Contentious Start for Giro d’Italia’s Stage 16

Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia became a focal point of controversy as a dispute erupted between the organizers and the riders over the stage’s starting location and conditions. Riders expressed concerns about the proposed route, citing insufficient safety measures and poor weather forecasts. The organizers, aiming to maintain the integrity of the race, initially resisted the calls for change. After intense negotiations, the stage was shortened and started in the valley after the Umbraill Pass, resulting in a stage length of less than 120 km. This incident highlighted the ongoing challenges in balancing competitive rigor with athlete safety in professional cycling.

Ben O’Connor in interview for Eurosport:

“It’s probably one of the worst organised races, I think and, I’m just being honest, this would never happen in 99% of other situations. It’s just a bit of a shame that it’s 2024 and you still have dinosaurs who don’t see the human side of things.

I’d like to still ride the stage. I don’t want to ride over 2500 metres. It’s already 5 degrees and raining. At 2500 it’s already snowing. I think it’s only clear you should start a touch lower and do the finish, you still have a race, still have a final. But yeah, it’s just the limitation when you have a stage where you can only go over 2300m to leave from the stage start.

I’d like to see him in our position, get out on the bike and do the start of the stage and see what his answer is after those couple of hours.

I wish he could experience it because then he would have a bit of a sense of what it’s actually really like rather than turning on the climate in his car and saying this is great for people to watch.”

Breakaway

The breakaway formed in the valley after 15 km of racing. The riders in it were Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost), Davide Ballerini (Astana Qazaqstan Team), and the duo from Stage 12: Mirco Maestri (Team Polti Kometa) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step). They never gained more than a 2-minute advantage over the peloton, which was unexpectedly led by Movistar.

Stage Final

In the final, there were two climbs that riders had to tackle. The first was Passo Pinei (23.5 km at 4.8%), where Julian Alaphilippe was the strongest of the breakaway and attempted a solo attack. From the peloton, Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar), Giulio Pellizzari (VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè), Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), and Ewen Costiou (Arkea – B&B Hotels) chased. Sanchez suffered a mechanical issue and couldn’t return, but the trio caught Alaphilippe after the summit of Passo Pinei.

On the last climb of the day, Monte Pana (7.6 km at 6.1%, with the last 2 km averaging 12%), Pellizzari left everyone behind. However, with the peloton now led by UAE Team Emirates, the outcome became predictable. On the steepest part of the climb, Tadej Pogačar attacked and quickly created a gap to the other GC contenders. He caught Pellizzari 600 meters before the finish line and went on to secure his 5th win in his first appearance at the Giro d’Italia. Pellizzari finished second, and Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora – hansgrohe) came third.