Before entering its final stretch, the Giro d’Italia delivered two completely different stages last weekend. On Saturday, a major mountain stage allowed Jonas Vingegaard to the pink jersey in a day made for the overall contenders. On Sunday, in Milan, the sprinters were surprisingly beaten by a four-man breakaway. Fifth in the bunch sprint, Paul Penhoët consequently took ninth place on the stage. A very mountainous final week now awaits the peloton.
The day after a three-man breakaway and Josh Kench’s sixth place in Verbania, the Groupama-FDJ United cycling team understandably adopted a less aggressive approach on Saturday during a fourteenth stage featuring 4,200 metres of elevation gain in the Aosta Valley. “It was the first real mountain stage, and the whole peloton expected Visma-Lease a Bike to ride for the pink jersey,” explained William Green. “We knew the stage would probably be too difficult for Josh, so we preferred to take the risk of going all in the day before to fight for the win rather than simply trying to survive on Saturday.” A large breakaway therefore formed without any Groupama-FDJ United riders, but it was never able to build a good lead, and Jonas Vingegaard claimed victory in Pila as expected. “The priority was to get through the stage safely,” added William. On Sunday, however, to conclude the second week, the French squad had ambitions on an extremely flat route heading to Milan.
“It’s about finding what works for Paul” – William Green
Like all the other sprinters in the peloton, Paul Penhoët was eager to finally get his chance after a difficult week for the fast men. Yet, that was before an astonishing race scenario unfolded, as four early breakaway riders held off the chasing peloton all the way to the finish. “Three teams controlled the breakaway all day and never gave it too much of a gap,” recounted William. “The finishing circuit certainly had a few corners, but there was nothing especially technical about it. It was hard to imagine such a small breakaway, without any major rider in it, could pull off what they did. Of course, there’s always a bit of regret when you don’t make the break in situations like this, especially when you have a rider like Rémi. It could have been a great opportunity for him, but the peloton might not have let the group go if he had been part of it. Rémi also had the possibility to try if there had been six or seven riders and some strong names in the move. With the day’s composition, it didn’t look so possible, but that’s racing.”
was able to contest the sprint a few seconds after the breakaway crossed the line and finished fifth in the bunch, which translated into ninth place on the stage. “We had a different strategy compared to the previous sprints,” explained William. “Although the team had worked well before, it’s about finding what works for Paul. We protected him very well over four laps of the circuit, and on the final lap, the goal was to have him in a good position with two kilometres to go and stay close to him in case he needed support. A large part of the work had been done beforehand, and given the high speed of the peloton, it was probably smarter to help him in that way.” The 24-year-old rider thus secured his first top-10 finish of this Giro on the eve of the final rest day this Monday. “Tuesday’s stage will be harder than it looks, and it might be another opportunity for Vingegaard,” concluded William. “The following two days, he may not need to control the race as much, which could favor breakaways more. Stages 17 and 18 look very exciting.”
