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Qhubeka-Assos rules Week 2 of the Giro with three victories as breakaway prevails again

GC riders keep powder dry for Monday's mountains test

May 23, 2021
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Victor Campenaerts finally won a Grand Tour stage on Sunday’s Slovenian excursion at the Giro d’Italia, giving his Qhubeka-Assos team its third victory in five days. The Giro’s GC riders called a truce on Sunday, perhaps racing conservatively after an big crash early in the stage caused a four riders to abandon. For the eighth time in 15 stages, someone from the breakaway won the day, this time on a stage that visited Slovenia. Egan Bernal kept pink for another day.

The Course

Sandwiched between two high mountain days, Sunday’s fare was a 147 km stage in Friuli that visited Slovenia. Three circuits would each cross the border into Slovenia and return to Italy and each included a Cat. 4 climb. The finish was in the Italian side of Gorizia.

As the first attackers were going up the road, there was a huge crash at the back of the peloton that was so extensive it neutralized the race. Sixth place Emanuel Buchmann became the latest GC man to crash out of the Giro.

When the race got underway once more, there was a 15-man break 8:00 up the road, with a quartet trying to bridge across. Once more Bauke Mollema was in the break trying to salvage something from his Giro.

By the first Slovenian circuit, the fugitives’ gap was 11:00 and unless the peloton became interested the day’s winner would be an escapee. At the top of the Cat. 4 Gornje Cerovo, Dries De Bondt (Belgium/Alpecin-Fenix) was first over. De Bondt took the three mountains points in the second circuit.

The fugitives knew the day was theirs, but they needed to start thinking about thinning out the numbers. With the rain making things more difficult, they started skirmishing at the beginning of the last circuit, and a trio separated itself from the others with 23 km remaining; the final trip up Gornje Cerovo reduced the trio to a duo. Campenaerts and Oscar Riesebeek (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) beat on in the lead in the pouring rain.

With a six-rider chase closing, Riesebeek kept trying to drop Campenaerts. On the last little rise with 3 km to go, Campenaerts turned the tables. At the red kite the Dutchman found the Belgian’s rear wheel again.

It was cat and mouse time, with Campenaerts leading Riesebeek onto the cobbles. Riesebeek pounced and Campenaerts came around him in the final 50 metres, adding his triumph to teammate Mauro Schmid’s win on Wednesday and Giacomo Nizzolo’s victory on Friday.

The soggy peloton came in over 16 minutes later.

Monday includes three Cat. 1 and one HC-category climb over 212 km. The final ascent is the Passo Giau, 9.8 km of 9.3 percent peaking 18 km from the finish in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

2021 Giro d’Italia Stage 15
1) Victor Campenaerts (Belgium/Qhubeka-ASSOS) 3:25:25
2) Oscar Riesebeek (The Netherlands/Alpecin-Fenix) s.t.
3) Nikias Arndt (Germany/DSM) +0:07

2021 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Egan Bernal (Colombia/Ineos Grenadiers)
2) Simon Yates (Great Britain/BikeExchange) +1:33
3) Damiano Caruso (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) +1:51
4) Alexandr Vlasov (Russia/Astana-Premier Tech) +1:57
5) Hugh Carthy (Great Britain/EF Education-Nippo) +2:11