Giroud 2022: Dries de Bondt grabs Alpecin-Phoenix’s third win in Treviso

Giroud 2022: Dries de Bondt grabs Alpecin-Phoenix’s third win in Treviso

Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 5:11 pm

Dries de Bond won the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2022, with his arrival in Treviso. The Belgian from Alpecin-Fenix ​​stayed out of the group with fellow refugees Edoardo Affini, Magnus Cort and Davide Gabburo and defeated his running mates. It’s already a third stage victory in this gyro for employer Alpecin-Fenix. Richard Karabaz is still a leader with three stages to go.

The 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 on paper was the last chance for runners to go to the victory stage. The stage between Borgo Valsugana and Treviso was 152 kilometers long and only had two rated climbs, but the enemy group was almost certainly not written in the stars. In the third week of the big tour, it’s questionable whether the junior sprinter’s teams are able to control things for their fast man. Furthermore, it was also the last real chance for many attackers to make something out of this gyro.

The riders started just before 2pm for the final flat stage of this Giro. Joao Almeida is no longer part of the peloton: the Portuguese captain of the United Arab Emirates, fourth in the ranking and leader in the youth rankings, tested positive for the Corona virus before the start and had to leave the Giro. Today’s flight battle was not long into the future. The first attacks were skillfully nipped in the bud by teams of sprinters, who didn’t feel like chasing a broad race all day long.

Kurt and de Bondt in the early voyage
After the first skirmish, four attackers were given a peloton space. Dries de Bondt (Alpecin-Phoenix), David Gaborough (Bardiani-CSF-Faisani), Magnus Corte (EF Education-Easy Post) and Eduardo Avigne (Jumbo-Visma), all at the helm of the race, left the sprinter teams and Cannes This is. Today’s trip is real. However, the four refugees had no real vision of stage victory. In the peloton, the dirty work was done by Quick-Step-Alpha Vinyl, Groupama-FDJ, UAE Emirates, Team DSM and the teams of Mark Cavendish, Arnaud Demari, Fernando Gaviria and Alberto Dainez respectively.

These teams of sprinters were careful to keep the four runaways within close range, so that the lead did not exceed three minutes. Meanwhile, Corte, Avene, de Bondt and Gaboro made a full jog towards Morro de Ca del Poggio (1.1 km 11.3%), the last executioner of the day more than 40 km away. De Bondt was the first to reach the top of this sinister climb, ahead of his escape comrades, after which he waited more than two minutes for the front guard of the peloton. The fugitives clearly had something left behind, and thus were able to force the hostile teams to the limit.

Refugees force hostile teams to the extreme
With a near-complete final ahead of us, the difference between the Runaways and the peloton was still two and a half minutes. With the ride to Cuneo still in mind, when the runaways were caught only in the last kilometer, the sprint teams decided to change pace. It was also necessary, because the front runners kept spinning really well and weren’t about to stop. In the peloton everything was now aboard and this led to a split in the group. Juan Pedro Lopez, in the former Rose’s jersey, who is still battling for 10th in the general classification, stunned him and lost a lot of time.

The front runners have crossed the finish line in Treviso once, but they still have to complete a fifteen kilometer local tour. The difference with the first peloton was still minute and no matter what the sprinting teams tried, they didn’t get one step closer to the very strong runaways. Kurt, de Bond, Gaborough and Avene had an excellent chance of winning the Giro stage. The peloton was still pretty strong in the final stage, but the fugitives stayed out of the grip and started running for a stage victory. Avene and de Bondt proved to be the fastest, and in the end it was the Belgian who managed to shove the wheel across the line a little earlier.

Victory Race – Photo: Cor Vos

De Bondt achieved the biggest victory of his career, and Carapaz remains the leader
De Bond, who was often on the offensive in this Giro, booked his first stage victory in the big round. For its Alpecin-Fenix ​​user, this is already the third victory, after the previous victories of Mathieu van der Poel (in the opening stage for Visegrád) and Stefano Oldani (in Genova). Kurt, the favorite to win after all, did not participate in the race and was third. Gaboro had to settle for fourth. Not long after, Alberto Dainese won the race for fifth, ahead of Demarie, Simolai, Cavendish, Gaviria and Consoni.

Carapaz crossed the finish line safely in the peloton and remains in the lead. His great rival Jay Hindley faced a shocking moment in the final. The Australian had a puncture, but did so within three kilometres, so there are no consequences for his classification ambitions.