Colle di Superga, Colle Maddalena and the Parco del Nobile climb packed into 36 km. Most of which to be tackled twice. A short stage, but without a metre to catch a breath. It was bound to be a great show and so it turned out to be. The first hour was covered at an insane pace and then, as soon as the Turin circuit was approached, the race exploded, with Bora-hansgrohe determined to check the temperature of all rivals. The German team wouldn’t even wait for the Colle di Superga to set the peloton on fire; Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Thymen Arensman (Team DSM) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) immediately gave in, and with 75 km to go there were only 12 heroes left in the front group, namely Wilco Kelderman, Emanuel Buchmann, Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe), Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan), Mikel Landa, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Jan Hirt, Domenico Pozzovivo (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco), Juanpe Lopez (Trek-Segafredo) and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).
Wilco Kelderman put cruise control at the head of the wild dozen and led it on Colle Maddalena and Parco del Nobile, all the way to the arrival boulevard in Turin, when the final lap bell rang. On the second climb over the Colle di Superga, it had to be Jai Hindley who changed the pace and so it was; the Australian tried to finish off the splendid work orchestrated by his team, but he was joined by Carapaz, who was in the mood for pink, Nibali, Landa and… wait for it… Juanpe Lopez. The Maglia Rosa staggers, grits his teeth, but sticks with the big climbers.
