There will be five stages before the end of the 2021 Italy Bike Tour. Overall, Colombian Egan Bernal (INEOS) leads 2.24 minutes ahead of Damiano Caruso (Bahrain winner) in second and 3.40 minutes ahead of Briton Hugh Carty (First-Nippo) in third. This season was a dream come true for Bernal, who, remember, won the 16th round of the competition, his second achievement in this edition of Volta a Itália. Colombian winner Tour de France in 2019 he has been leading the general classification since the 9th stage, but the five bands to come will be a test of his discipline and his ability to remain at the head of the classification.

Sprint to the finals

Today the platoon will start in the 17th stage of the Tour of Italy. There are 193 difficult kilometers between Canazei and Sega di Ala. The mountain strip begins with a descent stage towards the city of Trento, with a slight ascent in the Sovera region along the way. However, after only 140 kilometers, the cyclists will begin the grueling climb along the Passo San Valentino for more than 15 kilometers, reaching a peak at 1315 meters. Then, in the final stage, there is a new 11 km uphill climb between Sdruzzina and the target at Sega di Ala, where gradients of up to 17% are measured in the last kilometers of the stage.

It will definitely be one of the toughest races in the competition, where the most skilled cyclists will benefit from the mountainous terrain and difficult and long climbs as well as sprinters who knows how to take advantage of the Lombardy plains in the first kilometers of the stage in order to gain an important advantage in time before climbing the mountain.

But this is only the first of the last five stages of the competition, which will culminate in a time trial in Milan. On May 30, cyclists will invade the center of the transalpine city, where 30.3 km will be able to decide who will be the winner. winner. Until then, however, there are still many mountains to climb and many kilometers to go.

Portuguese in giro

In the competition, the Portuguese representation was responsible for the cyclists João Almeida, Ruben Guerreiro and Nelson Oliveira. However, Guerreiro refused to Round after a sharp drop at the 15th stage of the competition. Cyclist who won the 9th stage of the Tour of Italy in 2020 and blue shirt (mountain classification), was in 15th place overall, but an impressive accident, forcing the temporary neutralization of the race, forced the cyclist to surrender.

João Almeida (Deseuninck – Quick-Step), who led the Volta a Itália general classification for 15 days in 2020 and finished fourth in the general classification, has had a number of ups and downs so far. THE representation in stage 16, however, allowed the 22-year-old cyclist to top 10 in the general classification, when passing through the gate in sixth place, only 1:21 minutes from Egan Bernal. Thus, Almeida managed to take 10th place in the general classification, 10:01 minutes behind the Colombian.

The Queen’s scene between Sacile and Cortina d’Ampezzo was truly a lesson given by Almeida. The youngest cyclist who finished fifth in the fight for White shirt (classification of the young), fought for leadership along the entire 153 kilometers of the route, and the will, guaranteed in the interview after the race, was really to victory. “Today I felt good, despite the rain and cold. I wanted to try to win the stage, so I attacked and joined the elimination, ”he said, quoting the official Deceuninck-QuickStep website. However, he admitted that the roster “was very strong and tempered the race.” “There is still a long way to go to Milan, as well as many difficult stages, but we will continue day after day and see where it takes us,” concluded the cyclist.

João Almeida struggled to the last second of the 16th stage of the Tour of Italy, but the Portuguese also benefited from the poor performance of their teammate Remco Evenepola. The Belgian lost over 24 minutes to Bernal and eventually dropped to 19th overall, which paved the way for Almeida to shine and, as a result, became the best cyclist at the beginning of the 17th lap. your team. “It was not the best day if I lost 25 minutes. I had a full day off… We knew this could happen. There is nothing shameful about that, ”Evenepol began to explain in his statements to the media. “I only trained for two months, I couldn’t get into the top 10,” he continued.

Evenepol has not competed since his fall in Volta a Lombardy in 2020, and he also took advantage of the statements to praise “the great stage of João Almeida,” a teammate with whom he beat a real soap opera in the fight for the best spot. in Deceuninck- QuickStep.

Nelson Oliveira’s story is different. The Movistar driver finished the 16th stage in 38th place, 17.55 minutes from the lead, and eventually lost his position in the overall standings, dropping to 27th place, where he runs from the Colombian by more than 45 minutes.

Egan Bernal Leader

Bernal has so far won two stages of the competition, but the lead in the general classification is ensured by a constant gap in time compared to other contenders for the title at almost all stages. In the 16th race, which predicted tragedy due to bad weather – the route was cut from 212 kilometers to 153 kilometers – Bernal excelled in the race for the lead in the last 20 kilometers of the race. The escape involved cyclists from 15 different teams, including João Almeida, a Portuguese from Deceuninck-QuickStep. The Colombian increased his pedaling speed, rode to Passo Jau alone, and from there the descent to Cortina d’Ampezzo secured the conquest, reaching the Colombian cyclist’s 31st victory in the Volta a Itália stage, equal to a British cyclist’s record. … On the podium again were Romain Bardet (DSM team) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain winner), both 27 seconds behind the Colombian.

Unexpected changes

Tragedy knocked on the door of Italians on Sunday, 23rd, when the cable car, connecting the Stresa area in the Piedmont region with Mount Mottarone, fell, killing 14 people. It turns out that the 19th leg of the Tour of Italy was planned to go through Mottarone, which sparked some debate in the country about whether the scheme should be rethought to avoid passing through this place. In addition, Italian Transport Minister Enrico Giovannini said in a statement that he had asked the organization to redesign the stage, asking “out of respect for the victims of the cable car tragedy.” Giovannini also asked the organization of the event to include “a moment of remembrance in memory of the people who died in this tragic accident.” This request, which the organization ultimately accepted, shortening the chain by 10 kilometers.