Cycling: 108. Giro: Roglic gets out – del Toro with loss of time

At the start of the third and trickiest week at the 108th Giro d’Italia, Primoz Roglic rose from the bike. The top star was weakened by several falls in the past few days and ended the race after a fall during the 16th stage almost 100 kilometers before the finish.

In the overall ranking, the talented leading Isaac del Toro from Mexico showed larger weaknesses for the first time and lost a lot of time. Simon Yates is lurking behind him for 26 seconds. Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz had settled, reduced the distance to the 21-year-old from almost two minutes to 31 seconds and, as a new third party, ensured an exciting situation at the top. Del Toro’s teammate Juan Ayuso from Spain also showed weaknesses and had already fallen back significantly.

After 203 kilometers, the Italian Christian Scaroni cheered the day’s victory at the mountain arrival on the San-Valentino Pass on Lake Garda. After the racing day, which was particularly rainy at the beginning and accompanied by several falls, with a total of 4900 meters of altitude, Landmann Lorenzo Fortunato second, Giulio Pelizzari provided the Italian daily podium.

Heavy blow for Red Bull

Roglic, the former winner of the Giro (2023), was behind Del Toro in the overall ranking before the stage. Pictures of his Red Bull team on the platform X showed how the 35-year-old depressed a team car. For the Red Bull team, the task of the highly paid Slovenian is a setback. The racing team targeted the victory with Roglic. Last year, the Tour de France for the four-time Vuelta winner ended prematurely after twelve stages due to several falls.

Heavy falls on the rain stage

Shortly before Roglic’s task, many cycling fans punched the breath. The Italian professional Alessio Martinelli fell heavily. The 24-year-old fell almost 100 kilometers before the finish on a descent and slid down an abyss across the street.

His Italian team announced that Martinelli was brought to the hospital with consciousness. His condition is stable. The examinations in the hospital finally showed that Martinelli had not suffered any breaks, but only a minor injuries to the chin and the right half of the buttocks.

Already 180 kilometers before the finish, the tricky weather conditions were noticeable. The British time trial specialist Joshua Tarling, who won the second Giro stage, slid against a guardrail on the wet road and had to give up injured.

On Wednesday, 3800 meters of altitude are waiting for the bike professionals. Friday and Saturday there are other stages with more than 4,500 meters of altitude. The 108th Giro ends in Rome on Sunday.