Giro Stage 10: Breaking Down a Thrilling and Monumental Win

A stage that should have been a snoozefest instead served up a duel between two of the most exciting riders in the peloton

Biniam Girmay launched an absurdly long sprint after a rolling and difficult finale into Jesi and in a head-to-head drag race, burned off Mathieu van der Poel, one of the biggest superstars in the sport to grab a hugely impressive and truly monumental stage win.

The significance of the win, which marked the first time a Black African rider has ever won a stage at one of cycling’s three grand tours, cannot be overstated, and it could not have been won in a more impressive fashion. At just 22-years-old and in his first career grand tour, Girmay had his team go out on a limb to control what should have been a day for the breakaway before displaying incredible patience in a chaotic finale and finishing off the win with an extremely powerful long sprint against one of the sport’s best riders.

There was no change at the top of the GC classification despite the Ineos team of Richard Carapaz attempting to catch out some of his GC rivals on a relatively mild climb, and ensuing fast descent, into the finish. While Carapaz himself looked impressive during the effort, questions might be raised about the overall strength of his Ineos team after Carapaz was isolated in the final 5-kilometers of the stage while the rest of the contenders had teammates in tow.

Stage Top Three:
1) Biniam Girmay +0
2) Mathieu van der Poel +0
3) Vincenzo Albanese +0

Current GC Top Three:
1) Juan Pedro López +0
2) João Almeida +12
3) Romain Bardet +14

Stage Notebook:

105.9km: We already see this stage is going to be a duel between Girmay and Van der Poel when Alpecin-Fenix pitches in to help Intermarché control this breakaway and keep the pace just high to get rid of the sprinters but not so hard that it fosters chaos and attacks (like stage 7).

77.6km: Carapaz crashes off-camera but judging by his lack of injuries and grass-covered kit, it appears he had a soft landing.

76km: Caleb Ewan is dropped a very long way from the finish, and most surprisingly, no Lotto riders drop back to ride with him.

20.9km: Intermarché reels in the last man standing from the breakaway, but still has a difficult stretch ahead to control the race until the finish line.