A first week breakaway in the Giro d'Italia? Not a good idea says breakaway legend Thomas de Gendt – sit tight for later success

We're into the first week of the Giro d'Italia and we're fast approaching Naples, where I took my last ever road-racing win in the 2022 edition of the race. There's a strong leader at the top of the GC classification and the overall contenders are all waiting for the tougher stages, so for much of the rest of the peloton the big question is: what are my chances in the breakaways?

To tell the truth, though, I never was keen on getting into breaks in the first week of a Grand Tour. I only did if I was going for something like the mountains classification or if there was a really, really good chance of success. Which, normally, there wasn't.

There are several reasons why it's not such a good idea. Firstly, everybody is really fresh, so the first hour is carnage as everybody tries to get in the moves, only to find that afterwards the teams are still on full strength so can chase the breaks down more easily. Secondly, the overall classification tends to be fairly close, so a lot of riders are still hoping to make it into the pink jersey, so it's harder to form a break, anyway. 

It might be a bit easier on some of the technical Italian roads to get in a break at the start, particularly if there's a bit of an uphill or it's narrow and twisty and if it's really big, straight roads in the first 40 kilometres, there is always somebody who gets past the [sprinters teams'] blockade early on. But then the bunch gains speed again and it closes down those kind of dangerous-looking breaks quickly and easily.

When it comes to a break's chances, there's also the question of what kind of leader's team is running the GC. I remember in one Giro, 2021, there were 11 or maybe 12 breaks that made it to the finale. But if it's a leader's team that likes to chase down breakaways, then they will do exactly that, just for that extra stage win.

If it's a more open GC battle, that also has an effect, because then most of the leaders' teams will prefer to have a fresh team in the finale. So unless it's a very easy break to pull back, they won't do that and a bigger group with a lot of good riders in it has a much better chance of getting seven or eight minutes, say, and staying away.

Yet another factor is your team duties. If you have a sprinter in the team, like I would have in the Giro with Caleb Ewan sometimes, mostly likely you'll find yourself working for them. One thing that was good in Lotto was that there were always a very clear understanding of what my role was, long before we even got to the race. 

For example, they'd say 'On stages 3, 4 and 6 we need you to help control the breakaways', but on other days, even if it was a mountain stage, I'd have a free role. Which was logical, because if you have a sprinter, then there's a much better chance of him winning on a flat day than my small chance of winning in a break, particularly in the first week.

My last breakaway win

There are exceptions, like that day when I won in Naples in 2022, which was stage 8, a day when everybody expected that it'd come down to a bunch sprint – much like today's stage to Naples. 

But in fact what made the difference was that so many guys got away early on the hillier part – 21 in total, including Mathieu van der Poel and Biniam Girmay – that there was always a better chance of it staying away. This year for example, with a much flatter finale into Naples, I don't think there's so many options of a break making it to the finish.

Three years ago, it was also quite a different kind of break for me, too, because I had a teammate with me, Harm Vanhoucke. Initially I wasn't really working for him but then when the leading move shrank to just four riders, I did do a lot more so he could save some energy and hopefully attack on the little, late climbs climbs. But then when the moment arrived for him to do that, he said he did not have the legs anymore.

I explained to him that he should try at least, because maybe it was his one chance of a big victory, while I could chase down the two other guys in the break, because they knew I was the fastest, so they would not bring me back. But he just didn't have the strength, so I said to Harm now it was up to him to work for me, because I was the fastest, and I had to make sure Van der Poel and Girmay didn't get back on. So he emptied his tank for me, and I won.

I didn't talk for quite a while after I'd won, because it had been incredibly stressful, partly because it was such a hard stage, and partly because there had been such a very narrow gap back to the other riders. Normally that would be ok, but knowing I had Van der Poel there on my trail, there was always the possibility he could have made it back, and then if he had, he would have won. 

On top of that, the last 40 kilometers were just very hard. We were always on the limit. We were pushing mostly about 400 watts for the last hour. In my mind I was already racing for a fourth place, until we had to change strategy when Harm couldn't attack, and I had a chance for myself. So it was a big surprise that I could go for myself, but I knew, if I could just find the strength to do a good 15 second sprint, I could beat the other two guys [Jorge Arcas and Davide Gabburo]. They are not bad riders, but I could see from their legs that they were more climbers than sprinters.

I didn't really think it was going to work out with a break, let alone a win. Before the stage, mentally I had been in a difficult place, because I'd already had to do a lot of work for Caleb and yet the team still had the hope that I'd at least get in a breakaway, and perhaps win, on other stages. 

Personally, I had the the feeling that it wasn't possible to combine the two things. But in the end it worked out, and that turned out to be my final victory as a road pro. So it was a very special one.

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