Gallery: Dust and drama on the Giro’s ‘Strade Bianche’ stage
Stage 11 of the 2021 Giro d’Italia was always going to be something special. With 35 km of gravel roads spread over four sectors, all of it in the final 70 km of the stage, there was always bound to be some action. And indeed there was.
The day ultimately went to the breakaway, with Swiss neo-pro Mauro Schmid (Qhubeka-Assos) taking his first professional win in a two-up sprint, but the real drama was happening behind. Ineos-Grenadiers tore the race apart on the first gravel sector, paving the way for Egan Bernal to extend his lead in the maglia rosa. Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was the worst-off of the GC contenders, losing a couple minutes after struggling on the “sterrato”. But he wasn’t the only one.
Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) lost time, so too did his teammate Vincenzo Nibali, and likewise Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation). Indeed there were plenty of winners and losers on an action-packed day in Tuscany.
As we wait for the next chapter in this intriguing Giro’s GC story to begin, let’s take a look back at the photos from a memorable stage 11. The Grubers – Ashley and Jered – were there, so too Kristof Ramon and Cor Vos.
A big breakaway built a lead that peaked at roughly 15 minutes. World time trial champion Filippo Ganna (right) did a lot of damage in the first gravel sector. He sat on the front and wound up the pace, dropping many riders in the process. Dark skies brought the promise of rain, but in the end little more than a few drops fell on the riders. There were crashes aplenty throughout the day. Kiwi champ George Bennett, his GC campaign over, tried at one point to help teammate Tobias Foss up the road. The effort was in vain, but Foss did ultimately jump nine places on the GC, moving into ninth. Francesco Gavazzi, part of the early breakway, checking his wounded elbow while crossing the final gravel sector. Harm Vanhoucke had a knee full of scratches from a crash. After being in the break he ultimately finished third on the stage. Race leader Egan Bernal’s MTB background put him in great stead on the day. Romain Bardet lost time on his GC rivals. He now sits 12th overall. Evenepoel (in white) was distanced on the gravel. His teammate Joao Almeida (leading here) took a long time to come back to support him, for reasons that aren’t yet clear. It was a fight all the way to the line for Evenepoel who did well to limit his losses to just over two minutes. Dan Martin (right) was one of the big losers in the GC battle, dropping from eighth to 18th overall. Peter Sagan was part of the maglia rosa group for much of the day but ultimately fell off the pace. The stage 10 winner still leads the points classification. Iljo Keisse was part of a big group that finished more than 22 minutes down on the winner. The remnants of the breakaway on the final gravel sector: Mauro Schmid (left), Alessandro Covi (right), and Dries De Bondt (centre, rear). De Bondt was dropped in the closing kilometres, leaving Schmid and Covi to battle it out for the win. Schmid with his first professional win and a great victory salute. Bernal attacked late from a group of GC favourites … … bridging to Emanuel Buchmann who moved up from 15th overall to sixth with a great ride. Bernal has clearly been the strongest rider in this year’s Giro so far. Evenepoel is now down in seventh overall, 2:22 off the lead of Bernal. To win the Giro (or reach the podium) he’ll have to be very good in the mountains and lean heavily on his superior time-trialling on the final stage. After a tough day’s racing, riders came to the finish in small groups. Bernal is the favourite to hoist this trophy in Milan in less than two weeks, but this Giro is far from over…
