Giro d’Italia Stage 8 Report

Victor Lafay (Cofidis) at finish line Stage 8 Giro d’Italia

Stage 8 of the 2021 Giro d’Italia had 2 categorised climbs, and an uphill finish.

With cross winds and an undulating route at the start, it was always going to be difficult for riders to breakaway. Also, with the climbs not hard enough for the GC contenders to make any significant time gains, meant that the riders in the breakaway had a real chance of winning the stage.

It was a furious start to the race, with around 60kms of continuous attacking before a breakaway finally managed to pull clear. The breakaway consisted of 9 riders, none of whom were a threat to the GC. The group was made of Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Kobe Goossens (Lotto Soudal), Alexis Gougeard (AG2R Citroën), Nikias Arndt (DSM), Victor Lafay (Cofidis), Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF-Faizane), Francesco Gavazzi (Eolo-Kometa) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates).

With 60kms remaining, the breakaway had a lead of around 7:30 mins over the peleton, as the started the biggest climb of the day, Bocca Della Selva. By this time, it was almost certain that the winner of the stage will be coming from this front group.

Gaviria was the first one to attack from the breakaway, only to find himself flat on the road on a right turn. Thankfully he was back on his bike right away, and joined the front group again (having some assistance from the race doctor car). But it looked like his chances of winning the stage looked to be over.

Coming into the closing stage of the race, the break knew they will be fighting out between them for the stage win. Campanaerts and Gougeard each put in a number of attacks prior to the final climb, but neither was able to go clear. Campanaerts finally managed to find some daylight, alongside Carboni, but when the road started to rise, Carboni was able to drop Campanaerts.

Behind them, Victor Lafay attacked his breakaway companions, and in no time reached to and dropped both Campanaerts and Carboni. He was able to stay away from the rest of the riders and crossed the finish line first. With his win, Cofidis won a stage in the Giro after 11 years.

Behind, the GC group didn’t really fight for positions. They sort of just rolled over the finish line, with most of the GC contenders receiving the same time.

Results

Stage 8

1. Victor Lafay (Fra) Cofidis — 4:06:47
2. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team — 0:00:36
3. Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team DSM — 0:00:37
4. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team — 0:00:41
5. Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ — 0:00:44
6. Kobe Goossens (Bel) Lotto Soudal — 0:00:58
7. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Team Qhubeka Assos — 0:01:00
8. Alexis Gougeard (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team — 0:01:54
9. Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates — 0:03:04
10. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep — 0:04:48

GC after stage 8

1. Attila Valter (Groupama — FDJ) — 26:59:18
2. Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck — Quick — Step) — 0:00:11
3. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) — 0:00:16
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana — Premier Tech) — 0:00:24
5. Hugh Carthy (EF Education — Nippo) — 0:00:38
6. Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) — 0:00:39
7. Giulio Ciccone (Trek — Segafredo) — 0:00:41
8. Daniel Martin (Israel Start-up Nation) — 0:00:47
9. Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) — 0:00:49
10. Louis Vervaeke (Alpecin — Fenix) — 0:00:50

Points Classification after stage 8

1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix — 83
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos — 76
3. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis — 69
4. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-up Nation — 66
5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe — 57

Mountains Classification after stage 8

1. Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious) — 26
2. Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R Citroen Team) — 18
3. Kobe Goossens (Bel) Lotto Soudal — 18
4. Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team — 17
5. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita) Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team — 16

Young Riders Classification after stage 8

1. Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ — 31:10:53
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep — 0:00:11
3. Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers — 0:00:16
4. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech — 0:00:24
5. Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers — 0:01:06

Sprints classification

1. Simon Pellaud (Swi) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec — 38
2. Umberto Marengo (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizane’ — 32
3. Filippo Tagliani (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec — 30
4. Fernando Gaviria Rendon (Col) UAE Team Emirates — 16
5. Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain Victorious — 13

Teams Classification after stage 8

1. Ineos Grenadiers — 93:35:22
2. Bahrain Victorious — 0:01:05
3. Team BikeExchange — 0:02:15

Stats taken from Giros official website, and Cyclingnews.com

- Siddharth Hivarekar

WSSM