Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux came very close to a new success in the Tour of Italy (2.UWT) this Thursday. Lorenzo Rota took second place in Genova after spending the day in the breakaway alongside Rein Taaramäe.
This twelfth stage of 204 kilometer, the longest in this 105th edition, began with a long battle between numerous candidates for the early breakaway.
It took more than 70 kilometer until the duo of the Belgian World Team and 23 other riders managed to create a gap with the peloton and increase it to 5 minutes at the end of the first race half, which was only uphill.
Lorenzo Rota was the first rider to attack, causing splits in the breakaway. The Italian rider was first on top of La Colletta (9km at 4.3%) and was joined by two riders downhill. This new leading trio resisted to the chasers on the slopes of Valico di Trensasco (4.3km at 7.9%), which was also covered by Rota first.
Thanks to a good collaboration the chasers never managed to get closers than 30 seconds during the final 30 kilometer, which did not contain any major difficulty. The three riders sprinted for the victory in the streets of Genova and Rota was defeated by half a bike length, obtaining the fourth podium of the team since the start of the event.
Estonian rider Rein Taaramäe finished 2 minutes later in ninth place. This new strong collective performance enabled Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux to reconquer the lead in the team classification after this twelfth stage.
« This twelfth stage suited me well and I was happy to be part of the breakaway with Rein Taaramäe. A more hilly final would probably even have been better for me, but I’m happy that I was in the mix for the victory and offer the team a new result. In our leading trio I knew that Gijs Leemreize had to go from far. His attack was painful for the legs after more than 200 kilometer, but with Stefano Oldani we managed to get back rapidly. » « I wanted to stay in the slipstream of Oldani as long as possible and pass him at the right moment. But he was just faster. I’m of course disappointed to miss the victory, but I look on the bright side. We’re only halfway though this Giro and my feeling is getting better day by day. More opportunities to embellish our Giro before the finish in Verona will come! »
