Extreme demands, five and a half hours of cycling and another step forward for Gilabert

A hellish day, an epic day that pushes the body to the limit and revolutionises a race. After almost five and a half hours of cycling for the winner and with important differences between the riders, who crossed the finish line one by one, the Giro del Valle d’Aosta celebrated this Saturday its queen stage with a victory for the Italian Sergio Meris (Colpack), with leadership for the Irish Darren Rafferty (Aexon) and with another good performance of Arnau Gilabert, twentieth second in the incomparable enclave of the Val Clavalité at 10’13” of the winner. The rider from Barcelona is in nineteenth place overall, 14’36” behind the winner.

Of the hardness of the day, 4,700 metres of positive vertical drop, suffice it to say that only 26 riders had crossed the finish line a quarter of an hour after the winner. A stage in which a large breakaway, twelve riders, was formed in the first third with the presence of the third in the general classification, the Irishman Rafferty. At the base of Chapremier, 8.5 kilometres at 9.4%, the breakaway would arrive with more than seven minutes over the leader’s group. Jonathan Vervanne (Soudal-Quick Step), Aviv Bental (Israel), Mauro Brenner (DSM Dev), Darrern Rafferty (Axeon) and Sergio Meris (Colpack), a quintet that would be selected on the subsequent and final climb.

This Sunday, the Giro del Valle d’Aosta will finish at the foot of the Matterhorn with another demanding high mountain stage. On the penultimate stage, Arnau Gilabert said on the way to the hotel: “No matter who I explain it to, it’s impossible for me to describe today’s madness in words. I arrived at the finish line thinking that I was at least last, but I was in the top 20. It was a crazy stage. I don’t know how I can describe it”.

[? @GiroVdA]