CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious’ colours were at the forefront again on stage 13 of the 107th Giro d’Italia – a flat 179km through Emilia Romagna, starting on the seaside in Riccione and travelling inland to Cento – as Phil Bauhaus crossed the line in third, behind Jonathan Milan (LTD) and Stanislaw Aniolkowski (COF).
It was a second podium for the German, and a fourth top ten at this year’s Giro.
Sports director Gorazd Stangelj was satisfied with the way the team worked towards two goals on the day: “The team did a very good job with the riders we have here, and with our dual objectives to protect both Antonio and Phil during the stage.
“Phil was in the right place at the crucial moments as he wanted, and he was on the right wheel before the sprint. In the end we just have to say that Jonny is unbelievably strong right now, and Phil did really well to fight for another podium.”
The day was a fairly relaxed affair until 60km to go, when crosswinds split the bunch and increased the tension in the peloton. Eventually the groups came back together and a three-man breakaway was caught at around the same time.
After Thursday’s frenetic pace (which was a hillier stage but averaged 47km/h), yesterday was ridden at a more leisurely tempo with the first two hours at just over 40 km/h. That changed of course, as the flattest stage of this year ended in a sprint as expected.
All bar one of Bahrain’s riders finished in the main group, and all avoided the crash which occurred within the last 20km.
Antonio Tiberi kept hold of the white jersey for the best young rider, and his fifth position on GC.
Today sees one of the pivotal stages of the three weeks, a 31.2km individual test against the clock with just 250 metres of vertical gain. Tiberi knows that the Time Trial to Desenzano del Garda will be absolutely key in deciding who takes the honours in Rome a week on Sunday:
“We have known since before the Giro started that the two Time Trials are super important, and I did pretty well in Perugia last Friday. I’m going well, and I’ll be starting late on, so with the support of the Italian fans tomorrow I reckon I can perform well again,” he said.
“There are some really strong guys here for a flat TT, but I’m feeling good and of course I’ll give everything like always. But there’s the Queen stage on Sunday, and then three more really difficult days in the last week, so we have to get everything right over the eight stages left if we’re going to take this jersey to Rome.”
The first rider sets off from Castiglione delle Stiviere at 2.20pm, with Tiberi going down the start ramp at 5.31pm, both Bahrain time
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