Blink and you’d have missed it – almost. In the drawn-out hilly finale of stage 5 of the Giro d’Italia, leading overall favourite Primož Roglič moved to the front of the crumbling peloton and briefly seemed poised to launch the first GC attack of this year’s race. Although it didn’t succeed, it felt like a real threat to his rivals.
As Roglič prowled up to second place behind Lidl-Trek lead-out man Mathias Vacek, it had all the air of one of his trademark late uphill accelerations that has been so profitable in his GC battles in the past.
Was it psychological warfare? Or was Roglič briefly flexing his muscles before stage 7’s first major mountain challenge? Stage winner Mads Pedersen later pointed out that had things kicked off in the GC battle and 10 or 15 riders clipped off the front, Roglič’s fast finish meant he would have been the clear favourite to take the win.
But as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s head sports director Patxi Vila later told a small group of reporters that rather than planning to pounce, Roglič’s menacing manoeuvre had been more a combination of precaution and momentum than anything else.
“It wasn’t hard enough to attack, and obviously the level here at the Giro is super high,” Vila explained outside the Red Bull team bus after the finish.
“Perhaps if it had been a stronger lead-out or a bit of a longer climb,[it could have been different], but the route didn’t provide the opportunity to do something more.
“It was just about being safe and not getting caught on the back foot, perhaps even getting stuck behind there and needing to react.”
As Vila put it, the whole scenario arose as a result of Roglič maintaining most of a previous decision to go to the front, rather than being a prelude to an all-out attack.
“I think Giovanni Aleotti was the [Red Bull] teammate sprinting to put Primož into second position. Then you keep the momentum to see how it’s going behind,” he explained.
“It’s nothing special, but it’s better to keep that momentum rather than just go back to the back and risk having someone going right or left just ahead of you.”
Roglič finally rolled across the line in 12th place, but he remains in second place overall. While he is 10 seconds further adrift of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) after the Dane clinched his third stage victory, Roglič’s advantage on the remainder of his rivals stays more than intact.
“We knew that on the first part of the Giro, we’d have some tricky days, particularly the gravel stage plus stage 7 and probably after that race will be different,” Vila pointed out.
“But this is the Giro, today was technical, and the Cat 4 climb was also steep, so we have to keep focused. Sometimes it’s a bit boring to watch, but it’s been tense, too.”
Regarding Red Bull’s pre-race ‘shadow’ GC leaders, Jai Hindley remains high up on the overall ranking in 15th place, 58 seconds down, while Dani Martínez has slumped to 85th after losing six minutes. Vila said he could not comment on their performances as he had yet to speak to them after the stage.
Vila said that Roglič remains the clear team leader, “and we want to have them [Martínez and Hindley] ready for when it matters.”
While Roglič remains a constant presence at the top end of the classification and Hindley is still – perhaps – a potential card to play in the GC battle, one big change in the coming days for the entire peloton will be the weather. After nearly a week of dry, warm weather, it’s set to rain on stage 6 to Naples, and then temperatures are expected to plummet to just above freezing on the stage finish at Tagliacozzo.
“It’ll add spice to the race – the rain and cold always change things. Technically, it’ll become more challenging. Hopefully, all the riders are in one piece at the finish line, and the best one wins,” Vila concluded. “But whatever happens, it will add an extra layer of stress.”
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