Magnier in pole for Giro points title after stunning comeback: 'I did the fastest last 300 metres'

It was closing in on aperitivo time when Paul Magnier wheeled to a halt just outside Caffé Gambrinus, meeting place of the great and the good in Naples since before the unification of Italy. There was no negroni waiting for him here, mind, just a recovery shake and a silent pat of consolation from his Soudal Quick-Step soigneur.

RCS Sport’s decision to wind the Giro d’Italia into the very heart of the great city had made for a most spectacular backdrop to the denouement of stage 6, but it also created a treacherous finale that included a deceptive U-bend on the cobbles of Pizza del Plebiscito.

Leaden drops of rain had begun to fall just as the peloton entered Naples. Allied to the high speed and higher stakes, it made for a predictably lethal cocktail. 

Magnier was lined up in third place behind Dylan Groenewegen and his Unibet Rose Rockets lead-out man Elmar Reinders through the fateful corners, but he was forced to a stop when their wheels slipped beneath him.

“It had started very well, it was great work from the team,” Magnier said in the mixed zone afterwards. “I think I was in third or fourth position at that corner at 300m from the line, which was exactly where I wanted to be. But then, unfortunately, they fell in front of me…”

The Frenchman showed remarkable dexterity to stay upright and clip back in, but by the time he got going again, eventual stage winner Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana) was out of sight, with Magnier’s teammate Jasper Stuyven on his wheel.

That didn’t deter Magnier from attempting an astonishing remontada on the drag to the finish line beneath Naples’ Palazzo Reale. He quickly zoomed his way back into third place, but he was left with too much ground to make up in those frenetic final 300 metres.

“After the crash, I just tried to get through any way I could and get past Dylan – I hope he’s ok because a fall on the cobbles always hurts,” Magnier said. “I got back on my bike and tried to give what I still had left to give. I did the fastest last 300 metres out of the group, but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to win the stage.”

Magnier was chasing his third win from three bunch sprints on this Giro after his triumphs in Burgas and Sofia during the race’s early sojourn in Bulgaria. His form is such that nothing seems entirely beyond him on this Giro, but he confessed that his final flourish here was more about carrying the points jersey to Rome than it was about winning the day in Naples.

Magnier’s effort was more than worth the candle, and it provided considerable consolation for missing out on the stage win. Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), his chief rival for the tunic, was among the fallers, and he failed to score a single point in Naples. It means that Magnier now has 130 points to Milan’s 64.

“It was always going to be complicated to come back after the crash, to be honest, but I’ve got the maglia ciclamino on my shoulders and the goal was to gain as many points as I could,” Magnier said. “And that’s what I did in the end.”