Tao says goodbye to the Giro, Thomas and Roglic survive and Ackermann wins

The Squid Game, the popular Korean series that in 2021 became the most viewed in the history of the Netflix platform, is what it is on its way to becoming the Italy spin. Don’t be alarmed, no one here will lose their lives playing marbles or crossing a glass bridge. But the Italian round has become just that, pure survival. A ‘every man for himself’ that in the eleventh stage again resulted in a rain of dropouts between cases due to covid, illnesses and falls… This last factor has left us without another of the great contenders in the general classification: Tao Geoghegan Hart. The Briton, who was beginning to remember that cyclist who won this race in 2020, suffered a hard fall 70 km from the finish line for which he was taken by ambulance to hospital. Joao Almeida inherited third place. In that same incident, the entire podium of the Giro was able to say goodbye with a stroke of the pen, since Geraint Thomas (still leader) and Primoz Roglic were involved. Luckily they weren’t damaged. and they were able to get up on their own feet.

The casualty report of Giro so far, terrible: 36 dropouts. This year the record of withdrawals is equaled from an edition of the Pink Corsa once the first eleven stages have been played, a circumstance that has not occurred since 1995. A stick. The stage went to the hands of Pascal Ackermann, his first victory of the season in a Giro in which he had not raised his arms since 2019. The German opened the UAE’s win tally in this edition after overcoming, in a final of finished photo, still jonathan milan that appeared out of nowhere.

The rain returned to make an appearance, although luckily it gave a truce shortly after the start. Its intensity, much lower than in previous days. That helped the early escape of Thomas Champion, Alexander Konychev, Veljko Stojnic, Filippo Magli, Laurenz Rex and a Diego Pablo Seville that contributed some Spanish presence in a more than discreet Giro for ours. Aware that there were barely a couple of chances for a clear victory left in the sprint, the sprinter teams got down to work to control the differences at all times. But with the pulse under control came chaos…

There were about 70 km left for the finish line, when misfortune came in a small section of descent. Alessandro Covi fell in a left-hand curve, the result of the wet road, and dragged Thomas with him. Those who were at the wheel of the Welshman could not avoid them, so Roglic and several riders from the Ineos team went to the ground as if they were bowling pins. Sheet metal and paint for the leader and the Slovenian, who resumed their march quickly, but not a Tao Geoghegan who was left lying on the asphalt, very sore. Minutes later, evacuation by ambulance and abandonment. He was not the only one, since a few meters ahead of the fateful curve, Óscar Rodríguez suffered a horrible accident. The result of a sharpener with a Trek runner, the Spaniard left the road and directly hit a traffic sign and the facade of a house. Just like Tao, his Spin ended there.

Today, the peloton did not leave their homework to the last minute, so the breakaway was neutralized before it was too late (as in Naples and Viareggio), with 5km to go. to top it all off crash in the last kilometer that divided the peloton in two and in which Fernando Gaviria was involved. The Colombian takes them all. The volata was beautiful, with four runners in parallel. Pedersen threw too early, Ackermann beat Cavendish and Milan emerged from nowhere with an impressive comeback. It was a matter of centimeters, and of the finished photo, Let the German take the win. The chaos does not stop.

General ranking

after cyclist	Equipment	Time
1 Pascal Ackerman	UAD	5h09:02
2 jonathan milan	TBV	+00:00
3 Mark Cavendish	AST	+00:00
4 Mads Pederson	TFS	+00:00
5 Stefano Oldani	ADC	+00:00
6 Vincenzo Albanese	OK	+00:00
7 Marius Mayrhofer	DSM	+00:00
8 david ballerini	SOQ	+00:00
9 Simone Consonni	COF	+00:00
10 Arne Marit	ICW	+00:00

after cyclist	Equipment	Time
1 Geraint Thomas	IGD	39:26:33
2 Cousin Roglic	TJV	+00:02
3 Tao Geoghegan	IGD	+00:05
4 Joao Almeida	UAD	+00:22
5 Andreas Leknessund	DSM	+00:35
6 Damiano Caruso	TBV	+01:28
7 Lennard Kaemna	BOH	+01:52
8 pavel shivakov	IGD	+02:15
9 Edward Dunbar	JAY	+02:32
10 Thymen Arensmann	IGD	+02:32