At the end of the 196-kilometre 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023, the breakaway had the better end for them. Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education EasyPost) won ahead of Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco-AlUla). Behind him, Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) won the sprint of the peloton ahead of Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) for itself.
Giro d'Italia 2023: Cort Nielsen completes his collection
Cort Nielsen - just like Pedersen before him on the Stage 6 - and with this victory has now won stages in all three major national tours: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.
"I am very happy. Today was one of the toughest days I've had on the bike. It was extremely cold. My radio wasn't working, so I didn't have much information. The peloton chased us until just before the finish. I can't remember ever having ridden at full throttle all day in a breakaway," said Cort Nielsen.
The top 10 of the 10th stage
- Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education EasyPost) 4:51:15
- Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco-AlUla) +0:02
- Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) +0:51
- Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) +0:51
- Stefano Oldani (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:51
- Jonathan Milan (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:51
- Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:51
- Mirco Maestri (Eolo-Kometa) +0:51
- Filippo Fiorelli (Green Project -Bardiani CSF - Faizane) +0:51
The pink jersey was defended by Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) were successful. In contrast, the German team suffered a major setback Bora-Hansgrohe to cope with. Captain Aleksandr Vlasov abandoned the race on the road due to illness. The best placed rider in the German World Tour team is now Lennard Kämna in seventh place, 1:52 minutes behind the pink jersey.
How the 10th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023 went
Even before the start of the 10th stage, further withdrawals from the Giro d'Italia 2023 were announced. Domenico Pozzovivo (Israel-Premier Tech) left the Tour of Italy, as did the Norwegian Sven Erik Byström (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) and Australian Callum Scotson (Team Jayco-AlUla) due to coronavirus. In addition, Mads Würtz Schmidt (Israel-Premier Tech) and Rein Taaramäe (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) had to withdraw due to illness.
Like large parts of the Giro d'Italia 2023, the 10th stage was also characterised by bad weather. It rained continuously, especially in the first part of the stage. Many riders were so cold that they had to get help from support staff or spectators to change their clothes.
Giro d'Italia 2023: Four-rider breakaway group on stage 10
Alessandro De Marchi (Team Jayco-AlUla) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) were the first two riders to break away from the peloton. Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa) and Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education EasyPost) caught up around 150 kilometres before the finish. With rain and temperatures in the single digits, the group of four reached the Passo delle Radici at an altitude of 1527 metres.
Bais dropped back on the descent. In the peloton, the Bahrain-Victorious team took a lot of risks on the wet road and at one point broke away from the peloton with three riders. However, the move was neutralised by Ineos Grenadiers. The group around Geraint Thomas' pink jersey comprised around 50 riders as they set off on the largely flat 70 kilometres to the finish. Behind them, a chasing group around Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates), who had crashed in the meantime, fought to catch up, but ultimately gave up. The Australian, who was 10th before the stage, thus dropped out of the top positions in the overall standings.
Sprinter teams cannot close the gap
There were still a few sprinters in the group around Geraint Thomas, such as Mark Cavendish, Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan. Their teams chased down the three escapees Cort Nielsen, De Marchi and Gee in the finale. The peloton came back to within 40 seconds, but then the sprinters ran out of helpers.
A good three kilometres before the finish, it was clear that the breakaway would get through. Gee started first, Cort Nielsen closed the gap again, De Marchi also came back and opened the sprint with Gee on his rear wheel. Around 150 metres before the finish, Cort Nielsen came out of the slipstream of his two companions and crossed the finish line in first place.
