Primoz Roglic has won the queen stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, with a shortened final climb to Sassotetto. The Slovenian from Jumbo-Visma won for the second day in a row and, thanks to the 10 seconds bonus, also took the leader’s jersey, although everything is very close together. Due to the fierce headwind, no one felt called to wage real war on the final climb.
Michael Van Damme
Everything is still open in this Tirreno-Adriatico, because there are only 31 seconds between first and tenth place. Roglic leads Kämna by barely 4 seconds. The question is whether Wout van Aert will be allowed to take his own chance tomorrow in these circumstances or whether he will have to efface himself in function of Roglic.
Due to the strong wind in the Sarnano-Sassotetto ski area, the organization decided to draw the line about 2.5 kilometers earlier than planned, so that the final climb was still 10.7 kilometers long with an average gradient of 7.3 percent. In a tough final, the riders first had three shorter climbs for the wheels. In normal circumstances a recipe for a nice finale, but the headwind made the queen stage a sof.
The breakaway of the day was formed by Davide Ballerini (Soudal-QuickStep), Zdenek Stybar (Jayco-AlUla), Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-Samsic), Florian Stork (Team DSM) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo). Surprisingly, the latter subsided quite quickly. With 30 kilometers to go, we got a general regroup. INEOS-Grenadiers then took command in the peloton.
Movistar led the run-up to the final climb, but the climb itself was restrained, the headwind was paralyzing. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) opened the debates with 4.6 kilometers to go.
Well seen, because behind him there was little enthusiasm in the heavily thinned group to do the head work. Only in the final kilometer was Carusco caught after an acceleration by Movistar leader Enric Mas.
The headwind blew everyone back and so we got a sprint on the line, won by Roglic ahead of Giulio Ciccone, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Jai Hindley and Lennard Kämna. The bonus seconds ensured that we got a new leader, although the gap between Roglic and Kämna is barely 4 seconds.