Giro d’Italia: Hugh Carthy disappointed but hopeful his fortunes are ‘turning around’ after stage 15 breakaway

This article originally appeared on Velo News

Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) has endured some bitter disappointments at the Giro d'Italia, and despite feeling another one on stage 15, he's hopeful that his ride is a sign of better things to come.

Carthy had already suffered a blow to his GC hopes after losing almost four minutes to the other favorites on the second summit finish of Blockhaus, but his fight for a strong overall classification result was totally ended Saturday when he shed a massive 17 minutes.

After dealing with the disappointment, he picked himself up for Sunday's mountain stage and got into the breakaway. The 27-year-old was one of the last members of the day's big break to remain in the front group but he didn't have the pace to hold on when Giulio Ciccone made his race-winning move.

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• Giulio Ciccone scores solo victory on Cogne summit as GC group hits pause

“The start in particular was hard for me, but we had three there and that was ok. I was on the limit at the start of the second climb, but I settled down and I was able to come back at the top," Carthy said shortly after the line.

"After that, it was every man for himself on the final climb. I'm disappointed to be close but I think after yesterday, when I was disappointed and upset, I think that this can be the start of a change now. I'm disappointed but I'm happy things are turning around."

Getting into the break was no mean feat and it took around half the stage for a break to finally go clear. The 28-man group included representatives from almost every team in the peloton.

"Everyone wanted to get into the break, it was as simple as that," Carthy explained. "The race was being blown apart at the front, I think apart from about five riders everyone wants to get in the break, even Alejandro Valverde wanted to get into a move today. That's the way it is."

Now that his general classification battle has come to a very abrupt end, Carthy has had to shift his focus to stage victories. While he's been off the pace of the overall favorites, the final week will provide some good opportunities to show he's still got good climbing legs.

The EF Education team has been diminished over the opening two weeks with both Owain Doull and Simon Carr leaving the race in the first week with illness. The remaining riders are all ready to have a go.

"I wish the form had been better, but what can you do," he said. "I think the only option now is stage wins, so it has to be there. All six of us that are here are committed to winning a stage, so we'll be doing more of the same. There's not much else to do now."

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