A stage almost designed for Mads Pedersen.
Casco van Uden: a sprint stage so not much to watch on TV but the crowds came out, especially in towns. Some of them got to see Lidl-Trek’s hiccups, Mads Pedersen was involved in two small crashes and Giulio Ciccone had a late chase after a mechanical with 20km to go.
Lecce has been described as the “lady of Baroque” and the finishing circuit lent into this with swirling corners and eye-catching bottlenecks enhanced by audacious barrier placement. But Casper van Uden delivered a rectilinear sprint to win, ahead of Olav Kooij who was caught in traffic and only had one colleague in Edoardo Affini for a leadout.
Van Uden was sporting a time trial helmet. He’s probably setting a trend here and teams will be giving some thought of when and how to hand up aero helmets for the sprint, and the trade-offs on a hot day which is where the UCI might be involved too.
It’s a big win for Van Uden – 180 UCI points, his first World Tour level win – and he shoots up the sprinting pecking order in Picnic-PostNL (Jakobsen, Bittner, Eekhoff, Lund) and the peloton.
The Route: 151km and 1,550m of vertical gain. The Red Bull sprint is a proper climb into the hilltop town of Bernalda. Montescaglioso is 3km at almost 8%, enough to fatigue some sprinters. There’s then a climb up to Matera of close to 2km at 5% before the route drops out of town.
The Finish: a ride back into Matera, known for its Sassi caves and the way the town is built into the hillside rather than just on top of it. It’s a sassy finish that’s identical to that of 2020 when it looked made for Peter Sagan only for Arnaud Démare to be in his pomp.
There’s a 750m ramp at 7% with some 10% midway, it’s all on a wide road rather than a medieval street but hard still and will cause trouble for plenty of sprinters. Then things level out through town and it’s almost flat to the finish, it drags up and then kicks up just by the line.
The Contenders: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is the easy pick, he sprints well uphill and has a team to help for the finish because momentum in this finish matters, if it is too stop-start then someone can do a flyer.
The trouble with all the challengers is getting past Pedersen. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceunick) has won uphill finishes before. Orluis Aular (Movistar) gets a finish to suit and Corbin Strong (IPT) too. Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-Ag2r) could place. Outside picks could be Primož Roglič (Red Bull), Isaac Del Toro (UAE) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain) but they can’t leave it for the final flat stretch, likewise Tom Pidcock (Q36.5).
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Pedersen |
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Groves, Kooij |
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Aular, Strong, Magnier, Del Toro |
Weather: cloudy and 20°C
TV: KM0 is at 13.50, Montescaglioso is around 16.30 the finish is forecast for 17.15 CEST.
Postcard from Policoro
Today’s stage passes close to Policoro, birthplace of Domenico Pozzovivo. Last year he finished his 18th Giro, equalling the participation record held by Wladimiro Panizza. “Pozzo” has retired yet a Giro without him feels odd because of the regular uncertainty of him riding, sometimes he’d find himself out of contract, battered by injuries, or both, only to sign late for a team and get a ticket to ride the Giro.
Somehow a week ago it still felt possible that despite being 42 years old could sign for VF Bardiani, especially as he’s logging big rides and bagging KOMs on Strava. Only there’s no sight of him in the peloton.
He made the news in Italy at the end of last year… for a fine. Joining Diego Ulissi on a training ride he was stopped by carabinieri and given an €18 penalty for riding side-by-side as this is an offence on Italian roads. Now you know.