A hard day back in the office

Hopefully, the riders made good use of their rest day on Monday, as the Giro resumed with a bang on Tuesday for stage 10. The fight from the start, in which the Groupama-FDJ cycling team got involved, lasted for almost 100 kilometers before the breakaway could go. Peter Sagan eventually soloed to victory, and took back some ground in the points classification before stage 11 that will be more suited to Arnaud Démare, tomorrow. However, the French champion will not be able to get the support of Ramon Sinkeldam, who was forced to withdraw today.

“It was a nice fight”, Arnaud Démare

After having spent the rest day by the Adriatic Sea, the Giro bunch got back on the road on Monday, in a stage almost entirely designed along the coast. In Lanciano, however, two whole teams (Jumbo-Visma and Mitchelton-Scott) as well as one individual rider (Michael Matthews) did not show up at the start due to Covid-19 positive cases. Therefore, a much smaller peloton began this stage, which included a very bumpy finale suiting the breakaways. As a result, the battle at the start was most intense. “It was tough, but we expected it, we knew it was going to be difficult,” said Sébastien Joly afterwards. It became all the more so when Peter Sagan himself joined the lead after forty kilometers. “We had precisely considered this scenario,” added the Groupama-FDJ’s sports director. “In this situation, we wanted to try to follow and neutralize this attempt. When we reached the first climb, Arnaud suffered a small mechanical problem and asked to change his bike. This is also the moment when Sagan went. It got us a bit disorganized. Ignatas did a good job and found himself in front. We first asked him to disorganize the group but then, we eventually asked everyone to gather around Arnaud in order to close the gap as quickly as possible”.

After about fifty kilometers of relentless racing, the breakaway including the three-time world champion benefited from a fifty-second gap on the bunch, where Groupama-FDJ took control. “We gave ourselves ten kilometers to close the gap on the downhill part,” said Sébastien. As committed as his teammates in the chase, Arnaud Démare added: “It was a nice fight. We reorganized to try to come back but they were going very fast in front. We came back little by little, at 40, 30, and even 25 seconds, but then we lost ground again”. “When the gap started to grow again, I preferred to stop the guys so that we could focus 100% on tomorrow’s stage,” explained Sébastien. “I rather wanted us to save some energy. We must not forget that the number 1 goal is still the stage victories, and we still have great opportunities ahead of us. We are going to focus again on that and we really want to add another one tomorrow”. Therefore, Arnaud Démare and his teammates “took it easy” in the second part of the race. As for Peter Sagan, he managed to pull it off after a great ride. “He did a great job, he deserved it,” said Arnaud Démare. “As I said from the start, the cyclamen jersey will be hard to get, and it’s not an obsession for me. My goal is to win stages. There is another opportunity tomorrow ”.

“Ramon’s commitment deserves some respect”, Sébastien Joly

On Tuesday evening, the cyclamen jersey still remains on the French champion’s shoulders, for twenty points. Tomorrow, the profile is much more suited to the Groupama-FDJ’s sprinter but his lead-out train will have to adjust as Ramon Sinkeldam will not be able to hold his place, having been forced to retire today. “Unfortunately, we expected it, said Sébastien Joly. He was very tired the last couple of days. It’s not much of a surprise. He was very fit very early this season. He showed great professionalism during and after the lockdown. He went to train in altitude on his own; he was very involved in the team’s training camps. Ramon’s commitment over the year deserves some respect. He will now need to recover and rest. Given that he has contributed so much all year, and that he brings so much all the time, he’s fully associated with our victories and with this Giro.”