Egan Bernal wins the 104th Giro d’Italia
Filippo Ganna takes the concluding time trial in Milan
Photo by: SirottiEgan Bernal added a Giro d’Italia title to his 2019 Tour de France victory on Sunday when he kept clear of second place Damiano Caruso in the concluding time trial into Milan. Bernal becomes the second Colombian to take the pink jersey and the third South American to win the race in eight seasons. Bernal’s teammate Filippo Ganna won the day as he had won the opening time trial in Turin three weeks previous. Caruso finished his extraordinary Giro as runner-up, and although Simon Yates still has unfinished business with the Giro, his third place is his second best Grand Tour result in 11 starts.
The Course
The riders faced a flat, 30.3 km route from Senago to Milan. The weather cooperated.
It's a packed Sunday for #TheWolfpack, with our team ready to draw the curtain over the #Giro, which schedules a 30.3km ITT in Milano.
Start times of our riders (CET):
14:07 @IljoKeisse
14:47 @MikkelHonore
14:58 @remicav
15:12 @Pieter_Serry
15:14 @JamesKnoxx
16:16 @JooAlmeida98 pic.twitter.com/8IAnctiiaA— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 30, 2021
There wasn’t much danger that the men on the podium overnight would lose their positions, but there was a lot of room for the five places under the trio to change, with only 1:43 separating fourth from eighth. Romain Bardet in particular looked vulnerable. The remaining fellows in the top-10, Tobias Foss and Dan Martin, were safe in their spots.
After Stage 20
1) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers)
2) Damiano Caruso (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) +1:59
3) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange) +3:23
4) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Astana-Premier Tech) +7:07
5) Romain Bardet (France/DSM) +7:48
6) Dani Martinez (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) +7:56
7) Hugh Carthy (Great Britain/EF Education-Nippo) +8:22
8) João Almeida (Portugal/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +8:50
After Filippo Ganna survived a bike change to set the best time with 33:48, it looked like Remi Cavagna (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) might be on his way to overtaking the Italian, but a crash close to the line put the kibosh on that. The Frenchman finished 12 seconds slower.
Crash of @remicav with 500 meters to go.#Giro pic.twitter.com/tl1jksr1E1
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) May 30, 2021
Almeida had the fourth fastest time at the first time check. How high could be climb on Sunday? By the first intermediate check, Martinez had already climbed over Bardet. In the end both Martinez and Almeida jumped over Bardet and finished on the same time on GC, and the Portuguese rider overtook Carthy as well. Bardet staved off Carthy to finish seventh overall, his sixth Grand Tour top-10 in ten attempts.
Caruso put time into Bernal on the course but the Colombian had nearly 2:00 of slack to play with. The Italian took back from 30 seconds from Bernal and padded his gap over Yates.
Antoine Duchesne was 114th on the day to place 115th on GC, his second best Grand Tour result.
The next Grand Tour is the Tour de France that begins in 27 days in Brest.
2021 Giro d’Italia Stage 21
1) Filippo Ganna (Italy/Ineos Grenadiers) 33:48
2) Remi Cavagna (France/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +0:12
3) Edoardo Affini (Italy/Team Jumbo-Visma) +0:13
114) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Groupama-FDJ) +4:18
2021 Giro d’Italia Final GC
1) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) 86:17:28
2) Damiano Caruso (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) +1:29
3) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange) +4:15
4) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Astana-Premier Tech) +6:40
5) Dani Martinez (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers) +7:24
6) João Almeida (Portugal/Deceuninck-Quick Step) s.t.
7) Romain Bardet (France/DSM) +8:05
8) Hugh Carthy (Great Britain/EF Education-Nippo) +8:56
9) Tobias Foss (Norway/Jumbo-Visma) 11:44
10) Dan Martin (Ireland/Israel Start-up Nation) 18:35
115) Antoine Duchesne (Canada/Groupama-FDJ) +4:43:58