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2022 Tour de France | 2022 Giro d'Italia

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Giro d'Italia stage thirteen team reports

We posted the report from stage winner Einer Rubio's Team Movistar with the results.

Here's the report from second-place Thibaut Pinot's Team Groupama-FDJ:

The unique Crans-Montana stage will remain in the Giro’s history, and Thibaut Pinot will be remembered as its main protagonist. In a thirteenth stage reduced to just 75 kilometers due to weather conditions, the French climber put on a show from start to finish. From the bottom of the Croix de Cœur to the top of Crans-Montana. After joining the front with Bruno Armirail, the climber made countless efforts to seek this long-awaited victory.

On the final climb, he eventually battled with two men, tried to attack them many times, but it did not prove enough. The decision was made in a sprint, and the man from Melisey had to “settle” for a bitter and frustrating second place. On the other hand, he took advantage of his superb ride to take back the best climber’s jersey and move up to tenth place overall.

Einer Rubio drives for the finish with Thibaut unable to stay with him.

Stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia has been talked about for a few weeks, but even more in the last few days, and especially in the last twenty-four hours. At first, it was deprived of the summit of the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard because of the snow, and the riders were therefore supposed to cross the tunnel linking Italy to Switzerland. Eventually, the stage was quite simply shortened by 125 kilometres. The rain and cold expected in the first hours of racing, in particular 2000 metres above sea level, led riders and organizers to agree on a new route. After morning meetings on Friday, it was therefore decided that the peloton would compete in the last 75 kilometres and therefore ride the last two climbs in Swiss territory. “It was a very special stage”, confirmed Sébastien Joly. “Thibaut would have liked to ride the whole stage, but during the transfer, we felt that the closer we approached the new start, the more energy he had. He needed to go racing.”

The official and final start of the stage was given around 3 p.m., in Le Châble, at the bottom of the Croix de Cœur (15.5 km at 8.6%). It then only took a few hundreds of metres to see Thibaut Pinot hit the front, along Bruno Armirail. “When I saw that Ineos wanted to let the breakaway go and that no one was moving, I told myself that it was not possible”, he said. “I couldn’t wait any longer. I’ve been chomping at the bit for 15 days, I’ve been sick, and I finally had good legs. I said to Bruno “let’s go, and we’ll see how it is at the top”. I didn’t care about losing everything in GC, I wanted the stage win. I only did whatever I wanted, but I want to enjoy it”.

After an unsuccessful first attempt, the rider from Melisey finally managed to get out with the French time trial champion and thus entered a seven-man breakaway. In the lead, they found themselves with Derek Gee, Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (EF Education Easy-Post) as well as Valentin Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën). Bruno Armirail was distanced after a few big turns, then Thibaut Pinot took control on the second part of the climb and the gap reached two minutes on a small bunch. He obviously took advantage of being at the front to grab the maximum points at the summit of the Croix de Cœur. “I didn’t want to have any regrets today”, confided Thibaut again. “It was a short but very very hard stage. These are the stages that I like, where there isn’t much thinking. It’s flat out from start to finish, and I had to force the hand of destiny a bit today, especially on the first climb to gain time. I couldn’t afford to ride easy”.

However, it was also in the descent that the breakaway, reduced to five men, increased its lead. Starting the twenty-kilometre valley leading to the bottom of Crans-Montana, Thibaut Pinot enjoyed a margin of four minutes at the head of the race. However, the collaboration started to get worse within the front group. “It made us lose almost a minute”, added Thibaut. “We really had a big thorn in our side.”

With more than thirty kilometres to go, some chose to no longer work in the breakaway, but Thibaut Pinot still did all he could to make the group progress. Eventually, the gap was slightly less than three minutes before the last thirteen kilometres averaging 7% leading to the summit of Crans-Montana. The Groupama-FDJ rider launched his first attack quite early, then made a second one, a third one, a fourth one and a fifth one.

However, Alexander Cepeda and Einer Rubio, who previously were reluctant to collaborate, unfortunately managed to come back. “It’s not a particularly hard climb when you’re in the wheels, in the slipstream, and this wasn’t just anybody I was fighting against”, testified Thibaut. “I had already made a lot of effort in the previous pass. It’s a nice climb but it’s really difficult to drop guys on 7% slopes, especially when they let you do all the work. It was difficult to manage and there was nothing else to do. If I don’t pull, we get caught by the pink jersey group and we don’t achieve anything”. Despite his countless efforts, and a real desire to go alone, the former winner of Il Lombardia could not get rid of the two South American riders, who were determined to leave all the responsibility to him. After responding to Cepeda’s only counter-offensive four kilometres from the finish, Thibaut Pinot tried once again, but the trio was back together for the last two, less difficult kilometres.

A three-man sprint therefore occurred, and if the French rider managed to follow Cepeda’s acceleration, he had to let Einer Rubio go in the last 200 meters. A very frustrating second place therefore concluded a spectacular day from him. “I was full of zeal throughout the climb”, added Thibaut, naturally disappointed. “Unfortunately, I may have paid for my efforts in the sprint. I’m hugely disappointed. It’s a hard blow. I really wanted to win, that’s the big goal of my Giro. I’m close, but I can’t have any regrets. I gave everything today, I left my guts on the road. I am often too generous, and they only took advantage of it. I hope that they will at least thank me for having had the opportunity to fight for victory…”

On Friday, in addition to almost scoring his seventh victory on a Grand Tour, Thibaut Pinot took back the blue jersey and gained five places in the general classification to enter the top-10 (10th). He is now 3’13 behind the pink jersey Geraint Thomas. “The blue jersey is not the main goal for the time being”, said Sébastien. “What we really want is a stage victory and to move up in the general classification. The jersey is the third objective, but considering how he’s doing at the moment, I think Thibaut is capable of doing everything”. “I hope there will be other opportunities, but the mountain is only beginning and I am looking forward to the third week”, added Thibaut. “In eight days, I leave the Giro forever, so it would be wonderful to raise my arms”.

