At the Giro d’Italia cycle tour, a duel for overall victory is looming. Richard Carapaz and Jai Hindley duel. Mikel Landa can keep up.
Carapaz (in pink) is defeated by Hindley in the sprint for 3rd place.
Times change, and the way someone wins isn’t always the same. At the end of Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia in Aprica, overall leader Richard Carapaz and his closest rival, Jai Hindley, sprinted just for the bonus seconds for 3rd place. The latter came out on top, for the third time in a hand-to-hand fight. Hindley gained four bonus seconds and is now just three seconds behind Carapaz.
Carapaz tried to hide the partial defeat. ‘Yes, Hindley seems to be quicker than me. But I defended the jersey. And there are still a few long mountains to come,” said the man in the Maglia rosa. The Ineos captain is right about that. However, the pattern that emerges from this Giro is that the big mountain prizes cause only minor differences among the most important rivals.
The bosses had no more helpers in the final ascent
In the 22-kilometer climb to Cogne on Sunday, the three strongest climbers in the field, Carapaz, Hindley and Mikel Landa, crossed the finish line in a larger group, well protected by their helpers. The cheeky Hindley described the day as a “typically boring classification driver stage”. On Tuesday it wasn’t quite so boring. The trio had no more helpers in the final ascent.
The unlucky Landa, however, stifled the initiative of his Bahrain team himself by colliding with a teammate. Carapaz’s seconds were so exhausted from the previous hunt on the Mortirolo that they could no longer provide any significant help. And Hindley had placed two Bora colleagues at the front of the escape group, but they were no longer able to do so after catching up.
So the captains fought alone. It was an impressive picture. Once Hindley attacked, then again Landa. Carapaz tried it too. Nobody was able to make a decisive difference.
When Marco Pantani’s star rose
The same ascent to the top of the Santa Cristina pass was the stage for completely different spectacles in previous years. In 1994 Marco Pantani achieved his first major victory at the Giro. The then 24-year-old humiliated Miguel Indurain, who was considered almost unbeatable after three triumphs at the Tour de France and two at the Giro. Pantani took more than three minutes from the Spaniard. Indurain was so frustrated that he never returned to the Giro. He won the Tour de France two more times.
The same cannot be expected from today’s protagonists. Carapaz, Hindley and Landa are on the same level of performance. In the absence of the very best tour specialists, the Slovenians Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic, as well as the Colombian Egan Bernal, who had a serious accident, they have a great chance of a Grand Tour victory. They fight and are far from frustration, but lack the strength for decisive attacks.
Anyone who is now mourning the epic times of Pantani should be reminded of his medical values, which the Bolognese public prosecutor Pierguido Soprani compiled in his doping investigations. In March 1994, in preparation for the Giro, Pantani’s hematocrit was 40.7 percent. On May 23, the second day of the Tour, at 54.5. And on June 13, the day after graduation, despite all the hardships, even higher, at 57.4. 50 percent was later introduced as the threshold at which the health risk of thick blood begins.
In 1999, Pantani did not ride the Giro stage over the Santa Cristina Pass to Aprica. He had been disqualified the day before for a hematocrit above that threshold. The blood values are now subject to monitoring by the anti-doping agencies. One hopes that they are within the permitted range. That’s another reason why you should appreciate the fight for seconds at the end of long climbs.
105th Giro d’Italia. Stage 16, Salo – Aprica (202 km): 1. Jan Hirt (CZE) 5:40:45. 2. Thymen Arensman (NED) 0:07 behind. 3. Jai Hindley (AUS) 1:24. 4.Richard Carapaz (ECU). 5.Alejandro Valverde (ESP). 6. Mikel Landa (ESP), all same time. 7. Lennard Kaemna (GER) 1:38. 8. João Almeida (POR), same time. 9. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) 2:06. 10. Hugh Carthy (GBR) 2:13. Also: 16th Juan Pedro Lopez (ESP). 116. Reto Hollenstein (SUI) 48:14. 124. Mauro Schmid (SUI), same time. – Classified 155. – Overall ranking (16/21): 1. Carapaz 68:49:06. 2. Hindley 0:03. 3. Almeida 0:44. 4. Landa 0:59. 5. Nibali 3:40. 6. Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA) 3:48. 7. Pello Bilbao (ESP) 3:51. 8. Emanuel Buchmann (GER) 4:45. 9. Shepherd 7:42. 10. Valverde 9:04. 11. Lopez 9:55. Also: 83. Schmid 2:53:37. 136. Hollenstein 4:17:43.