The Giro d’Italia Is Primož Roglič’s Race to Lose (For Now)
Valeria Conti currently leads the 2019 Giro d’Italia, but Primož Roglič remains in the best position to take the overall win.
Tom Dumoulin dropped out of the race after a crash on Stage 4.
Roglič leads rivals Vincenzo Nibali by 1:44, Simon Yates by 3:46, and Miguel Angel Lopez by 4:29.
Who’s Winning the Giro?
UAE’s Valerio Conti has led the 2019 Giro d’Italia since his second-place finish on Stage 6. After nine days, he leads the race by 1:50 over Jumbo-Visma’s Primož Roglič and 2:21 over AG2R La Mondiale’s Nans Peters. With the next General Classification shakeup not expected until the end of the second week, Conti should stay in the overall leader’s pink jersey for several more stages.
What Happened
Roglič took the opening stage, winning the short time trial with an uphill finish in Bologna by 19 seconds over Simon Yates. That also earned Roglič, a Slovenian former ski jumper and our favorite to win the 2019 Giro, the race’s first pink jersey.
Then the action went south along the Tyrrhenian Sea for two flat stages, both of which went to sprinters: Ackermann won Stage 2 and Fernando Gaviria took Stage 3 following the disqualification of Elia Viviani, who crossed the line first but whom officials relegated for sprinting too dangerously.
Things got interesting at the end of Stage 4, when two crashes near the finish took down most of the peloton, including Tom Dumoulin, who won the 2017 Giro and finished second last year. Roglič was the only GC contender to make it through unscathed, and he capitalized on his good luck and attentive riding to finish sixth on the stage, gaining 16 seconds on main rivals Yates, Vincenzo Nibali, and Miguel Angel Lopez. Dumoulin gingerly crossed the line more than four minutes later with a bloody knee. Richard Carapaz, last year’s Best Young Rider, won the stage.
Stage 5 began with Dumoulin pulling out of the Giro and ended with a rain-soaked victory for Ackermann, his second of the race. Stage 6 brought a bit of sunshine, a successful breakaway, and a new overall leader: Conti, who placed second on the stage to Fausto Masnada. The duo finished more than seven minutes ahead of the main peloton, giving Conti, a talented rider in his own right, a chance to spend a week or more in pink before relinquishing his lead to the main contenders.
Another breakaway went the distance on Stage 7, with Pello Bilbao taking the win, followed by another field sprint on Stage 8, which went to Caleb Ewan.
But it was Sunday’s Stage 9, the second individual time trial, that mattered most. Roglič stormed to victory on the 35K course with an uphill finish in San Marino, handily beating all his challengers. Conti, thanks to the seven-minute margin he forged on Stage 6, remained in pink by 1:50 over Roglič. But on the “virtual” GC, Roglič now leads Nibali (his closest rival) by 1:44, Yates by 3:46, and Lopez by 4:29. Heading into the first rest day, Roglič must feel good about his chances.
Why It Matters
By winning the first two time trials, Roglič put himself in an ideal position. He leads all his rivals by significant time gaps, and he somehow managed to do it without taking the pink jersey. That means he and his teammates won’t have to defend it before the first set of mountains at the end of the second week. Instead they can sit back, rest, and let UAE do the work-which it certainly will, with little to left to race for other than stage wins and more days in pink for Conti.
What’s Next
The Giro’s second week opens with two pancake-flat stages ideal for the race’s sprinters. Expect Ackermann, Viviani, and Ewan to make the most of them.
Stage 12 runs from Cuneo to Pinerolo, recalling the day when Fausto Coppi attacked solo and finished 11 minutes ahead of Gino Bartali during the 1949 Giro. It’s a short, punchy stage with the first Category 1 ascent this year. The climbs keep coming on Stage 13 with three hard KOMs and the race’s first summit finish, an ascent with gradients peaking at 14-15 percent. Saturday’s Stage 14 will be the hardest so far; it’s only 131K, but it features five KOMs, a total elevation gain of 4,000 meters, and a summit finish in Courmayeur.
The following day, Stage 15, is the longest of the race: 237K from Ivrea to Como, with climbs like the Madonna del Ghisallo, Colma di Sormano, and San Fermo before a finish on the shores of Lake Como. UAE (if Conti still leads) or Jumbo-Visma (if Roglič takes pink) will have their hands full heading into the second rest day.
Critical Moment
Dumoulin’s crash on Stage 4 ended the race for one of the few riders this year who has won a Grand Tour-and perhaps the only GC contender who can time trial as well as Roglič. Without the Dutchman, Roglič can focus on following his rivals in the mountains, with the last ITT on the final day in Verona serving as his safety net.
Don’t Miss
Climbing fans won’t want to miss Saturday’s short but concentrated alpine stage with a summit finish in Courmayeur. If Lopez and Yates want to chip away at their deficits, they might start doing so here.
Fans of cycling’s one-day Classics will love Sunday’s stage to Como, with a finale that borrows many climbs from the autumn’s toughest Monument: Il Lombardia. Nibali is close enough to Roglič that he can afford to wait until later in the final week to make his move. But as a former winner of Il Lombardia, he knows these roads well and will certainly take advantage of whatever opportunities might come his way.
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