In a mountainous finish, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) won the tenth stage of the Giro d’Italia 2024, a day that started from Pompei and ended in Bocca della Selva, covering 142 kilometers with great mountainous difficulties, where the Colombian Esteban Chaves achieved a meritorious tenth place.
The 23-year-old French climber, who won his first victory as a professional, was part of a large breakaway and managed to catch Jan Tratnik (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) on the last climb, beating his compatriot Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) by 30 seconds.
Among the favorites, there was no battle. The group came in at more than three minutes led by French rider Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), with Colombian Daniel Felipe Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) 15 seconds back, valid to preserve second place in the individual general classification, behind Slovenian Tadej Pogacar.
The winding day started very lively. The first attack soon came from Belgian Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who was joined by Australian Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech). The two rode ahead of the peloton for a while until they were joined by more escapees.
Several skirmishes followed, the peloton slowed a bit and De Marchi and Clarke were able to take advantage. The two climbed the Bivio Taburno (3.1 km at 8.3%) together. On this climb, the best climbers decided to put the pedal to the metal, in an attempt to establish a new breakaway. Among the attackers was Esteban Chaves (EF Education – EasyPost), who was joined by Valentin Paret-Peintre, Romain Bardet, and Juan Pedro Lopez, among others.
In the closing stages, Jan Tratnik decided to anticipate the flatter sections before the final climb. The Slovenian went solo and took a good lead. However, Bardet and Paret-Peintre went chasing Tratnik. On the steepest part Paret-Peintre managed to pull away from Bardet with an impressive change of pace, and then passed Tratnik.
The 23-year-old Decathlon AG2R rider had plenty of time to celebrate his first victory as a professional cyclist. Bardet was second and Tratnik slipped into third place. Bagioli and Aurélien Paret-Peintre completed the top five.
The ‘Corsa Rosa’ will continue on Wednesday with the eleventh fraction, an undulating 207-kilometer day between the Italian towns of Foiano di val Fortore and Francavilla al Mare, which includes only one third-category categorized pass.
Giro d’Italia 2024 (2.UWT)
Results Stage 10 | Pompei – Bocca della Selva (142 km)
| 1 | Valentin Paret-Peintre | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 3:43:50 |
| 2 | Romain Bardet | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 0:30 |
| 3 | Jan Tratnik | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 1:00 |
| 4 | Andrea Bagioli | Lidl – Trek | 1:17 |
| 5 | Aurélien Paret-Peintre | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 1:24 |
| 6 | Simon Geschke | Cofidis | ,, |
| 7 | Filippo Zana | Team Jayco AlUla | ,, |
| 8 | Domenico Pozzovivo | VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè | ,, |
| 9 | Nicola Conci | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 1:41 |
| 10 | Esteban Chaves | EF Education – EasyPost | 1:56 |
Ranking General
| 1 | Tadej Pogačar | UAE Team Emirates | 36:46:08 |
| 2 | Daniel Felipe Martínez | BORA – hansgrohe | 2:40 |
| 3 | Geraint Thomas | INEOS Grenadiers | 2:58 |
| 4 | Ben O’Connor | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 3:39 |
| 5 | Cian Uijtdebroeks | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | 4:15 |
| 6 | Antonio Tiberi | Bahrain – Victorious | 4:27 |
| 7 | Romain Bardet | Team dsm-firmenich PostNL | 4:57 |
| 8 | Lorenzo Fortunato | Astana Qazaqstan Team | 5:19 |
| 9 | Filippo Zana | Team Jayco AlUla | 5:23 |
| 10 | Einer Rubio | Movistar Team | 5:28 |
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico