Benson Bulletin: Giro d'Italia stage 13 🇮🇹
Ayuso continues to pressure Roglič, stage analysis, Milan's contract and the latest on Geraint Thomas
Hello Subscribers,
We have another action-packed Bulletin this evening as we analyse Mads Pedersen’s fourth stage win of the Giro and the complicated battle at the top of the GC standings, with Primož Roglič losing more time and UAE Team Emirates-XRG keeping everyone guessing about their leadership.
Don’t forget, you can follow my Giro coverage on my Instagram account, and to coincide with the race, I’ve set up a ✨ special 20% sale ✨ on annual subscriptions. Just click on the link below to sign up. For roughly £1 a week, you get all the stories on my Substack, including all the transfer exclusives.
Daniel 🫶
Lessons from San Giovanni in Monte 🇮🇹
We will, of course, get to the finish and Mads Pedersen’s fourth stage win of this year’s race but I want to start by analysing what happened on the climb to San Giovanni in Monte with around 50km to go because the ascent provided a glimpse into team dynamics at UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Ineos Grenadiers and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe.
It was Ineos Grenadiers who set a frantic pace on the climb, as Thymen Arensman was initially distanced by his team, while Juan Ayuso, Simon Yates, and several other GC riders missed the initial split.
Egan Bernal and Primož Roglič made the front group. They were in attendance, glued to Isaac del Toro’s wheel as UAE began to pace both the maglia rosa group and then the Ayuso chase group after initial work from Picnic PostNL.
Arensman came back and took a massive turn at the front of the Bernal/Roglič/Del Toro group, but an eventual regrouping took place, with all the GC riders heading to the finish in one large peloton.
What did we learn from all this? Well, Arensman is seemingly working for Bernal even though the Dutch rider started the day ahead of his teammate, while Roglič is paying closer attention to Del Toro at this point than Ayuso.
The Spaniard should have been in that maglia rosa group from the outset, but he did make amends for that mistake by taking four seconds at the Red Bull intermediate sprint with 10.5km to go, after coming around Del Toro, who took two seconds in the same sprint.
It almost feels as though Ayuso is being drawn into a race with his teammate that he doesn’t want to be in but can’t afford to ignore, especially given the fact that Roglič probably still poses the greater long-term threat. UAE are walking a fine line right now between having a strong ensemble and creating competition within their ranks. On the one hand, you can justify their approach: Ayuso has stitches in his knee, while Del Toro has yet to demonstrate that he can be competitive in the third week of a Grand Tour, but spinning both of these plates comes with a considerable element of risk. Honestly, I can see them going 1-2 in Rome, and I can also see Roglič putting them in their place come that final week. Either way, it’s shaping up to be a great Giro.
It was a good day for Del Toro, who gained a few more seconds and looked strong at the finish, but Adam Yates and Arensman both dropped. Derek Gee looked decent, and he’s now inside the top ten overall.
By the way, I strongly recommend Hugo Coorevits’ opinion piece on Ayuso. You can find it right here.
Stage 13 results 🇮🇹
Death by a thousand time bonuses for Roglič? ⏱
As for Roglič, he looked more sprightly today, despite losing time at the intermediate sprint and the finish. He was on Del Toro’s wheel when Ineos lifted the pace, and he was near the front on the final climb to the finish. He still lost nine seconds to the maglia rosa, which on the face of it doesn’t feel like a disaster, but there will come a point at which a death by a thousand cuts, or in this case, time bonuses, could become problematic for the 2023 Giro champion.
The gap between Del Toro and the Slovenian is still at a manageable 1:35, but if that creeps beyond two minutes, the complexion of the race shifts. Suddenly, Roglič can’t rely on small gains here and there, and instead, he must aim for something close to a Del Toro collapse over one or two stages.