Formolo: This is still only the antipasto to the Giro d'Italia

Given the speed out on the road, it was perhaps fitting that Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe) ran so quickly through the stages of his disappointment at the finish of stage 7 of the Giro d'Italia in L'Aquila. Formolo was, by own description, the strongest man in the breakaway, but that proved a burden when Pello Bilbao (Astana) escaped beneath the flamme rouge and he found few of his companions willing to help lead the chase. As Formolo edged his way through the finish area on Viale Crispi, one television reporter thrust a microphone in his direction. "You’re angry," he said to Formolo. "Are you angry?" If Formolo had been annoyed on crossing the line in third place, 5 seconds down on Bilbao, his dismay was perhaps already tempered by the knowledge that he had pegged back a minute on the GC favourites at the end of a breathless day on the Giro.ADVERTISEMENT "I certainly can’t be happy," Formolo replied. "But the Giro is still long, and I want to win a big stage in the last week. It wasn’t my intention to get in the break today, but it ended up being a hard, fast stage. There was a group going up the road and I decided to have a go." Stage 7 of the Giro brought the race north along the Adriatic coast from Vasto and then inland for a rugged finale ahead of an uphill finish in L'Aquila. It was the kind of day that lent itself to a breakaway, but it was only at the midway point that the decisive move of twelve riders eventually went clear. Ordinarily, the presence of Formolo, tenth overall at each of the past two Giri, might have doomed the break from the outset. So too might the presence of José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar), who was just 2 minutes off Valerio Conti's maglia rosa. Instead, with a depleted UAE Team Emirates squad straining to close the gap and struggling to find allies, the escapees managed to build and then maintain a lead of close to two minutes for much of the final 90km. General classification gains You can read more at Cyclingnews.com.read full article

Source: Cycling News

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