Giro d’Italia Stage 19 length halved after rider protest
Race 258 flat kilometres in the rain? No.
Photo by: SirottiFriday’s 19th stage of the Giro d’Italia was shortened from 258 km to 124 km after a rider protest soon before the start. At the request of the CPA rider’s union, a long, flat slog in the rain was trimmed by half.
You can find out where to watch the Giro here.
To start with, it was an odd stage to insert in the final four days between major GC skirmishes. It was one for sprinters, and not only the longest stage of the Giro, but also the longest Grand Tour stage of the season.
Here is the original route:
#Giro smiles again to the sprinters after more than a week, on the longest stage of this edition: Morbegno – Asti (258 kilometers). pic.twitter.com/N45IMwx10Q
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) October 23, 2020
What seemed to prompt the protest was organizers adding 5 km to the route on Thursday night due to a bridge collapse in Candia Lomellina. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back (Camelbak?). CPA representative Adam Hansen, along with his Lotto-Soudal squad and AG2R, led the rebellion, discussing the situation with Giro race director Mauro Vegni and UCI commissaires. Not all the teams and riders were unified in the protest.
CPA president Gianni Bugno, the 1990 winner, cited the reasons for the protest had to do with the stage being too long to ride in the rain, something that would weaken riders’ immune systems and increase their chances of catching COVID-19.
Instead of rolling out of Morbegno this morning, the riders took buses to Abbiategrasso, 25 km east of Milan, for the start. The stage would end in Asti as originally planned.
Vegni was miffed:
#Giro – Vegni: "What happened today will put into shadow everything we did about it. Everyone know giro was in October, today there were 13 °C. I listened a lot of riders, many didn't agree. Then you know how it starts, few didn't want to race and rest will follow"
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) October 23, 2020
#Giro – Vegni: "We didn't accepted riders proposal, we have suffered it. This is what happened when riders doesn't show up at start. Someone will pay for it"
— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) October 23, 2020
Wilco Kelderman wore the maglia rosa in the peloton for the first time on Friday.
Ciao to our Maglia Rosa ? #Giro?? pic.twitter.com/pSY4hLHK4f
— Team Sunweb (@TeamSunweb) October 23, 2020
The protest and rerouting came the day after the UCI announced the suspension of Vini Zabù-KTM’s Matteo Spreafico for two Adverse Analytical Findings for Enobosarm in two samples collected during on October 15 and 16. He is provisionally suspended from cycling.