Giro d’Italia: Stage 8

Gorka Izagirre gets into a break that stays away and then goes clear to win the stage, Jungels continues in Pink

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Giro d’Italia: Stage 8

It was a far more intense start to stage eight of the Giro d’Italia, with the peloton covering 53.8km in first hour before the breakaway eventually broke free.

The peloton eventually let 10 remaining riders out to a four-minute advantage and Quickstep Floors controlled things to keep an eye on their overall lead before FDJ took up a more serious chase effort in the final 10kilometres. Eventually, their efforts fell short as Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar) claimed the victory from a surviving breakaway, five seconds ahead of Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain Merida) and 12 seconds ahead of Yates’ group.

Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) : “It wasn’t on our day’s plan to enter the break, but we saw a chance into that long descent, we also had to keep riders from dangerous teams at reach, and so we decided to give it a try and carry on later on once we made it.

“We saw the opportunity to go for the stage and I’m so glad we could finish it off. When Conti crashed just in front of me I was a bit hesitant, because there was still around one kilometer remaining. However, I looked back, saw that there was a split in our group, and I chose to go on full steam until the very end. It was really a long ascent with that action, but I’m just incredibly happy that I got this!

“This victory means a lot to me, it’s the biggest I’ve ever achieved. I’ve spent so many years chasing a Grand Tour stage success, so many times into breakaways, many close calls, and reaching it in such a Giro stage – this is f-ing amazing. And it’s also a huge boost of morale for the team. It really makes us confident for what’s to come.”

“Nairo is super strong at the moment and the whole team is delivering so far, everyone has seen it during this week. We’ve more than fulfilled the goal we had our minds on before starting the race, which was keeping him out of trouble and in contention until the Blockhaus ascent – now it’s another completely different Giro, and we could see some interesting things already on Sunday.

Adam Yates finished in eighth place and Geraint Thomas in 11th as there was no change to the GC.

Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors): “The crash was my fault, because I didn’t pay attention in the downhill, touched the back wheel of a teammate and went down. Fortunately, it wasn’t bad and at the moment I don’t have too much pain, but we have to wait until tomorrow to see how I will feel.

Today’s stage was very complicated and nervous, as everyone seemed to want to be in the breakaway, but we stayed calm and took back time in the final 30 kilometers, following a great ride of my teammates, to whom I want to say a big thank you”, Jungels explained at the press conference.

“This year’s stint in the maglia rosa is different from the one of 2016. I took over the lead much earlier than last year and the gaps are much smaller now, but thanks to the effort of this fantastic team I managed to keep it for five consecutive days.

Tomorrow, we have the first important test of the race so far, I’d say even more important than Etna, because everything was tactical there due to the strong winds. I expect a very hard final, as many riders will want to gain time before Tuesday’s time trial”, concluded Bob ahead of stage 9, which will take the riders to Blockhaus (8.4% over 13.6 km), a climb that was last visited by the Giro d’Italia peloton eight years ago.

Geraint Thomas: “We knew it was going to be a twisty, up and down, hard day,” he told TeamSky.com. “The way the race played out with Conti up there meant Quick-Step wanted to defend the jersey. So they were chasing hard for that. It was full-on all day really, and certainly for the last 50km.”

“It was tense and stressful, having to always concentrate and fight for position. The last few climbs were pretty tough so it was far from an easy day. Everyone knew the break had a really good chance of staying away today so everyone wanted to be in it. Hence it took so long to go. A few teams kept chasing and it was always within touching distance. I think a lot of the guys, myself included were just hoping to take it as easy as possible.”

Mikel Landa: “I’m feeling good and I tried to make a small gap, but the peloton caught me. I decided in the moment to attack. Our main goal today was to not lose any time, but I saw an opportunity and I tried something. Tomorrow we’ll see. It should be a good stage for me and I think I need to try and make some time.”

Stage 8
1. Gorka Izagirre Movistar Team
2. Giovanni Visconti Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team 0:05
3. Luis Leon Sanchez Astana Pro Team 0:10
4. Enrico Battaglin Team LottoNL-Jumbo 0:12
5. Michael Woods Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team
6. Thibaut Pinot FDJ
7. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team
8. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott
9. Steven Kruijswijk Team LottoNL-Jumbo
10. Bob Jungels Quick-Step Floors

11. Geraint Thomas Team Sky
12. Tom Dumoulin Team Sunweb
13. Mikel Landa Team Sky
16. Nairo Quintana Movistar Team
18. Bauke Mollema Trek – Segafredo
19. Tejay van Garderen BMC Racing Team
61. Hugh Carthy Cannondale-Drapac Pro Cycling Team 3.23
171. Marcin Bialoblocki CCC Sprandi Polkowice 13.02

Overall
1. Bob Jungels Quick-Step Floors
2. Geraint Thomas Team Sky 0:06
3. Adam Yates ORICA-Scott 0:10
4. Vincenzo Nibali Bahrain Merida Pro
5. Domenico Pozzovivo AG2R La Mondiale
6. Tom Dumoulin Team Sunweb
7. Nairo Quintana Movistar Team
8. Bauke Mollema Trek – Segafredo
9. Thibaut Pinot FDJ
10. Andrey Amador Movistar Team

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