A short but incredibly challenging day awaited the bunch this morning as they rolled out of Sondrio, with a rolling 119 kilometres to take on and the queen stage of the race. Finishing atop the 16 kilometre long climb of Lanzada Diga di Campo Moro, the road would actually head upwards for the majority of the final 30 kilometres; making for a very hard finale.

It was a fast start to the stage with a lot of attacks before a breakaway eventually got clear. With all Development Team DSM riders in the peloton, attention switched to conserving energy in the opening part of the day before the team came to the front of the bunch and helped in the chase. Coming onto the final climb the breakaway trio were almost caught, with the team riding well as a group in the peloton behind.

Continuing to set a fierce pace, it became a race of attrition as riders were dropped from the peloton, and Henri Vandenabeele rode strongly to make a front group of five. On the steeper ramps the race leader put in a stinging attack to forge on and take the stage win. Vandenabeele rode at his own tempo in a group of three, fighting all the way to the line to finish the stage in an excellent third place after a strong and committed team performance.

“The team really did an amazing job today,” smiled Vandenabeele after the stage. “They put on a really strong pace on the final climb which saw only around 15 riders in the peloton. After an acceleration from Peña, we were left with only five guys in the front group with the Maglia Rosa. Then Ayuso attacked a couple of times and was the strongest once again. I rode at my own pace with Gloag and Johannesen in a group, and managed to win the sprint on the top for third on the stage which was nice.”

Team DSM coach Bennie Lambregts added: “It was the first really high mountain stage of the week. I think we can be really proud of how we rode today. The guys stuck to the plan throughout the day. We kept control of the race in the beginning of the stage before a breakaway got away. We took control of the peloton as we wanted to be in position for some tricky descents and narrow roads, especially with the bad weather. Starting the last climb all five of our riders were in the peloton of around 40, which was a really great job. Marius did the lower slopes of the climb really well, before Hannes took over in the steep part of the climb and then Leon did the same. After that it was really split up and Gianmarco took over, with only around ten or 15 riders there. An attack of five riders then went clear with Henri riding really well to be in there. He did a really good job to take third place on the stage in the end and we’re still third place on GC after the stage. I think a result and performance like this a big compliment to everyone in the team, including all of those working at our HQ; and I’m really proud of everyone.”