The Stage
Today’s stage was likely the hardest stage of the Giro. In cycling terms this is referred to as the “Queen Stage.” It’s tough to quantify exactly which stage is the hardest, you could make arguments for other stages that were longer for example, or tomorrow’s stage which has the hardest climb. But today’s stage was 166 km long and featured the most climbing in a single stage: 4,950 meters. The riders wove through five total climbs including three category 1 climbs over mountaintops, with the Matterhorn in the distance. The first of the category 1 climbs was the hardest, and each subsequent climb was slightly “easier.” For example, the first cat 1 was 16 km long with an average grade of 7.7 percent; the last cat 1 climb was 15 km long with an average grade of 6.9 percent. In addition the steep gradients, the high heat played a major role with riders struggling to acclimate to temperatures in the high 80s.
Nicolas Prodhomme separated from the breakaway on the second to last climb, with about 20 km to go, in an effort to go for the stage win as the rest of the breakaway was swallowed up by the peloton. He pushed through the pain and earned a hard-fought-for stage win. At 28 years old, it’s Prodhomme’s first grand tour stage win, and his first win ever came only 3 weeks earlier in a smaller race — so a big achievement for him. In addition to his stage win, on the queen stage, from the breakaway, he gave AG2R-Decathlon their first win of the Giro as well.
In the GC, the fatigue after three weeks of racing, and such a hard stage, was notable by the lack of attacks in the stage. Richard Carapaz attacked 2 km from the top of the final climb and Isaac del Toro easily followed, but Simon Yates and Derek Gee (sitting 3rd and 4th at the start of the day) were unable to follow along. Carapaz and del Toro made it to the line together, with the rest of the GC contenders following along thirty seconds later. The top 3 are separated by less than 90 seconds (after 73+ hours of racing!) so the podium is still up for contention tomorrow on the final mountain stage.
Beyond the GC and the stage win a few of the other competitions were “mathematically decided today.” Mads Pedersen secured the sprint jersey — there are not enough sprint points left in the remaining stages for anyone to gain more points than he has. Assuming he finishes the Giro safe and sound he will be this year’s best sprinter. Lorenzo Fortunato is in the same situation for the King of the Mountains competition.
The Dish
The Giro wound through Valle d’Aosta, going through the most beautiful countryside we’ve seen yet. I found this recipe from Valle d’Aosta that I really wanted to make of veal in wine. However, I made a few adjustments. First, when I went to the butcher they didn’t have veal, but my butcher suggested using beef round, so I went with that.
The recipe called for cloves which really caught my interest because it’s a spice I mostly use for making holiday cocktails and desserts. It also called for juniper berries which I was unable to find; so the second adjustment I made was to use bay leaves, caraway seeds, and peppercorns in lieu of juniper berries. The recipe called for white wine, but since I switched from veal to beef round I thought red wine would go better. The final adjustment I made, mostly due to personal preference, was to use shallots in place of white onions.
I braised the beef in all those ingredients for a few hours and served it on a bed of potatoes, as directed in the recipe. I was a bit dubious while making it, but I actually really loved the warm spice flavors with the meat. I can see that it would be particularly appetizing on a winter night in the alps when the warming spices would feel particularly comforting.
Until tomorrows final mountain stage!