Germany's Nico Denz powered home to claim a fine solo breakaway victory in stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia, and provide some much needed consolation for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe following the collapse of their GC bid.
After both Red Bull's overall leaders, Jai Hindley and Primož Roglič, crashed out injured, it was time for the team workers to shine and Denz did so in style in the final transition stage of the 2025 Giro.
Part of a group of 35 that went clear in the hilly opening segment, Denz then made it across as a smaller breakaway of 11 punched its way ahead. He then blasted clear alone 19 kilometres from the line to clinch the third Giro stage win of his career.
Second, around 50 seconds back, was Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta) with Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claiming third.
The GC peloton finally rolled home more than 10 minutes down, with Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) not amongst their number. The Spaniard, already suffering an injured knee and stung by a bee on stage 17, abandoned after just 30 kilometres of racing.
For Denz and Red Bull, though, there was a strong sense of redemption as the 31-year-old allrounder said afterwards, commenting that "this is probably the most emotional one [of my Giro stage victories] after losing Jai early on and then Primož.
"We invested a lot, every in the whole team, not only the riders, we had the one big goal - to win the Giro d'Italia with Primož.
"We were at altitude for two months, now three months gone from home and I haven't seen my wife and children.
"If you lose a leader like Primož you lose a dream and it feels like all this hard work is for nothing. But luckily we turned it around and could motivate ourselves, and winning on Father's Day, too, by the way, is pretty special."
How it unfolded
The mountains loom over the Giro d'Italia (Image credit: Getty Images)
While Ayuso struggled and finally capitulated in the early phase of the stage, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AlAla) were two of the most active riders as the race blasted past Lago di Como. But at least initially it looked very hard for any move to stick. Wave after wave of attacks went clear, and with no other transition stages left, it was clearly going to be a fight to the death for the early break.
The presence of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was not overly welcomed in the front group of some 40 riders and it came down to the category 2 ascent of Parlasco, the hardest climb of the day, for a definitive move to emerge at the front end of the race.
Alpecin-Deceuninck, with Planckaert racing for Kaden Groves, were amongst those most determined to give it a go and keep it clear. Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) briefly went solo and claimed maximum points at the top of the Parlasco, but he was never going anywhere alone. Finally, on the smaller chain of hills that followed, the chasing peloton relented, and 35 riders carved out enough time to stay away for good.
The massive move comprised Denz (Red Bull); Groves, Planckaert and Fabio Van den Bossche (Alpecin-Deceuninck); Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-Samsic); Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious); Stefano Oldani (Cofidis); Dries De Bondt, Dorion Godon, Stan Dewulf and Andrea Vendrame (all Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale); Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ); Francesco Busatto (Intermarche-Wanty); Daan Hoole, Matias Vacek and Mads Pedersen (all Lidl-Trek); Jon Barrenetxea (Movistar); Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep); Davide De Pretto and Felix Engelhardt (both Jayco-AlUla); Alexander Edmondson (Picnic-PostNL); Mattia Bais, Giovanni Lonardi and Mirco Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta); Wout van Aert and Dylan Van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike); Rick Pluimers, Yannis Voisard and Larry Warbasse (all Tudor); Filippo Magli, Martin Marcellusi and Manuele Tarozzi (all VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè); Diego Ulissi, Nicola Conci and Christian Scaroni (all XDS Astana). But despite its considerable size, with Ulissi the closest in the move on GC at over 40 minutes down, the break hardly constituted an overall threat. With two big mountain stages fast approaching, UAE Team Emirates XRG were more than content to let it go clear.
Points leader Mads Pedersen in the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images)
By the time the break had more than six minutes advantage, it was clear that it would come down to the move to fight for the stage win. Rather than risk waiting with Pedersen and Groves leaving him no option in a sprint, Busatto opted to open up hostilities in the last of the foothills in the first half of the stage, jumping away with 62 kilometres to go.
Another group of three, comprising Rochas and VF teammates Tarozzi and Marcellusi also chanced it, but with so much flat in the last part of the stage, waiting for the final finishing circuit - two and a half local laps of 12 kilometres in the Milan suburb of Cesano Maderno - was arguably the most practical pathway to success.
With 30 kilometres to go, a dangerous move including Conci (XDS Astana), Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck) Warbasse (Tudor), Van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike), Edmondson (Picnic-PostNL), De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Denz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Hoole (Lidl-Trek), De Pretto (Jayco-AlUla), Maestri (Polti-VisitMalta) and Magli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) emerged from the massive break of 35. Most importantly, Van Aert, Pedersen's and Groves' teams were all represented in this group of stage leaders, meaning the biggest sprinters squads were under no obligation to chase.
This instantly allowed those ahead to open up a gap of over a minute and with so much to play for an uneasy truce settled down amongst the 11 ahead as they concentrated on keeping their margin open. With some 18 kilometres to go, though, Denz opted for an early attack and he got away in style.
A double winner in the 2023 Giro, both times from breakaways, Denz was clearly on a roll, and with GC leaders Roglič and Hindley regrettably out of the picture, it was definitely the perfect moment for the Red Bull team workers to shine. De Bondt was quick enough to respond, but as the lap bell rang out with 12.8 kilometres to go, Denz was still 25 seconds ahead and looking like a man on a mission.
Nico Denz leads the reduced breakaway late in the stage (Image credit: Getty Images)
While the chasers in the break continued to look at each other too hard and try and regain contact Denz had no such issues. One of the last to get to the break of 11 and one of the few riders with no teammates in the original massive move of 34, once he was on his own, he was clearly in his element. Warbasse tried to react alongside Maestri to at least secure a podium place, but with Denz showing no sign of weakening, getting any better result on the stage was an almost impossible task.
"When Primož left the Giro, I went through the route book and between the Mortirolo [on stage 17] and the Col de Finestre [on stage 20] there was only this stage that was possible for me," Denz explained.
"I had the plan and the freedom to go for today. I got in the break and then it was all about following my instincts.
"In the final, there wasn't much collaboration in the break and I thought I'd give it a shot. All on one card."
The peloton returns to the mountains on stage 19 for two last ultra-tough stages, where the GC battle will predominate. Red Bull won't be fighting for the victory, and it remains to be seen if their promising young substitute contender Giulio Pellizzari can hang on to a top 10 finish, or maybe do even better. But come what may, Denz's stage victory means Bora won't be leaving the Giro empty-handed at all.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
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