Team Polti Kometa deserves applause in the Giro’s toughest stage, Piganzoli gains in the standings
Being protagonists and racing at the level of World Tour structures in the toughest stage of the Giro d’Italia. Goal achieved for Team Polti Kometa, which today, on the way to Livigno, escaped, chased, and commanded for a while.
It all started at km 0, when Davide Bais was the first to go in the morning and faced the initial 60 kilometers on the run with eleven other men. On the San Zeno hill Matteo Fabbro, Davide Piganzoli, Mattia Bais and Fran Muñoz were among the forty units that reshuffled the cards at the front. In the descent six riders attacked, then on the Val Camonica false flat, Mirco Maestri escaped from the main peloton along with his new friend Alaphilippe and two other men to join the chasing group and help close the gap.
Six Polti Kometa jerseys led and pulled a strong pursuit on the Mortirolo, which allowed, on the subsequent climbs in Valtellina, to make selections and catch the leaders. At that point we were in Piganzoli’s lands, and precisely the young climber guy passed first at the Intergiro in Isolaccia and was among the ten survivors who, in the final 25 km, undertook the double final ascent of the Foscagno and Eira passes with three minutes margin.
There Pogacar’s strength was once again on display, but in his own way so was Piga‘s, who was indeed caught by the big names but, never losing his pace, crossed the Mottolino finish line in 16th place and gained three GC positions: he’ll start the last week in 13th overall place.
“This was the queen stage in a part of Italy where I have many affections and fans – says exhausted Piganzoli -. I’m happy with the result but above all because in a crucial and very tough moment of the race, it was us, a small team, dictating the pace and the evolution of the situation. As I had the opportunity to personally say via radio to the squad during the race, I am truly proud of everyone’s work! Now, if UAE were to be satisfied and leave more space, I hope to seize other opportunities that may arise…”
“I felt better than in the past few days and I tried immediately – adds the other Davide, Bais -. In the end it turned out to be a very strange raceday, where a large group caught us early on, and with my teammates we pulled to keep the advantage over the maglia rosa as wide as possible. We are really united, and it motivates us a lot to work for a leader who’s doing so well in his first Giro.”
The comment by the sports director Stefano Zanatta: “The placement and the Intergiro conquered (the fifth of these special targets for our team so far) are the symbol of an entire performance, individual and collective, of which we can be proud. We reach the final rest day with the awareness that we are managing to fight to the best of our abilities.”
