Giro d'Italia: Nico Denz for the second time: Bora pro also wins 14th stage
Sebastian Lindner
· 20.05.2023
He started celebrating almost too early, because Derek Gee (Israel-Premier-Tech) was still on the same level - there was a photo finish, which the German won. Gee is now second for the third time in the course of the Giro.
The top 10 of the 14th stage
- Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe) 4:37:30
- Derek Gee (Israel - Premier-Tech) +0:00
- Alberto Bettiol (EF Education EasyPost) + 0:00
- Laurenz Rex (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:01
- Davide Ballerini (Soudal - Quick-Step) +0:01
- Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) +0:04
- Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) +0:10
- Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:20
- Andrea Pasqualon (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:50
- Mirco Maestri (Eolo-Kometa) +0:50
Giro d'Italia 2023: Thomas gives Rosa to Armirail
Meanwhile, Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) has handed over his pink jersey to Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ). Armirail is the first Frenchman to hold the pink jersey since Laurent Jalabert in 1999. The peloton crossed the finish line more than 21 minutes after the escapees. The new holder of the mountain jersey is Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa), who bagged 40 points on the Simplon Pass, overtaking Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).
The top 10 in the overall ranking
- Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) 56:17:01
- Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) +1:41
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1:43
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +2:03
- Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) +2:23
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) +3:09
- Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) +3:33
- Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco-AlUla) +4:13
- Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:26
- Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) +4:49
"I wanted to win the stage, I hadn't thought about Rosa for a second," said the new overall leader Armirail at the finish. He felt like he was in a dream. "But reality only hit me on the finish line when the peloton arrived. I was dead tired. But when the lead was already 15 minutes, I would have been disappointed if it hadn't been enough."
In the end, the peloton was more than 21 minutes behind the leaders on the 194-kilometre section between Sierre and Cassano Magnago.
Denz: "I don't understand what's going on here"
Denz said in the interview that his first stage success was not unimportant for today. "If you've already got a win in the bag, you don't want to finish fourth," explained the Bora pro at the finish. "I either wanted to ride for the win or go down with flags flying. It was enough. I don't understand what's going on here. But it can go on like this for another week."
The Canadian Gee was once again extremely modest. His team-mate Simon Clarke lives in the area and shared his experiences. He was also one of the breakaway riders. "There were three of us in the group and we worked well. It's a shame that I couldn't finish today. I was just a little short of victory, but I'm very happy with my performance in this Giro."
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How the 14th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 went
After the start in the Swiss town of Sierre, leading groups once again tried to form relatively early on. A first group was able to pull out a small lead after around 20 kilometres. An early wind edge, which broke the field into three parts, was closed again beforehand. Among the 18 men: the German trio Jasha Sütterlin (Bahrain-Victorious), Marius Mayrhofer (Team DSM) and stage winner Nico Denz (Bora-Hansgrohe).
But not everyone was happy with this formation, including Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), sixth and eighth overall, who tried to ride to the front in another large group. After protests from their fellow riders, the duo dropped back into the peloton and the rest managed to catch up before the foot of the Simplon Pass, which meant that there were 27 riders at the front. Two more joined them a short time later.
Davide Ballerini opens the final
The rain also joined the riders on the climb, but they worked well together until the summit. Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa) was first at the top, securing 40 points for the mountain classification and taking back the jersey from Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), who was only four points ahead of Bais. At the summit, the group had a ten-minute lead over the peloton.
63 kilometres before the finish of the 14th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 - the group's lead had grown to 13 minutes - Alberto Bettiol (EF Education EasyPost) opened the finale with an attack. When the Italian was caught, Laurenz Rex (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) and Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck) used the bonus sprint as a springboard for the next attempt. Davide Ballerini (Soudal - Quick-Step) and Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) joined them a short time later.
With 30 kilometres to go, the quartet had pulled out about 45 seconds, the peloton had stopped working and was already 16:30 minutes behind. With 18 kilometres to go, not much had changed. The terrain, on the other hand, changed from perfectly flat to slightly undulating.
Nico Denz and Marius Mayrhofer join forces
Rex was unable to maintain the pace of the leaders with ten kilometres to go. In the meantime, Denz, Mayrhofer, Bettiol and Gee threw their strength together and pulled away from the rest. But with three kilometres to go, it didn't look like the quartet would be able to catch up.
Then Nico Denz fired up the diesel and gained 14 seconds on his own over the last kilometre and a half. 400 metres before the finish, the leaders were caught up. Denz passed him directly, used Bettiol as a springboard to victory and celebrated early. But when he threw his arms up well before the finish line, Gee was almost level with him, so that the photo finish ultimately had to declare Denz the winner.
