The Giro finally arrived in Italy, after the opening 3 stages in Bulgaria. The stages this week offered more competitive, exciting, and unpredictable racing, making the Bulgaria stages feel more like a prologue rather than the official start to the Giro. Now, it feels like a Giro d’Italia! Read on to catch up on this week’s action and learn about the dish I prepared for this week’s stages.
Stage Recaps
Stage 4: Catanzaro – Cosenza
The Giro landed in Southwestern Italy in the region of Calabria for stage 4. The 138km stage saw the first proper breakaway of the tour so far. The Cozzo Tunno climb in the back half of the stage raised the chances for a breakaway with the bigger sprinters struggling with the 14km long climb.
Movistar hard-paced the climb leading to the catch of the breakaway and all the sprinters and the maglia rosa dropped on the climb. This tactic from Movistar surprised everyone and turned the stage upside down.
The end was a slightly uphill finish with a peloton of climbers — riders that aren’t usually used to sprinting for a win. Jhonatan Narvaez on Team UAE Emirates won the stage and Giulio Ciccone – an Italian-native – moved into the maglia rosa.
Stage 5: Praia a Mare – Potenza
Stage 5 was a hilly 203 km stage, in the Basilicata region of Italy, that seemed primed for a breakaway, due to an early category 3 climb to aid break formation and a late category 2 climb that could provide another launching pad for attackers. Beyond the parcours, torrential rain and cold weather added another layer of uncertainty to the day.
On the final categorized climb two riders — Afonso Eulalio (Bahrain Victorious) and Igor Arrieta (UAE Emirates) — managed to distance the peloton. Giulio Ciccone, lacking support from his team, was forced to pace himself to try to keep the jersey, as the two breakaway riders built a gap over 7 minutes. Both riders crashed on the wet descent, and at one point Arrieta made the wrong turn on the course! Ultimately, Arrieta bridged back to Eulalio and passed him to win the stage, while Eulalio took the pink jersey with a lead of over 6 minutes on the race favorite, Jonas Vingegaard.
Stage 6: Paestum – Napoli
The Naples stage was a 142 km long, leading to a sprint finish in the city center. It was a relatively sleepy stage until the final sprint. A crash in the final turn, due to wet cobbles, upended the sprint finish. Davide Ballerini on XDS Astana avoided falling and gave the team their second win of the Giro.
The Dish – Takeout Pizza
I will admit – I cheated. But, some behind the scenes insights: this post was originally going to cover stages 4-7 and culminate in my stage 7 dish (forthcoming – stay tuned!) But given how much happened since the Giro landed in Italy I thought the post would get too long. So, to celebrate an admittedly disappointing stage in Napoli, I ordered Neapolitan pizza.
I made Neapolitan pizza from scratch for last year’s Giro (you can read about that here). This takeout pizza was better. I ordered from (not sponsored) Pupatella – an authentic, Neapolitan, DC-area pizzeria.
I don’t have much to say except that if you haven’t had Neapolitan pizza recently this is your sign to order some! Neapolitan pizza really is the best; it’s on the UNESCO list of cultural heritage for a reason.
This weekend is an exciting one! Be sure to tune in for GC action and my next original dish.
Ciao!