Here's the report from GC leader Geraint Thomas' Team INEOS Grenadiers:

Geraint Thomas and the INEOS Grenadiers maintained the race lead with a strong team performance after a shortened stage 13.

Thomas sprinted home with the other GC favourites atop Crans Montana after the Grenadiers combined well to prevent any attacks from Thomas' rivals.

Geraint Thomas (shown after stage 12) remains the GC leader. Sirotti photo

The result sees the Welsh rider retain a two second lead overall, ahead of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma), with Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) 17 seconds back.
Adverse weather conditions saw the extreme weather protocol activated, which meant that the stage would be shortened to 74.6km and begin at the foot of the Cat 1 Croix de Couer climb.

At the start of the abridged stage, Ben Swift and Salvatore Puccio managed the breakaways in the early kilometres, with Laurens de Plus then taking over to bring back a large and dangerous group carrying a number of GC threats.

De Plus then worked hard to maintain a pace as a smaller group attacked, before Swift and Pavel fought back to the GC group after being dropped to lead the Grenadiers on the flat before the Crans Montana summit finish.

A superb effort from the Belgian saw him lead this small group at a strong pace on the final climb to deter attacks before Thymen Arensman led Thomas to the final kilometre, where he sprinted to the line with his GC rivals to maintain the maglia rosa.

Reaction: Laurens de Plus:
“It was a really solid team performance. EF put us under pressure from the start, but we managed to do a good job, then we re-grouped together with Swifty and Pavel ahead of the final climb.

“We made a solid pace on the last climb and made sure that G keeps the jersey.”

Here's the report from fourth-place Derek Gee's Team Israel-Premier Tech:

Israel – Premier Tech’s Derek Gee continues to impress in his first ever Grand Tour. On stage 13, the Canadian neo-pro finished fourth in the high mountains.

Derek Gee finishes stage ten. Sirotti photo

“Looking at myself and then the other guys, some of the best climbers in the world, I was thinking that I didn’t belong here. But my legs felt really good so I just carried on and I’m really happy with the result”, Gee said after realizing what he had just achieved in the stage.

Due to the bad weather conditions, the stage got shortened in the morning, with the first of three category 1 climbs taken out of the equation. However, despite the new distance of just 75 km, the stage was still extremely hard.

Right from the bottom of the first climb, Matthew Riccitello attacked, eager to get up the road. Soon after, Gee joined his American teammate and a small group took shape.

“Matthews was super active, but he kept getting chased back so I really wanted to get up there and help him get a gap. My legs were good so I kept going and I ended up the road with a bunch of skinny boys”, Gee laughed as he points out his own weight of 75kg, not exactly that of a climber.

Disregarding the steep percentages on Croix de Coeur, Gee kept setting a high pace and at the top of the climb, the group had a gap of 2:30 minutes on the highly reduced peloton.

In the valley towards the final ascent to Crans-Montana, the gap grew to over four minutes. Riccitello had been reeled in by the bunch at this point but there was no stopping Gee at the front. Not even on the opening slopes of the climb, as he kept hanging on in the company of some of the best climbers in the world.

“Even when we got into the valley and had a good gap, I still didn’t really believe that I could fight for the win. I was sure I would just blow up and come to a standstill on that last climb because it was so hard, but my sports director, Oscar, paced me through it really really well.”

Ultimately, the 23-year-old Canadian had to let go but he still had enough left in the legs to finish fourth on the stage. Previously, Gee has finished second on two occasions, proving to be the big revelation of this year’s Giro d’Italia. However, he assures that neither him nor his IPT teammates are done showing great things in the race.

“I can’t believe what I’ve done here. Coming in to this Giro, I definitely wouldn’t have expected this but I’m really happy with where my legs are. The whole team is flying and I just can’t wait for the next couple of the days!”

And here's the stage 13 report from GC second-place Primoz Roglic's Team Jumbo-Visma:

Primoz Roglic has finished the thirteenth stage of the Giro d’Italia in the same time as his GC rivals. The mountain stage, shortened due to weather conditions, saw little action among the favourites.

Primoz Roglic remains in second place, at two seconds

The organisation decided this morning that the stage would start at the foot of the Croix de Coeur. The finish line was at the top of Crans-Montana, just under 75 kilometres later. The pace was high from the start. Five riders broke away before Rubio sprinted to victory.

Roglic was well protected by his teammates on the climbs and the dangerous descent. The GC riders endured a few pinpricks in the final kilometre, but Roglic and general classification leader Geraint Thomas held their own.

Sam Oomen was one of Roglic’s lieutenants today. “We were in the group of favourites with five riders. We went up the first climb fast because the pace was high from the start. It was a crazy stage, but it was the only right decision to shorten it. Too bad for the people at home, but it was irresponsible to ride the first part of the stage today as well”, Oomen said.

“Our main goal today was to protect Primoz well during this special test”, sports director Arthur van Dongen said. “We did a good job. We knew that the battle would start on the first climb. The fact that we were able to surround Primoz with four riders is satisfying. Primoz looked sharp. This gives us confidence for the last eight stages of this Giro. It is clear that there is still a lot to come.”

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