This is why Michael Woods lost seven spots in the GC on Stage 11
Top-10 in GC at Giro d'Italia looking for difficult after technical finish in Osimo
Though the finish of Stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia suited Michael Woods skillset, the Canadian was unable to contest the finish instead rolling across the line 1:05 behind Simon Yates and conceding time to all his general classification rivals. Woods went into the stage in ninth overall and fell to 16th as a result.
Television footage from the stage showed Esteban Chaves and Sergio Henao losing contact with the peloton after the slow up the also affected Woods.
Biffed it w/ 5km to go today. Big thanks to @natebrown0707 and the @Ride_Argyle crew for helping me limit my losses. #marginallosses
— Michael Woods (@rusty_woods) May 16, 2018
The reason wasn’t that Woods misfired but instead was caught in a crash with 5 km to go just as the break was reeled in, and Zdenek Stybar and Tim Wellens attacked up the penultimate rise. Luckily for Woods, he was able to quickly recover from the tumble somewhat limiting his losses to his main rivals. If the form is good, Woods has time to make that time back but it won’t be easy on the slopes of the Zoncolan and the 34-km ITT on Stage 16.
Before the start of two transition stages which bring the peloton to the base of the Alps, Woods posted a photo on his Instagram story of the damage from the crash. The photo showed a stitch on Woods right hand with, “tis but a scratch” hashtaged.
Woods Giro hasn’t gone flawlessly but has shown form finishing 12th on the climb to Gran Sasso d’Italia and he was 16th on the Etna stage. The Ottawa natives best finish was second to Tim Wellens on Stage 4.
