CYCLING – THE Dolomite mountains’ fiery hues are one of the natural phenomena unique to northern Italy, and yesterday their majesty was in full view on the 17th stage of the 2024 Giro d’Italia between Selva di Val Gardena and Passo Brocon.
Team Bahrain Victorious’ leader Antonio Tiberi once again displayed his strength and talent as he crossed the line third, behind breakaway winner Georg Steinhauser of EF Education-EasyPost and world number one and general classification leader Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates.
“I’m super happy about today, which was tough right from the start with the climb and the rain all day making everyone pretty nervous,” said Tiberi. “But I really enjoyed the stage, and my legs are feeling good even though it’s the third week.”
Deep in the heart of Italy’s northernmost region of Trentino-Alto Adige, the race took in five Dolomite passes, including the Passo Sella, which at 2,244m was the highest point of the Giro – the ‘Cima Coppi’, and the summit finish at Passo Brocon.
A small break formed immediately on the Sella, which had started from kilometre zero, and included Steinhauser, a 22-year-old German who before yesterday had never won a professional race.
Bahrain Victorious road captain Damiano Caruso joined the group later, but their gap hardly went over three minutes, and by the time the leader reached the bottom of the final ascent, he rode alone until the line.
Behind, the ‘Maglia Rosa’ group had been reduced to the very best, and continued to thin out as Ben O’Connor, Caruso, Thymen Arensman and others struggled to hold on.
Meanwhile, when Pogacar attacked as he always does, Tiberi sensed an opportunity to put time into his rivals, and took to the front of the chasing pack. While he couldn’t catch the champion elect, he reduced the gap to O’Connor on general classification to 42 seconds, while increasing his lead over Arensman in the Young Riders’ classification to 41s.
More than the stats and numbers, what Tiberi did yesterday was to show again that he is the rider behind Pogacar who has the legs and the boldness to not just follow the Slovenian, but to race.
The next four days will test both his resolve and the wisdom of that strategy, but thus far he is capturing the hearts and imaginations of the public watching on the roadsides and the TV.
“I was waiting for the last climb to try to do something, and at the moment Tadej attacked I tried to follow but the pace was too much,” said Tiberi. “I saw O’Connor was struggling so wanted to get a few seconds on him and Arensman who had also lost the wheels. I tried three or four times to attack, and I managed to keep a good tempo in the last 500/600m before the final sprint, so I am more than satisfied with taking third place and some bonus seconds.”
There are no serious climbs today on stage 18, and stage 19 shouldn’t be hard enough to make a difference in the overall classifications. With Sunday a flat ride around Rome, stage 20 is what Tiberi will be focussed on as he tries to become the first Italian to win the White Jersey since Fabio Aru in 2015.
&uuid=(email))