The ‘easy stage’ saved before the Alpine binge

There is no such thing as an easy stage in cycling and the toughness of the stages is determined by the combativeness of the participants and the way they manage the wear and tear and the effort they put in. But the altimetric factor cannot be ignored, nor can the distance, undoubtedly the combination of both; and from this point of view the Giro del Valle d’Aosta, which started on Wednesday, celebrated its easiest stage. From now on, there will be one summit finish per day. And so on until Sunday. This Wednesday, however, in the beginning of the Italian race, triumph by the minimum of the escape embodied by the Belgian Dylan Vandenstorme (Circus). Luca Bagnara was the first of the blue riders at the finish.

It was a short, frenetic stage (over 43.3 km/h average), full of alternatives and movements in which a group of riders stood out from the rest. From the final climb, Vandenstorme, Swiss Elia Blum (Tudor), Irishman Kevin McCambridge (Trinity), Belgian Witse Meeussen (Alpecin-Deceunick) and Frenchman Brieuc Rolland (Groupama-FDJ) came out in front, with Portuguese Daniel Lima (Israel Cycling Team) arriving within the final two kilometres at their level. A first main group, his vanguard, would end up coming within four seconds, with Luca Bagnara finishing at 16″. Raul Lopez was 46″ behind, Antonio Gonzalez and Sebastiano Minoia 1’10” behind, and Arnau Gilabert 1’51” behind. Wednesday’s stage was not a stage for climbers and over the next four days there will be four summit finishes. This Thursday comes the first mountain stage, finishing on a climb near Courmaeur, up to Pré de Pascal, with many double digits on its slopes.

[? @GiroVdA (1, 3), Jorge Recuero (2)]