Max Walscheid furious after Giro breakaway shock: ‘Motorbikes took it away’

The Uno-X Mobility rider won from a four man move after 51.4 kilometres per hour of relentless racing, holding off a full scale chase from the sprint teams on a day when almost everyone expected the bunch to bring the escapees back.

For Max Walscheid and Lidl-Trek, it was a brutal one to take. The German had been working for Jonathan Milan, one of the big favourites for the stage, and was visibly frustrated after the finish. 

Speaking immediately after the race, Walscheid struggled to find the words for a finale he felt had been taken out of the peloton’s hands.

“I’m a little bit lost for words, to be honest,” Walscheid told Eurosport. “Today was a chance we were really looking forward to and I’m sorry, but motorbikes took it away. It’s unbelievable.”

The four riders in front, Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Mattia Bais, Mirco Maestri (both Polti Visit Malta) and Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), had gone clear almost as soon as the stage began in Voghera. With Unibet Rose Rockets, Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek controlling the peloton, their advantage was never allowed to stretch much beyond three minutes.

On paper, it looked manageable. In reality, the chase became increasingly desperate.

Walscheid insisted the peloton had done more than enough to bring the breakaway back under normal conditions. According to him, the chasing teams were riding flat out all day, only to find that the gap refused to close quickly enough in the final kilometres.

“I know what I’m capable of,” he said. “I know what the other guys rode and I can see the numbers on my display. I know how hard I can push in a flat time trial. We saw it here and it’s not possible to stay away. I’m sorry.”

Asked whether he could share the power numbers he was producing on the front of the bunch, Walscheid declined to give exact details immediately after the finish, but made clear how deep he had gone.

“If I see a lot of 500 in the front in the last kilometres, then it’s not possible to go faster than this,” he said.

The numbers told a similar story. This was the fastest road stage in Giro history, raced at an average speed of 51.4 kilometres per hour. Walscheid said the peloton had barely eased all day.

“I think we were never going slower than 50 kilometres per hour all day and we went all flat out,” he said. “All sprint teams, the Rockets burned their team, Quick-Step burned their team, we burned our team. And I think we are good riders.”

Ahead, the four escapees fought out the victory. Dversnes launched from second position and had enough strength left to beat Maestri to the line, delivering a remarkable win for Uno-X Mobility in their debut WorldTour season. Marcellusi completed the podium.

Behind them, the peloton arrived too late, leaving the sprint teams to pick over a rare collective failure.

For Walscheid, the disappointment was sharpened by the belief that his team had done its job. Lidl-Trek had ridden all day for Milan, only for the opportunity to disappear in a finale that he felt had been shaped by factors beyond the riders’ control.

“Disappointed,” Walscheid said, before ending with a show of faith in his leader. “But Johnny will win.”

The Giro now heads into Monday’s rest day with Vingegaard still in pink and the sprinters left wondering how a stage they seemed to have under control slipped away at record speed.