Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

The literal and metaphorical ups and downs of a Grand Tour – Giro d’Italia 2024

Giro d'Italia
mei 26, 2024

The opening week

Coming into this year’s Giro spirits and confidence were high within Team dsm-firmenich PostNL off the the back of some incredible performances at the Tour of Türkiye and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. As a result, everyone was excited to head to La Corsa Rosa with the objectives of top stage results and a fight for a good result in the overall GC.

Rolling out from Turin in what seems like a lifetime ago – actually only 22 days ago but you know how Grand Tours go – all eyes were on the puncheurs and climbers who could already leave their mark on the race. After great preparation before the race, we had our eyes on the opening stages as chances for Romain to test himself against the best but also possibilities for Kevin, who’s had a strong and consistent season, to try something if the opportunities arose.

We started as we meant to go on and tried it from day one. We moved forward to the front with Chris, bringing Romain and Kevin into position for the penultimate climb, but then everyone’s hearts sunk.

“I’m not feeling good” came the call on the radio from Romain.

Romain was sick. Immediately Chris and Kevin dropped back, rallied around Romain and kept a steady tempo, bringing him into the base of the final short steep climb where he could then limit the losses.

Unfortunately, the illness further took its toll on Romain the following day who then ceded more time in the GC battle on Oropa. Spirits remained high, but the illness was well within the team, and almost everyone developed some minor symptoms over the course of the next three weeks. Although for some, it would hit them much harder.

An early withdrawal

Newcomer to the team Bram Welten made his Grand Tour debut at the Giro, and in the days leading up to the Giro you couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. The talkative and personable Dutchman had been an important cog in the team’s many successes in Türkiye, acting as a key member of the lead-out, and he was set to do the same in Italy.

Unfortunately, his Giro experience only lasted three stages as he was hit pretty hard by the illness and could not start the fourth day of racing. It wouldn’t only be on the bike that Bram would be missed through the race, but also his atmosphere that he brought off the bike too.

Battling through together

A spectacular effort from Tobias saw him take fifth place on stage three. It had us all up on our feet and shouting at the TV screens with excitement. Who doesn’t love to see it?!

Resilience and teamwork defined the rest of the opening week. Fabio suffered on the more difficult stages but incredible support from Julius and Gijs saw him return to the peloton on multiple occasions. Yet, battling over the hills had tired his legs somewhat and a stage result wasn’t to be.

On the attack

Week two saw us start explosively and get back into the GC fight, rather fitting on the stage that left from Pompeii, as Kevin, Chris and Romain rode brilliantly to make the break. Selfless riding from Chris and Kevin who shouldered a lot of the work out front in the large group, saw the move get enough of an advantage for Romain to fight for the stage win.

Coming onto the last ascent Romain rode a smart race, putting in the efforts where he needed to, but we just came up against a stronger opponent on that day in the form of Valentin Paret-Peintre, who had a fantastic ride.

We were very proud with our second place, which buoyed the team and our confidence started to return with Gijs taking a good eighth place from the break on stage 12, while Romain fought to fourth from the GC group on stage 15.

Dutch departures

It wasn’t to be all plain sailing and a crash on stage 11 which involved Tobias and Fabio, ultimately saw the later – our sprint finisher for the race – not fit to start the following day. Fabio is already back riding outside again and building for his next goals – a great sign for the upcoming period.

Coming to the end of week two, there was *still* illness amongst the peloton and within the team, and this time it had found itself with Julius van den Berg. A heroic and battling effort saw him ride alone for most of the day on stage 15 as he fought to make the time cut, which he did epically. It’s not just the riders at the front of the race who are riding hard, you can look through the entirety of the bunch and pick out stories of people not giving up. We had hoped that the following rest day would allow Julius to recover, but his efforts from stage 15 unfortunately had left him empty and he had to stop the race on stage 16.

4 climbers and a sprinter

That left our climbing group to support Tobias in the following sprints, and likewise Tobias helped for as long as he could in the mountainous days.

Fighting spirit shone through in the final week and that is something everyone can be really proud of. We helped Romain through a bad moment on the shortened stage 16 with fantastic support from the team, before we came out all guns blazing the following day.

Trying our luck

After the previous stage, we wanted to show that we were still in the fight so hatched a plan to try and make the race hard and get Romain in the break to fight for another stage win.

We knew our only chance of going for a stage win was to make the race hard and then be ahead of it. We caused some splits on the descent, kept the pace high and then had aimed to launch Kevin with Romain in his wheel. Race leader Pogacar immediately followed, which in turn brought all the other GC riders with him. From there it was clear we wouldn’t be allowed away that stage; with Romain ultimately finishing in a solid seventh place from the GC group.

A microcosm of cycling

This Giro d’Italia has had all the emotions that we love and at some points hate as fans of the sport. We’ve had the highs of battling for stage wins, resurging into the GC battle, but also the lows of illness and injury forcing abandons, or seeing the guys suffer more than normal.

In a sport that is so tough and gruelling but where only one team and rider can win each day, we will leave Rome with a hard-fought top ten place on GC, a well-deserved stage podium and a handful of top ten results from a fantastic team. As the dust settles on the first Grand Tour of the year over the next weeks, we look forward to getting back into the action in France.