Giro d’Italia stage 8: Victor Lafay wins from break as GC favorites finish together

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) won from a day-long breakaway at the Giro d’Italia on Saturday.

The Frenchman pulled back a late attack from Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) and Victor Campenaerts (Qhubeka Assos) to win on the short final climb to the line at Sanfranmondi after being part of the day’s nine-man escape group.

Francesco Gavazzi (Eolo-Kometa) finished second, Nikias Arndt (DSM) third.

Atilla Valter (Groupama FDJ) retained the pink jersey after crossing the line in the GC pack, several minutes behind Lafay. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) and the rest of the top favorites finished in the pack with Valter, meaning there are no changes between the race’s key players.

Carboni – fifth to the finish line – had followed an attack from Campenaerts at the base of the short hilltop finish, and the pair looked set to battle for the stage.

Behind them, Lafay kicked hard out of the remnants of the break and bridged to Campenaerts and then Carboni before motoring through to the finish to take Cofidis’ first win at the Giro in 11 years. It was also the 25-year-old’s first pro win.

“It was very difficult to get into the breakaway, but when it had gone, the peloton gave us a lot of time so we could recover a little,” Lafay said.

“The final climb was hard, but it was around 10-minutes long, which is where I’m best. I was focused all the day, and so I’m really happy. I was confident in my legs and I attacked with three K to go. I just don’t believe it.”

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Behind the battle for the stage, EF-Education Nippo had driven the GC group into the final climb before Ineos Grenadiers took charge in the final kilometer as all the favorites followed in the wheels.

With the pace high and the pack so closely bunched, there was no final kick for the line and so no time gaps emerged, protecting Valter’s 11-second gap over Evenepoel for one more day.

“I’ll never get used to wearing the pink jersey,” Valter said. “Many people today and yesterday shouted my name, it was the perfect day to wear the maglia rosa. The finish was hard but I enjoyed every moment.”

Caleb Ewan abandons with knee pain

Double stage-winner Caleb Ewan abandoned after around an hour of racing. Lotto-Soudal later confirmed that the Aussie was suffering knee pain.

Unfortunately @CalebEwan had to abandon #giro with pain in the knee.

— Lotto Soudal (@Lotto_Soudal) May 15, 2021

The 26-year-old hopes to win across all three grand tours this year, and many had been expecting him to leave the race ahead of the high mountains.

Frantic start as headwinds blow

It took some 60km for the race to settle as winds swept across the peloton. There were several splits in the bunch, with Ineos Grenadiers aggressive in attempting to shake the race. However, with Groupama-FDJ and Deceuninck-Quick-Step marking the moves, none of the early flurries stuck.

After well over an hour of racing, Lafay, Carboni, Campenaerts, Gavazzi, Arndt, Fernando Gaviria (UAE-Emirates), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Kobe Goossens (Lotto-Soudal) and Alexis Gougeard (Ag2r Citroën) finally got away.

The group of nine was given a long leash and crested the Bocca Della Selva climb with a seven-minute advantage. Gaviria tried to push the pace through the long descent and slid out on a bend, hitting the wall at speed.

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The Colombian was able to get back on the bike and chased back to the break as they made their way toward the base of the descent.

Campenaerts tried to go away solo a handful of times in the final approach to the Safradmondi climb but was unable to snap the elastic, until an effort at eight kilometers to go saw him go clear with Carboni. The pair were alone for around one kilometer before Lafay made his winning move to chase them down.

What’s to come

Stage 9 on Sunday is sure to see some moves in the GC. Dubbed the ‘queen stage of the Apennines,’ the 158km stage could prove the toughest of the opening phase of the race, and the 1.6km unpaved climb to the line could see fireworks.

There will be a sprint stage Monday before the first rest day on Tuesday.