It was another day of disappointment for Ben Turner (Netcompany Ineos) at the Giro d'Italia on Thursday. After surviving the late climb that saw all of the main sprinters dropped, the Briton suffered a mechanical and had to spend all his energy chasing back on.
The final Bric Berton climb on stage 12 saw riders like Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep) all suffer and get dropped, whilst fast man Turner survived, looking like a prime candidate to go for the win with so many big rivals absent.
However, with 24 km to go, Turner pulled out of the peloton and put his hand up to the team car after suffering a flat back tyre, being forced to change bikes at a point when the peloton was going full speed and he had already had to spend energy on the climbs.
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"I think I was a bit sin gas as well," Turner explained to Eurosport at the finish. "On the climbs, on the first one I was good, but on the second one I was really fighting on the last kilometre. But I made it and I was like 'OK, now control yourself and look for the final sprint and it will all be good'. But I came into the valley and had a rear wheel puncture, it was just really bad luck."
Teammate Jack Haig quickly dropped back to help pace the Brit back on, with Embret Svestad-Bårdseng joining the effort soon after. The three managed to close to gap to the front group, but as attacks flew off the front in the finale, Turner had little left to match the accelerations.
After a huge effort to get back on, he was spat back out the rear of the peloton with just over 4km to go. He eventually finished 73rd, more than three minutes down on the winner.
"The commissaire was like 'no no, you can't have a car' [to draft back on] so [the gap] was like 25 seconds. So we fought to come back. Jack came to help me, but to be honest I was completely with nothing," he said. "I was fighting, fighting, fighting, but to be honest I think it looked quite embarrassing on the bike, I imagine. I thought I'd come back, but in the end I had nothing, the body just said 'ciao'."
This is not the first time that Turner has found his chances dashed in Giro d'Italia. On stage 4, Turner was in a similar situation, surviving a late climb and looking like a favourite for a reduced sprint, but had to drop back to help pace a struggling Egan Bernal, giving up his own chances for the team's GC priorities.
As a winner of a stage at the Vuelta a España – beating none other than Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) to do so – and other bunch sprints, Turner is one of the strongest sprinters in this race and would have seen the absence of some of the A-list fast men as a huge opportunity.
In the end, stage 12 did not end in a sprint, with Alec Segaert (Bahrain Victorious) launching a late flyer to grab the victory, but given Netcompany Ineos had numbers in the front group and a favourite sprinter, there will be a lot of 'what if's on Thursday evening over what the British team could have done if Turner had been there.
"You always have to believe until you can't," Turner said when asked if he thought he could have won a sprint. "It wasn't my best day, I was OK, but I was really on the limit. I don't know what it was. But you always try and believe to the end, especially with a sprint, you always have to believe, believe, believe, but in the end it was sin gas."
The team's two GC riders, Thymen Arensman and Egan Bernal, finished safely in the group behind Segaert. The team are in a positive position with Arensman on the virtual podium, but are still chasing a road stage win to add to Filippo Ganna's time trial triumph.
With another even later climb coming on Friday's stage 13, it could very well be Turner's lucky day.
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