Pello Bilbao has said he could have done more to help Mikel Landa gain ground on his rivals but for a late, and strange, uphill crash with his team leader on yesterday’s Giro stage.
While the incident occurred very quickly, on the final climb with 10.4km to go, it appeared Landa clipped Bilbao’s back wheel and caused him to fall.
Landa was also forced to unclip but he was on his way again immediately and got back into the favourites' group without any difficulty. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Jai Hindley (Bora-hansgrohe) were also forced into evasive action but did not fall.
Bilbao tumbled to the ground and took a little more time to get going again, also being forced to put in an effort to catch the group. He was back in that group for less than 1km when Landa attacked and he went out the back, playing no further part in the effort for his team leader.
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At the time of the crash, Wout Poels was on the front for Bahrain Victorious trying to put the pressure on before an attack by Landa. And Bilbao clearly felt he could have contributed to that effort to soften up Landa’s rivals.
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“I’m fine,” Bilbao said, shrugging off the crash. “We weren’t going all that fast and I managed to get back on my bike quickly. I won’t have any problems. It’s a shame, but it broke our rhythm a bit.
“The work we’d been doing could have given us a little more. But in the end it was hard for me to get back on terms. I had to make an effort to get back into the group and then the acceleration I made to do so meant that I couldn’t sustain the pace and couldn’t make that last push.
“But I think we all worked well and Mikel responded well. He came into his own, we all trusted him and we’re on the right track.”
When Bilbao caught the group he tried to press on the front to help Poels. However, his effort was only fleeting, as he was under pressure after chasing back on, and it was left to Poels to do one last turn before Landa attacked.
That Landa kick immediately put Almeida and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana Qazaqstan) under pressure, though race leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and 2nd placed Hindley were able to respond. All three went on to finish together, some 1:24 down on stage winner Jan Hirt (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux).
