In a Tour of Italy decidedly very focused on the “fuga”, the American Brandon McNulty won the 15th stage in a small committee on Sunday in Bergamo where the Frenchman Bruno Armirail kept the leader’s pink jersey. It is already the eighth time that a breakaway has reached the end in this Giro in just fifteen stages, including two against the clock. A very unusual ratio on a Grand Tour where sprint finishes and explanations between favorites regularly condemn the boldest attempts at isolation.
But this year, the first in the general classification have so far been content with marking their pants and are obviously waiting for the very mountainous third week, from Tuesday, to launch the big fight. This freezing of hostilities also benefits Bruno Armirail, the first Frenchman in pink since Laurent Jalabert in 1999, who has defended his tunic without worry, which he can admire throughout the day of rest on Monday.
Mini-Tour of Lombardy
On paper, the 15th stage was however complicated, a real mini-Tour of Lombardy, with a succession of steep climbs and descents. But the favorites waited until the very last bump, in the finally sunny streets of Bergamo, to finally launch a few skirmishes after an acceleration from Joao Almeida that only the best managed to follow.
But the pace slackened as they approached the line and Thibaut Pinot, caught in a break, was able to pick up again, while Bruno Armirail cut the line on his pink-painted bike just 33 seconds behind his pursuers to the general.
“Thrills” for Armirail
Before a mountain stage which promises to be too hard for him on Tuesday, the Frenchman still has a lead of 1 min 08 sec over the Briton Geraint Thomas and 1 min 10 sec over the Slovenian Primoz Roglic. “The guys did a great job, I had to give it my all to the line to try to keep it. I’m going to spend the day with it, it’s great,” said the Groupama-FDJ rider. He insisted that it was necessary “to be realistic: it will be difficult to keep the jersey on Tuesday”. But he had “chills” to live his first day in pink. “I had a lot of encouragement on the side of the road. I really felt what it was like to have the jersey. I’m not going to experience that often in my career,” said this model team-mate.
In front, McNulty, winner last year of a Paris-Nice stage, signed the best victory of his career. “My joy is indescribable. It was my goal coming here, but I fell ill after the time trial. I got back in shape today,” commented the man who was one of the lieutenants of Tadej Pogacar in the mountains on the last Tour de France. The American sprinted ahead of the Irishman Ben Healy, great animator of this Giro and solo winner of the 8th stage, as well as the Italian Marco Frigo who attempted a desperate comeback in the final.