A hectic sprint finish at the Giro d’Italia, sprinkled with some crosswind action

The flattest stage of the whole Giro d’Italia took place on Friday, with a 179 kilometre route from Riccione to Cento. It was a steady start to proceedings with a three rider break up the road and all Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders in the peloton. As the kilometres ticked by the pace in the peloton ramped up ahead of an expected crosswind section, where the bunch split in two. Romain Bardet and Kevin Vermaerke made it into the front split but with the gap only ever reaching a maximum of 20 seconds, things regrouped as the race turned into a headwind.

Another counter attacking move went inside the last 30 kilometres but the sprint teams were always in control and a fast finish was set up going into Cento. Team dsm-firmenich PostNL tried to position Tobias Lund Andresen as best as possible, before he then followed the wheels in the closing kilometres. However, it was a twisting and turning finale and the bunch was strung out so Lund Andresen had to battle to move up. Launching from behind, he produced a good kick to surpass several riders but ultimately it would be for 11th place on the stage.

Speaking after the stage Lund Andresen said: “Today was a flat day but everyone knew there was a chance of crosswinds. I think you could feel in the peloton already that there was going to be some splits at some point. I stopped for a pee just before the echelons started so that wasn’t the smartest of ideas. The guys did a good job to be in front though and that resulted in Kevin and Romain being in the first split. When the groups came together straightaway we moved to the front and the guys positioned me well, also throughout the whole day. We had to gamble a bit in the final as I only had Kevin with me, who then dropped me off nicely at like three kilometres to go, and from there I just had to surf the wheels. I’m disappointed I couldn’t crack into the top ten but it’s nice to be sprinting and I know there are two more days to come.”

Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Matt Winston added: “It was a long day with not so much action. There was some crosswinds but we were never really in danger and it all came back together. The guys tried to position Tobias as best as possible but they were a bit blocked in to get to him and do a proper job, and then it was over to him to surf the wheels. Tobias hasn’t been in so many sprint finals in his career so far and it’s the first one where we’ve really made a plan for him at a Grand Tour, and we just made a few mistakes today, so couldn’t compete for that top result but we still have two more sprint chances here.”