To their delight, the riders finally found themselves again under the sun at the Giro d’Italia, though they were tasked with tackling another mountain stage. In this game, Astana has proved the best on the team level with Mikel Landa finding the resources to win the stage while his team leader Fabio Aru finished on the heels of race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), who was actually in control of the entire situation in the final few hundred meters. 

IAM Cycling had its player in this battle among the favorites with Sébastien Reichenbach putting in a fine performance. Having already had a strong time trial the day before, Reichenbach rolled in the finish at Madonna di Campiglio in 16th place, conceding 5’05”. He stands in 28th place in the overall classification just behind a rider named Richie Porte.

For IAM Cycling, the only downside of the day came when Stef Clement, struggling after two hard days trying to recover from his heavy crash on Thursday, threw in the towel in spite how much he would have loved to continue riding with his teammates. 

“I pushed myself very hard in the rain on Friday and Saturday, and now my body is rebelling. I simply don’t have enough strength to pull myself up over these climbs.”

On the bright side, Clément Chevrier (23), who was selected for this Giro to take part in his first three week tour in order to gain experience, finished the stage just a little more than 16 minutes behind the stage winner, out-riding many more experienced competitors.

“It was another one of those days where it took over an hour for the breakaway to form. No wonder we were averaging over 48km/h after the first hour, which was essentially on a road that was a false flat. It was a busy day, and I am happy because it was pretty much a good day.” 

On the eve of the rest day, the neo-pro Chevrier was still able to analyze his race with great clarity. 

“I am satisfied. The past three stages have been pretty complicated for me since I don’t function all that well in the humidity and cold. I am progressing with my learning process, but I am a little frustrated not to have been able to get into a break in one of these mountain stages. But then, that is just proof that I don’t really have the legs to do that just yet.”