Giro d’Italia stage 8: Demare finds his speed in Modena

Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) clocked his first victory of 2019 on the tenth stage of the Giro d’Italia in Modena. The fast finishing Frenchman, who’s been struggling for form, took the line Tuesday ahead of Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Rudiger Selig (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) with a powerful late surge down the left side of the road, after a late crash split the bunch at the one kilometer to go mark.

Pascal Ackermann, a double stage winner already in the 2019 Giro, went down in the crash after touching wheels. The German leader of the points competition rolled across the line minutes later in shredded clothing, and nursing grazes.

“It’s been a tough time for Arnaud here,” said Demare’s team mate Miles Scotson. “After the last sprint stage, the mood in the team had been pretty low.

“We weren’t sure if we were even going to ride for the sprint today.”

A short stage, and in contention for the flattest of any grand tour, it was on paper a surefire gallop. Starting near the coast in Ravenna, it headed northwesterly on wide straight roads over the plains of the Po river, gaining all of 32m altitude in 145km. After a week of rain and cold, the weather was suitably springlike too.

Sticking to the script of an ‘easy’ day, the early break of two riders went clear unchallenged at kilometre zero.

In typical Giro fashion, the move comprised representatives from Italy’s Pro-Continetal teams. For Bardiani-CSF, it was local man Luca Covili, while Nippo-Vini Fantini sent one of their Japanese representatives with him. Sho Hatsuyama had also spent much of stage three out on his own.

With anything other than a gallop being an unacceptable conclusion for the fastmen’s teams, the break gained its biggest margin in the first 20km. Thereafter it was held at little more than three-minutes as the bunch idled in a controlled manner through the Emilia Romagna countryside.

The pair led through both the intermediate sprints, situated just 10km apart at two-thirds distance, while one or two of the bunch gallopers were tempted into warming up their legs for the third place points. Demare was amongst them. Then, once the break was routinely pulled in with 30km to go, it was trains of teams across the front of the bunch at a pace that wasn’t especially desperate.

Eventually, in the last 10km, the pace picked up. Jumbo-Visma did their bit to safely deliver Primoz Roglic to the 3km banner, before’s CCC’s Francisco Ventoso exploited their easing-off to take a flyer that endured as far as the red kite. It was just as the Spaniard was reabsorbed by the charging bunch on the long home straight, that Ackermann felt the brunt of a squeeze and sharp deceleration near the head of the bunch.

“He crashed into my back wheel,” said Selig, who recovered enough momentum to sprint himself. “I tried to start my leadout for him but [after being blocked by a rider on the left] I had to brake hard.”

Several other riders also went down in the crash, including Trek-Segafredo’s Matteo Moschetti, but no serious GC contenders were affected. Valerio Conti (UAE-Emirates) retains the pink jersey, while Roglic holds second place.

Wednesday’s 11th stage will be similarly flat, albeit considerably longer at 221km.