Giro d'Italia

Gianmarco Garofoli rode to a remarkable top five on the penultimate day of the Giro d’Italia – his best result in a Grand Tour – at the end of a brutal day of racing, with four classified climbs and 4400 vertical meters. The stage had all the ingredients to be a thriller, and the 22-year-old Italian – who on Saturday announced his contract extension with Soudal Quick-Step – ended up being in the spotlight

Colle delle Finestre, which has achieved mythical status despite having been discovered by the Corsa Rosa just two decades ago, was this year’s Cima Coppi and the biggest hurdle of the day, an 18km beast with double-digit gradients and unsurfaced roads that seriously whittle down both the breakaway and the peloton. Soudal Quick-Step had both Gianmarco and Ethan Hayter in the leading group, which started the fearsome climb with a massive ten-minute advantage.

When the race splintered, Garo found himself in the first chasing group, pacing his effort smartly and not wasting energy by going over the limit, especially on the steepest part of the ascent. Soudal Quick-Step’s Italian crested the top in third place and recovered a bit on the downhill before being joined by a small GC group. On the climb to Sestriere, gaps were made again, and Gianmarco dug deep to finish the stage won by Chris Harper (Jayco-AlUla) ahead of the favourites’ group and take a well-deserved fourth place.

Today was a very tough day.

“If you had asked me this morning about my chances of getting a good result, I wouldn’t have said I can take a top five. The crashes in which I have been involved these weeks and the pain I had in the back stopped me from pushing really hard, and at one point I thought about retiring, but I continued to believe in my dream of winning a stage and managed to overcome all these setbacks.”

“I didn’t feel good today, but I tried to get in the breakaway, and with each kilometer spent there, my confidence grew and the pain was slowly going away. This fourth place is the maximum I could get in these conditions. I know it’s now a victory, but I showed again that I’m a fighter and I never give up. I will return here and I’m sure that one day I will get my stage win at the Giro d’Italia”, said Gianmarco after his best ever result in a Grand Tour.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images