Valls crashes out of Giro; Carapaz already 5th overall
15 May 2018

Giro de Italia (st. 10)

Spanish climber from Movistar Team suffers costal contusion after falling down on longest stage, pending thorough checkups later this week; Chaves' (MTS) crisis helps 'Richie' gain one place in GC, Ecuadorian safely through after late mechanical.

It was a tough, difficult return to racing for the Movistar Team at the 2018 Giro d’Italia followig the second rest day of the race, with the longest stage (244km) in the Apennines, between Penne and Gualdo Tadino, offering lots of mishaps, attacks and dramatic scenario changes, with many of the Blues involved in them.

The lowest point of the day for the Telefónica-backed squad came early as Rafa Valls crashed, together with Rubén Fernández, in the approach to the second of three categorized climbs in the day, Bruzzolana (Cat-3). Acute pain to the Spaniards’ ribs forced him to leave the race and hop on the Movistar Team car driven by Chente García Acosta, with whom he headed to the X-ray truck set up by the organisers next to the finish. The early checkups undergone by the Cocentaina native revealed a costal contusion, although the nature of his injury and the urgency of those exams will require new medical tests in the upcoming days.

Valls’ absence was replaced by an increasingly solid Movistar Team, always near the front of the bunch and supporting well Richard Carapaz, who saw his GC chances compromised as he suffered a mechanical with 20km remaining. Supported by Fernández, who gave him the bike he was using, the Ecuadorian got back to his spare later on and completed the stage -a fast, nervous, often rainy route- in a peloton comprising barely 60 units.

Carapaz gets one position up in the overall classification due to Esteban Chaves’ (MTS) cracking early in the day -ultimately conceding more than 25 minutes-, and now sits 5th in the GC -still in white as under-26 leader- at 1’23” from Yates (MTS), only 37″ behind third place. Carlos Betancur was also part of that elite group, 34″ behind the day’s winner Matej Mohoric (TBM), and ranks 15th overall. Wednesday will bring another intense, uphill finish in Osimo (156km), prelude to two flatter, easier days prior to the grueling Zoncolan on Saturday.

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net