A time trial, today’s stage accounts for a third of the Giro’s kilometres against the clock so this in an important day for the GC contenders.
Monte Carlo simulation: Albania looked the part. Especially from the helicopter which make it harder to spot the holes in the road and to admire the landscapes instead.
The early breakaway went clear with a virtual finish line of the day’s main climb, to win here was to take the mountains jersey and Sylvain Moniquet was the fastest and craftiest. A banal crash for Juan Ayuso and if he was up and back in the bunch soon there’s always the abrasion, swelling, reduced sleep.
Several sprinters were dropped the first time up the climb outside Tirana. The second time up more were ejected, along with Thymen Arensman and Derek Gee such was the pace set by Lidl-Trek, at one point you might have been wondering if Pedersen is here for GC too such is his improvement in climbing since moving to Monaco and training in the Alps behind. Wout van Aert was going backwards but made it back on for the descent.
A scary crash just before the 5km arch saw several riders collide with the kerb and a lamppost and Mikel Landa came off worse, being carried away from the race in a stretcher, former mountains winner Geoffroy Bouchard is out too.
In the final kilometre and Lidl-Trek’s team work almost ran out of gas but Mads Pedersen was able to wait a few pedal strokes before launching his sprint and this was sufficient to make it to the line and hold off Wout van Aert and Orluis Aular. Next in fourth place was Francesco Busatto who collects the white jersey as the best young rider… and a yellow card for headbutting his way to the finish.
The Route: a 13.7km time trial in downtown Tirana, the capital city. It’s big bulevardi as they say in Albanian and the climb mid-stage is a bigger boulevard still. There are corners but they’re often wide.
The Contenders: Josh Tarling (Ineos) is the obvious pick, a time trial specialist and the course suits but he’s not yet at the invincible or certainty status at this level.
Edoardo Affini (Visma-LAB) is another specialist but an infrequent winner, while team mate Wout van Aert should be a pick but if his second place reassured yesterday, almost being dropped minutes before didn’t.
Ethan Hayter (Soudal-Quickstep) can win but would prefer a hillier course, team mate Matteo Cattaneo should do well but a win is big ask.
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) should be up there, he’s won time trials before but not at this level.
Juan Ayuso (UAE) looks like a lean climber but has powered to many time trial wins. This is also his chance to get ahead of team mates, take time on Adam Yates and the rest and he’s effectively in the lead and has demonstrated his form. Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain) needs to take time on rivals and can place, while Primož Roglič (Red Bull) probably needs a hillier course to win.
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Tarling |
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WvA, Roglič |
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Ayuso, Tiberi, Affini, McNulty |
Weather: warm and sunny, 25°C but with the chance of a rain shower which could supply a plot twist.
TV: the first rider is off and the last due in at 17.15 CEST.
Postcard from Tirana
Do sport and politics mix? Many enjoy sport to get a break from politics. But while you can just sit back and watch the time trial today, the Giro’s visit to Albania is political, geo-political even. Try to read the Albanian newspapers right now and the main story is tomorrow’s parliamentary elections so you can’t get much more political.
It’s also political because Albania’s history is intense, it’s had a series of upheavals in the 20th century from independence to Italian invasion to a hermit-like totalitarian state, the collapse of this and then the implosion of a vast pyramid scheme at the end of the century that took down the economy and more with it. For a small country it’s seen a lot.
Talk of the Albanian grande partenza grew at the same time as the Italian government agreed to fund a controversial facility in Albania to detain migrants rescued from the sea before they’d landed in Italy. Fortunately the Giro is not instrumentalising this. Imagine a stage start outside the facility to show off a political message? Only there would have been red faces all around as the scheme has stalled, it’s been ruled illegal and sits empty. Rome is now trying to find an alternative for what has become a “cathedral in the desert” to use an Italian idiom. Reuters says it has cost €600 million, which is a lot of money.
The Giro’s visit has had support from Rome but we should view it as a pet project by the incumbent Prime Minister Edi Rama (in the white shoes above), and just in time for tomorrow’s election, what coincidence. Rama winning a fourth term this weekend looks easier to predict than today’s stage, he’s nested in power.
There’s wider Italo-Albanian cooperation beyond migrant facilities and the Giro, for example Italy is a lead backer of Albania’s bid to join the European Union. As a candidate there is lot of work to do but things are moving in the right direction. In a country marked by emigration, the Giro is something coming to explore Albania and beam back positive images, and that’s rare. Notices warning of road closures ask them to comply as a matter of prestige and image, to make the country look good abroad.
Albania wants to show off here, it is now Europe’s fastest growing tourist destination. If Croatia and Greece up and down the coast have enjoyed tourism booms, Albania wants in on this and the Giro stages showcase places. Enjoy the views from tomorrow’s stage because stacks of construction permits have been granted and many of those wild hills along the coast will soon have hotels and villas.
As cyclists watch Albania, will Albanians see cycling? Hopefully but it is election weekend and sport rhymes with football. Using Tirana’s newspapers as a proxy, there’s been little coverage of the Giro’s visit, more “news you can use” articles explaining where your car can be recovered if you parked it on the race route and it got towed away. But it’s a first and if Albania keeps up its modernisation, there’s a good chance the Giro returns.