GIRO D'TALlA
Restive riders, illness everywhere... and yet more rain
STAGE 9
I was actually less excited about riding 34km in the heavy rain for the second TT of the Giro than I was for the first one. Even if this suited me better. The very poor result in stage one left me thinking my equipment was too far off to even make the top 100. I had a good ride though. I could’ve taken more risks in the corners but I got it all out physically (with my surprisingly good legs) and came across with the best time. I stayed in the top three for a long time but as the TT specialists started coming in, I started to slide down the classification. As I was sat eating a pizza with my family 20km away, the weather cleared up and the last riders were even doing it in the dry. I slipped to 41st in the end but being the first non-WorldTour rider, I was pretty happy.
REST DAY
My first Grand Tour rest day. I know my body and if I do nothing it’ll go into full shutdown mode. I could even feel it on the ride. After one hour very easy my eyes were almost feeling heavy, so I immediately went into an overthreshold effort. I feel much better for what I did today now though. I’m still really tired but seeing my parents and girlfriend Louise helped massively and so it feels like a new start.
STAGE10
Today was nearly cancelled. Apparently, there was a riders’ meeting and they were going to just do the final part of the stage but the Giro organisers exerted their authority. It was really hard with it being mostly uphill and technical for 80km before a tricky descent in the cold and then a fast, tailwind-run to the line. It was raced very hard but I made it into the front group of 60 over the top of the climb. But there was a split on the descent as Bahrain pushed through the corners, and I was caught out. The breakaway stayed out in front of them anyway
