Mattia Bais in the fastest breakaway of the Giro d’Italia
Very high average speed on the demanding terrain of Veneto for the breakaway of the Giro d’Italia featuring Mattia Bais. The front group was neutralised in the last 40 kilometres, with the race accumulating an average speed of over 50 km/h.
On the presentation podium in the town of Rovigo, yesterday’s protagonist Andrea Pietrobon received all the prizes he won thanks to his breakaway: the red bib for combativeness, the KM RedBull prize, the FantaGiro and the breakaway prize too.
But today, the main protagonist in the race for Team Polti VisitMalta was Mattia Bais, who went with eight other riders in search of the breakaway. It was not easy, because the average speed of over 50 kilometres per hour forced the maximum commitment of all the riders during the day.
The two-minute gap, which was maintained throughout the first part of the day, was drastically reduced with 60 kilometres to go, with the neutralisation of the breakaway at the start of San Giovanni in Monte climb. Davide Piganzoli, Alessandro Tonelli and Mattia Bais himself held on until the spectacular finish in Vicenza where there were no significant changes in the general classification.
Mattia Bais: ‘We wanted to be in the breakaway of the day and that’s what we did. But the gap to the peloton was never more than 2 minutes, so we had no choice and we were neutralised on the longest climb of the day. Then I stayed in the bunch with Piga to help him at the end and we finished in the first group’.
Stefano Zanatta, sport director: ‘It was a really fast stage, just look at the average of almost 47 kilometres per hour. At the start, Mattia Bais could have been in a very good breakaway that could have made its way, but the peloton didn’t leave any margin behind. The last 45 kilometres were complicated, with narrow roads and the group stretched out, but Piganzoli showed character to hold on with Tonelli. At the end, we couldn’t fight but we didn’t give up any time either and we are still waiting for the breakaways to have their chance to fight for the win in the Giro d’Italia’.
This Saturday, the Giro d’Italia faces stage 14 with 186 kilometres that offer a new opportunity for the sprinters between Treviso and Nova Gorica/Gorizia, on the Slovenian border.
