Key Takeaways: Giro d'Italia Stage 8

Breaking down a stage that laid the foundation for a thrilling GC battle for the rest of this Giro

Ben Healy burst clear of a select breakaway group on a difficult rolling stage from Terni to Fossombrone in Central Italy to kick off an impressive 50-kilometer solo effort, resulting in Healy’s first career grand tour stage win and adding to his historic breakout season. The breakaway companions he left in his wake could only shake their heads as they rolled in close to two minutes behind, picking up minor placings, with promising Canadian Derek Gee and Italian Filippo Zana collecting the rest of the stage podium.

While the GC group waited until the final three-kilometer-long climb to come to life, the race blew wide open as Primož Roglič surged clear of the group of favorites. Race leader Andreas Leknessund was the first to respond, with heavy favorite Remco Evenepoel in close pursuit. However, both riders failed to match the blistering pace of the veteran Slovenian. The Ineos duo of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Geraint Thomas overtook them, cresting the top of the climb with Roglič and crossing the finish line with a 14-second advantage on the chasing Evenepoel group, ending the World Champion’s physiological reign of terror on the peloton.

Stage Top Five:
1) Ben Healy +0
2) Derek Gee +1’49
3) Filippo Zana +1’49
4) Warren Barguil +1’49
5) Carlos Verona +2’12

GC Top Ten
1) Andreas Leknessund +0
2) Remco Evenepoel +08
3) Primož Roglič +38
4) João Almeida +40
5) Geraint Thomas +52
6) Tao Geoghegan Hart +56
7) Aurélien Paret-Peintre +58
8) Aleksandr Vlasov +1’26
9) Damiano Caruso +1’39
10) Lennard Kämna +1’54

Stage 8 Notebook

163.5km-to-go: After almost 40kms of constant attacking, the breakaway finally forms at the front, but is on an extremely short leash due to the high pace in the peloton.

141km: With the gap to the breakaway only at 23 seconds following the intermediate sprint, an 8-rider group bridges up from the peloton.

114km: The pace finally comes off in the peloton and the gap grows out to close to four minutes.

50.2km: As soon as they hit the first significant climb of the difficult final circuit, the Cappuccini, Healy attacks. This seems incredibly early, but he immediately gets a gap and is clearly the strongest rider in the group.

39km: Despite the move looking like it was too far from the finish, Healy pulls out 92 seconds on the chasing group in just 11km, putting significant time into the peloton as well. Judging from the speed at which he opens this gap, it is clear that he won’t be brought back, and he rides clear for a dominant solo victory.

4.8km: Back in the GC group, Primož Roglič attacks on the last ascent of the Cappuccini after hard pacing from his Jumbo team on the previous climbs. He is closely followed by the race leader Andreas Leknessund, but immediately gets a gap on the rest of the GC group. Evenepoel, who had a number of teammates at the base of the climb, is now isolated and will be forced to close this down alone.

3.2km: Evenepoel attempts to ride back to Roglič with a steady pace. He makes good initial progress, but the fact that he isn’t exploding across the gap is a sign he might not be on a great day, since you can’t afford to be off the wheel of the rider in front of you when you get over the top of this type of climb.

1.3km: By the time Roglič crests the climb, Geoghegan Hart and Thomas have caught, and dispatched Evenepoel, who appears to have paid for the effort of attempting to pull even with Roglič.

1.1km: At the peak of the climb, Roglič pushes over the top with Geoghegan Hart on his wheel, Thomas chasing just behind, and Evenepoel now following Almeida by six seconds.

900m: Somewhat oddly, Geoghegan Hart and Thomas are still tucked in Roglič’s wheel, who has carved down the descent absurdly fast, and are refusing to offer help, despite needing time on Evenepoel and the Almeida/Caruso/Evenepoel group still close behind.

GC Finish: Thomas and Geoghegan Hart eventually get to the front to offer help inside the final km, which helps blow the gap out to the group behind.

Evenepoel Finish: By the time the chase group finishes, they have lost 14 seconds to Roglič/Geoghegan Hart/Thomas. One thing to note is that instead of being at the front and pushing the pace to limit losses, Evenepoel comes over the line sitting last wheel without any urgency. 

Key Takeaways

1) Ben Healy dominated the stage, and potentially put an end to his breakaway career as a result

• The 22-year-old Irishman continued his incandescent run of form and built on his breakout season by grabbing a hugely impressive grand tour stage win in his first career grand tour.

  • Outside of just being simply stronger than his breakaway companions, his attention to aerodynamic detail (aero bike, ultra-efficient position on the bike, perfectly pinned numbers) and somewhat extreme confidence to eliminate all potential variables between himself and the stage win that far from the finish line was hugely impressive.

• This win, and the dominant way in which it was ridden, makes it intriguing to imagine what type of rider Healy could develop into. With his ability to time trial, climb, and attack, he could be a one-day classics specialist or even a budding GC star.

  • While it might be fun to imagine Healy getting into and dominating breakaways for years to come, it is important to remember that a rider only gets a few chances to do what he did today, since once a rider proves themselves to be strong enough that they can drop the rest of the breakaway at will in the finale, nobody will ever work with them again, which means every breakaway they get into is doomed to failure.

    • This is one of the reasons why Jay Vine, after two breakaway wins at the 2022 Vuelta, had to transition to becoming a GC rider.

2) Smaller, successive climbs and tricky courses once again prove more critical to the GC than the long, high-altitude climbs

• While all the attention was on yesterday’s 30km-long summit finish, the GC picture at this Giro was instead blown wide open on a three-km-long climb and ensuing descent.

  • Just like we saw with the Torino circuit race in the 2022 Giro, this is another example of how modern racing has changed as the fitness level rises across the board.

    • There are fewer and fewer differences between GC contenders on the laboratory-esque long, steady climbs, so stage races are won, and lost, on more technical, and explosive, shorter climbs/descents that require a mixture of high fitness, technical prowess, and, most importantly, strong race awareness and positioning skills.  

• This stage also shows why it is important to test leaders, even if you think they are unbeatable.

  • In theory, this terrain should suit Evenepoel perfectly. In the last 13 months, he won two editions of Liege and one San Sebastian. Since all those races feature similar terrain and physical/mental demands to today’s stage, you could almost guarantee a strong performance from Evenepoel.

  • However, instead of taking time on a course that suited him, he struggled and lost time due to a competitor’s confidence in attacking him. 

3) The Ineos Geoghegan Hart/Thomas duo suddenly look like viable potential overall winners