On The Road
by: Bill Oetinger 6/1/2023
Il Giro Magnifico!
Allow me to trot out a couple of very shopworn sayings to begin this reflection on the recently concluded Giro d’Italia. First off, a stage race is a war of attrition; second, to finish first, first you must finish. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how on top of your game, if Dame Fortune decides this is not your moment, you are toast. Hold that thought for later.
The 2023 edition of the Giro was hyped as a rematch between Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and Primoz Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), revisiting their epic tussle in last year’s Vuelta a España, won by Remco after Primoz crashed out. There were other good riders in the field, but based on recent performances, none of them seemed to be on the same level as these two.
Things started up where they left off at the Vuelta, with Evenepoel killing the Stage 1 time trial, winning it with a gap of :22 to 2nd-place Filippo Ganna, one of the world’s best time trialers. Roglič was :43 back, a huge amount to concede over a distance of only 12 miles. Bear in mind Roglič has been one of the best ITT riders of recent years, including winning the gold medal in the discipline at the last Olympics. Also of concern to Roglič was seeing two of his other GC rivals ahead of him, in addition to Evenepoel: Joao Almeida (UAE) at :29 and Tao Geoghegan Hart at :40. Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) was nipping at his heels as well at :50.
Nothing too important happened over the first week-plus, although it’s worth noting the weather was frequently terrible, with monsoon rains almost every day. (That remained the case for most of the three-week tour…not every minute of every day but more often than not.) Evenepoel gave up the leader’s jersey on Stage 4 to someone out of a break. A planned concession on his part. But he got it back on Stage 9, another time trial. He won again but this time the gaps were smaller: Thomas was 2nd at :01 and Geoghegan Hart 3rd at :02. Can’t get much closer than that! Remember, Thomas is a former Tour de France champion and Geoghegan Hart is a former Giro champion. These are not nobodies. Roglič was 6th at :17.
So after nine days of racing, the GC standings had Evenepoel comfortably in the lead, with Thomas at :45, Roglič at :47, Geoghegan Hart at :50, and Almeida at 1:07. It looked as if Remco had the world by the tail, with the only question being whether he could hold his own in the steep mountains of the later weeks. However, this is where the Fates intervened. That evening he tested positive for COVID and had to leave the tour. That moved everyone else up a place, with Thomas now in the maglia rosa but with Roglič just two seconds behind him.
Murphy’s Law was not done with the riders. On Stage 10, Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-Hansgroh) took a DNF. He had been in 7th at 1:48, so still a contender. On Stage 11, on a rain-slick descent, several riders went down, including Thomas, Roglič, and Geoghegan Hart. Thomas and Roglič were quickly back up and soldiering on, but Geoghegan Hart was hauled off in an ambulance, his Giro over. He’d been in 3rd at :05, so very much still in the hunt. That’s three out of the top seven gone in three days. That moved Almeida up to 3rd at :22. With the benefit of hindsight, we now know we had our podium right there—Thomas-Roglič-Almeida—although which of them would end up on which step remained to be determined.
Nothing too dramatic happened until Stage 16, a significant uphill finish to Monte Bondone. Within the last few kilometers, Almeida attacked and Thomas stuck with him, but Roglič couldn’t hang on. His top mountain lieutenant, Sepp Kuss, tried to pace him up those last pitches but Roglič looked beat. He eventually finished 3rd at :25. With the time bonuses factored in, that left the standings with Thomas 1st, Almeida 2nd at :18, and Roglič 3rd at :29. Those are small gaps with a lot of racing still to come, but many people wrote Roglič off at this point. He looked tired…whupped.
But it ain’t over ’til it’s over. On Stage 18, the next big mountain finish, Roglič and Thomas finished together but Almeida came in :22 behind them. Now Roglič was back in 2nd at :29 and Almeida dropped to 3rd at :39. The next stage was a monster in the Dolomites: two Cat 2 summits, two Cat 1 summits, and a brutal final, out-of-category ascent to Tre Cime Lavaredo. Behind the remnants of a breakaway—a brilliant win by Santiago Buitrago—Roglič, Thomas, and Almeida finished 4th, 5th, and 6th. Thomas and Roglič went at it like two heavyweights in the center of the ring. Roglič attacked and then Thomas attacked. Back and forth. Right near the top, Thomas launched what looked like the definitive knock-out punch, gapping Roglič. But the gritty Slovenian found something left in the tank and stormed back around Thomas to take :03 out of him at the line. This was hot stuff! Mano a mano…show me what you got. Meanwhile, Almeida was gapped again, losing :23 to Roglič.
So…one more meaningful stage to go (discounting the mostly ceremonial final stage around Rome), with Roglič :26 behind Thomas. Stage 20 would tell the story, and what an amazing stage it would be. One more time trial but this one with a serious stinger in its tail: the final 8 km (5 miles) averaging over 11%, with four kms between 14% and 19%…as a time trial! That’s as brutal an ITT as we’ve seen in a grand tour in many a year.
You probably know what happened: Roglič won the time trial and beat Thomas by :40 to erase his :26 deficit and win the Giro by :14. That’s the short version, but there were moments of panic and despair baked into that cake. The big one was the Roglič mechanical, right in the middle of the steepest section. He threw a chain and couldn’t get it back on right away. For a moment there, it seemed as if Fate had dropped another load of bricks on his head…after crashing out of the last two Tours de France and last year’s Vuelta, how much bad luck could one guy endure? At that point, it was looking like he could beat Thomas and win the stage but it was no sure thing he could pull back all the seconds he would need to win the Giro…and then this setback. Arghhh!
He had a mechanic there with a new bike in a few seconds and was up and moving again, although starting from scratch on a 17% wall is no small feat, even for a top-tier pro. Fortunately a man nearby gave him a hearty push to get moving. If what I read in Twitter is to be believed, that helpful guy was Mitja Miznar, a teammate to Roglič on the Slovenian ski-jumping team…an old friend, back when Roglič was the Junior World Champion (in ski jumping).
The mechanical and bike change cost Roglič 19 heart-stopping seconds, an eternity in a time trial. But he got back at it and flat out hammered the final section, while just behind him, Thomas was hitting his own wall, visibly wilting on the steepest pitches. Afterward, Thomas was gracious in defeat, saying Roglič was the deserving winner and noting that without the mechanical, the gap would have been even wider. Although he was bested by Roglič, Thomas did a respectable ITT. He was 2nd, :02 ahead of Almeida. That gave us a final podium of Roglič, Thomas at :14, and Almeida at 1:15.
So add a Giro to the Roglič palmarés, along with three Vueltas. How would things have played out if Remco Evenepoel were still in the field, all the way to the end? (To finish first, first you must finish.) No fault of his he had a COVID positive. Gotta feel for the guy.
Now we’re left to wonder if he will change his plans to do the Vuelta in the fall and instead jump into the Tour de France in July. So far, his name is not on the Soudal-Quick Step start list for le Tour. Tadej Pogačar (UAE) is on the start list, suggesting he expects to be recovered from his Liege-Bastogne-Liege injuries. And Jonas Vingegaard will be defending his maillot jaune as team leader for Jumbo-Visma. For now though, let’s enjoy the memories and the video replays of one of the most exciting Giros in years.
Bill can be reached at srccride@sonic.net