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Kaden Groves exits the Giro as a stage winner
Australian versatile sprinter Kaden Groves abandoned the Giro d’Italia on Stage 12, after battling for a few days with illness. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider won Stage 5, finished third on stages 2 and 3, and fourth on Stage 6, in a good return for the fast man from Gympie.
“Sad news. Our sprinter & former stage winner Kaden Groves left the Giro d'Italia with gastrointestinal problems,” said Alpecin-Deceuninck on social media.
“He has been suffering for several days and failed to recover sufficiently. So we have four riders left in the race. Have a speedy recovery Kaden!”
Groves had been in contention for the maglia ciclamino (points jersey), and was third overall in the classification when he bowed out of the race.
Haig appears to crash ahead of major mountain test
It appeared from long shots of the peloton that Jack Haig may have crashed with 85 kilometres remaining on Stage 12, there were unconfirmed reports that the Australian was the rider from Bahrain Victorious that hit the road and slid into the barriers at the side of the road.
It appeared to be a nasty fall, but Haig must have picked himself up quickly and regained contact with the race as there were no shots of the Australian at the crash site or chasing to get back on. He was fortuitous in the timing of the fall, as the peloton was in the process of letting the break’s gap blow out and there was a general stop for a natural break soon after.
There was no update from Haig or the Bahrain Victorious team on social media or through press releases, so it remains to be seen if it was in fact Haig, and if he will be significantly affected by the fall.
Stage 13 looms as the first major mountain test for the contenders at the Giro d’Italia, Haig has been climbing well so far, losing time mostly in the flat time trials. He’ll need to be on top of his game to improve on his 11th position on the general classification.
Berwick finishes third
Queenslander Seb Berwick (Israel-Premier Tech) was in the thick of the action during Stage 12, making the early breakaway, then being part of the additional attack that went all the way to the finish.
Though he couldn’t match it in the sprint with stage winner Nico Denz (BORA-hansgrohe), the signs were good from Berwick on the main climb of the day, where he looked very strong.
Vine: ‘Not going to give a sh*t about top 20 on GC’
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) dropped out of the general classification battle after suffering in the cold on Stage 10, and spoke ahead of Stage 11 to SBS’ John Trevorrow about that and the crash during the stage,
“I just froze on the descent, that’s all,” Vine said. “I could have hit a wall at 40km/h or at 10km/h like I did, but that crash was irrelevant. I was already like six minutes behind then because I couldn’t actually stop.”
The Andorra-based rider had been sitting 10th overall after the time trial with Remco Evenepoel’s departure, but he lost over 10 minutes in the wet and cold.
Vine won two stages at last year’s Giro d’Italia when he had a free role to attack the mountain stages. As a co-leader entering the race with Joao Almeida, it remains to be seen if Vine will shift into that stage-hunting role, or if he will be required to work for Almeida, who is looking strong at present in third overall, just 22 seconds off the overall lead.
Vine ruled out continuing a general classification bid.
“I’m not going to give a sh*t about the top 20 on GC,” he said. “I’m just going to take a couple of recovery days and see what happens in the last couple of days of this week.”
The Giro d'Italia continues tonight with the first big mountain test for the peloton, a 199-kilometre stage to Crans-Montana and into Switzerland. Watch Stage 13 via SBS On Demand from 6:50pm (AEST), with the SBS VICELAND coverage beginning at 8:30pm (AEST).
