Larry Warbasse played his breakaway cards to near-perfection on stage 13 at the Giro d'Italia until a tactical "mistake" on the final climb of the day, Ungiasca, left him out of position and then out of contention in Verbania.
When the decisive attacks kicked off on the steeper sections of the last climb, Warbasse could only watch as the breakaway split apart, and Alberto Bettiol (XDS Astana) went on to claim the day's victory in front of home crowds.
"I played a bit too much. I was pretty far at the back of the group. I was on [Mikkel] Bjerg's wheel, and I expected him to be slightly stronger, so I just kind of played on that, and then he let the wheel go, and he was not just playing; he just didn't have the legs. He got a big gap. That was probably a mistake because my director told me to be further up, but I thought I was smarter."
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Warbasse spoke with members of the press, including Cyclingnews, in a post-race interview just past the finish line along the shores of Lago Maggiore while waiting for the main field, that included the general classification favourites to cross the line more than 13 minutes after Bettiol.
"I was hoping they would play more before the climb. I knew that I was one of the better climbers, but to be honest, some guys had really good legs today because we went super hard on that last climb after going full gas today. It was impressive."
Warbasse was one of 15 riders who eventually rode into the day's decisive breakaway in the early stages of the 189km race from Alessandria to Verbania. The breakaway gained over 11 minutes, averaging speeds upwards of 48 kph, before reaching the final succession of climbs later in the race.
"I looked closely at VeloViewer this morning and yesterday and was pretty sure that it would go in the first 30km because there were a lot of pinch points and small roads, so I just started at the front of kilometre zero and followed and found myself in a group of seven. We turned super hard, it was the perfect move, everyone went all in, some more guys came up, and it was a super good group," Warbasse said.
He said he wasn't surprised by the breakaway's success and that he predicted the scenario would play out the way that it did in large part because the field raced cautiously ahead of the next day's looming stage 14 to the Pila summit.
"I was sure it would be a big breakaway and a lot of time, with no GC riders. Tomorrow is one of the biggest days of the Giro, and for sure the GC guys wanted a break," he said.
"Everyone was working super hard, everyone was turning. Honestly, I'm surprised we went so full-gas all day; we never actually slowed down. Everyone worked super well, and I would say it's a fair race."
Even though he was distanced on the last climb, he praised eventual winner Bettiol on his commanding solo performance.
"He is always super dangerous in the breakaway. To be honest, I didn't think he had the legs," Warbasse said.
"In this Giro, he has looked as good as he does sometimes in the past, but obviously, he had really good legs today. He's a really smart racer, a really good racer, and he's super dangerous if he is ever in a breakaway."
Turning his attention to the remaining stages of this Giro d'Italia, Warbasse said the team is looking for a top 10 in the general classification and a stage win. His teammate Michael Storer is currently in seventh place overall at 3:34 behind maglia rosa Afonso Eulálio (Bahrain-Victorious).
"Our goal is to have someone in the top 10 and to win a stage. I don't think we are going to win a stage in the peloton so we need to go into breakaways like today, unfortunately I just didn't have the legs to finish it off in the end."
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