PESCARA — As cycling’s Giro d’Italia enters its second-week
French climber Romain Bardet may be sitting pretty but is taking nothing for
granted on a treacherous route that has already claimed the scalp of three of
the supposed front runners.
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British team Ineos are setting a ferocious pace at
key moments with the aim of wearing out any rider having a poor day, and poor
days have so far wrecked the chances of 2017 winner Tom Dumoulin, his Dutch
compatriot Wilco Kelderman and the 2018 Vuelta champion
Simon Yates.
Just 17 seconds separate six plausible champions
with Richard Carapaz of Ineos and Mikel Landa of Bahrain Victorious the main
threats to Bardet’s chances of finally landing a major prize at the age of 31.
“So far so good,” Bardet said on Monday’s rest day
ahead of two flat stages, three hilly ones, and a single mountain stage on week
two, before the mountainous final week.
Bardet is fully aware of the old adage that ‘You
can’t win a grand tour on one day, but you can lose it with one bad stage’.
“There will be hazards every day this week, you have
to keep your wits about you,” said Bardet, who feels Saturday’s short but hilly
run from Santena to Turin could prove costly for someone.
“I’ve been through many highs and lows on the grand
tours,” said the man who has been runner up on a
Tour de France and at a world
championships.
“So I don’t get too carried away now, this morning I
went for a spin on the bike, had a massage and a nice BBQ,” said the Team DSM
leader.
Opportunities for such relaxing moments may be
limited over the next two weeks for pure climber Bardet, who was piped to the
line on Sunday’s mountain finish.
A stage win would have seen him join 21 other active
riders in having won an individual stage on all three grand tours.
“I came here targeting the overall win, but it would
be nice to raise my arms at the finish line somewhere down the line,” said
Bardet.
“It’s been a good start, but there’s more than half
way still to go.”
Lopez clinging to pink jersey
Giro rookie Juan Pedro Lopez
took the overall lead on
Mount Etna on stage 4, and while his days in pink are
numbered, he admirably clung on to his lead all week.
Lurking in second place is Team UAE’s Joao Almeida
at 12sec, a strong time-trialist who will be a threat if still in the running
going into the potentially decisive final day individual test.
Given Team UAE’s record of masterminding two
straight wins for Tadej Pogacar on the Tour de France, Almeida must be taken
seriously.
Bardet is third three seconds back but 2019 Giro
winner and Tokyo Olympic champion Carapaz is breathing down his neck with just
a second separating them after 10 stages.
“We will keep fighting,” Ineos leader Carapaz told a
throng of reporters at the Blockhaus summit.
“Now we look to the second half of the Giro,” he
said.
That sentiment could be widely reflected, as this Giro has
the cycling world on the edge of its seat ahead of week two.
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