Sunday’s Giro d’Italia stage into Milan should have ended in a bunch sprint. Instead, a four-man breakaway somehow survived a full-gas chase from several sprint teams, prompting a wave of accusations about race motorbikes influencing the outcome.
It’s not the first time that riders have talked about motos getting in the way. It could be Tadej Pogačar taking off with Paul Seixas on the Poggio in Milan-San Remo. It could be Remco Evenepoel with a gaggle of motos in front of him, people always point to the two wheels run on gas, not carbs.
The finish in Milan
Norwegian Fredrik Dversnes took a huge win ahead of Italy’s Mirco Maestri, Mattia Bais and Martin Marcellusi. It was a very exciting stage. The quartet narrowly held off the charging peloton at the end of stage 15. The last 10 km, it seemed like they would be caught, but somehow they held off the charging field. Could it be tired legs and a lack of leadout men left to string it in? Or something else?
The result handed Uno-X its first-ever Giro stage win, but much of the post-race discussion centred on what was happening in front of the escapees.
Multiple riders openly questioned whether race motos had given the break just a little bit of aerodynamic advantage during the high-speed run into Milan.
Bikes on bikes
Lidl-Trek’s Max Walscheid was among the most outspoken, as reported by Cyclinguptodate.
“I know what I’m capable of. I know what the other guys rode and I can see the numbers on my display,” Walscheid said after the finish. “We went full gas all day. It’s not possible to stay away.”
The German pointed to the pace of the chase, which regularly hovered above 50 km/h on the flat roads into the city, with teams including Lidl-Trek, Soudal – Quick-Step, Unibet Rose Rockets and UAE Emirates all contributing riders.
“We burned our team, Soudal Quick-Step burned their team, and the Rockets burned theirs,” he said. “And I am pretty sure we are good riders.”
The ongoing motorcycle discussion
The controversy comes amid growing debate in pro cycling over the impact of TV motorbikes and convoy vehicles. Riders have increasingly acknowledged that early breakaways can occasionally benefit from slipstreams created by vehicles sitting just ahead of them. The motos are supposed to leave some distance ahead of and behind the break, and the pack. Also for safety’s sake.
Unibet leadout man Elmar Einders stopped short of directly accusing organizers, but hinted strongly at…
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