuit of the large breakaway group.

With other teams taking control of the peloton, the race sped towards the Passo di San Valentino, where the team did brilliantly, moving up in unison towards the front of the bunch as the gradient increased. A strong pace was set and over the top of the ascent, Romain Bardet, Michael Storer and Nicholas Roche were in the reduced GC group. The pace remained high as the peloton made its way onto the ascent to the line – Sega di Ala with its almost ten percent average gradient for 12 kilometres.

It became a race of attrition as a strong tempo was set on the stinging gradients. Bardet dug deep as others were dropped but he too had to let go of the wheels as to not go too far into the red at five kilometres to go. With the help of Storer, the duo fought hard all the way to the line together, where Bardet ended the stage in 14th position, a result that sees him move up to sixth place on GC for the team.

“It was a fast start to the stage today before the breakaway went clear.” explained Bardet. “The guys positioned me really well going onto the first climb. Over the top there were three of us in the front group which was great, they brought me onto the final climb in good position. From there on it was full gas and I just focused on pacing my own climb. It was a heavy one and Michael did a really great job to help bring me all the way to the line. We’re another day closer to Milan and we’ll continue giving it our all to move up the GC.”

Team DSM coach Matt Winston added: “It was a big fight at the start to get in the break but the guys did a good job to keep the overview of movement so that the right breakaway went clear. The team brought Romain into good position for the final climb and he dug super deep with the team in support around him. Michael was up there with Romain until the line which was great to see. We crossed the line losing a bit of time but we moved up another place in the overall standings and will keep fighting through the rest of the week to move up the GC places again.”