On and on and up and up. There was officially 25 km to climb but it was really 40+ km. And the slopes of Mount Etna did a bit of sifting out even before the trees gave way to lava. The long ascent proved too much for Nibali, Dumoulin and Pozzovivo. Matty van der Poel also fell away and lost the pink Jersey to one (Juan Pedro) Lopez while another (Miguel Angel) Lopez went home to spend more time with his osteopath. Bad news for the now slightly Thinner Fat Boys and for Hormonal Teenager (oh dear, is that the sound of a door slamming?) who are already a rider down.
The breakaway triumphed, which usually means that the aggregate velopoints scores are lower than we have seen so far. None of the GreenWightRed teams included stage winner Leonard Kämna but David’s Thin Fat Boys retain the pink jersey through (the other) Lopez who finished in second, but very nearly caused both him and Kämna to land in a heap on the last corner. Which could have made the post race interviews more spicy (“unspoken agreement”? My foot!)
Team of the Day
The flurry of sprinting by the GC favourites as the peloton approached the finish line turned out well for Cashing the Giro (well done, chaps!) with Rein Taaramäe hanging on from the breakaway in 3rd and Bardet, Bilbao and Almeida also squeezing into the top 10. Here they are, bless their high-performance streamlined cotton socks:
That puts Cashing the Giro up to second in the minileague, with Stay Upright, Probabiliter and CicloMinaccia also each gaining a place. But we shall see whether the rankings are beginning to settle down: there are a couple of flattish stages to come next.
Flag of the Day
The symbol on the flag of Sicily is called the triskelion. There are various explanations of what is a widespread symbol found in several ancient cultures. The face may be the snake-headed Medussa (one of the Gorgons) and with long ears of wheat because of the island’s fertility. The 3 legged symbol may be associated with Sicily because it was always thought of as a triangular island. The triskelion also appears on the flag of the Isle of Man (where it also runs clockwise) so could this suggest the Manx Missile might have some success there?