00:00...to the general public. We don't understand, I don't think. As he said, I've been at home at altitude for two months.
00:10I've been away from home now with the race for three months from my family.
00:14And that comes at a real cost. You know, these people are human beings.
00:17And that goes some way to explaining the emotion from Nico Dens.
00:20Yeah, especially, you know, being able to recalibrate yourself in order to go on a hunt for a stage victory after you know for roughly two or three months that you're going to be at the Giro d'Italia as a domestic for a possible winner.
00:36You know, I find your leader, Primoz Roglic, on the ground, off the race.
00:40And you need to just switch yourself after, you know, all the efforts you've done and thinking like, OK, I spend a lot of time away from home.
00:48I spent a lot of energy and also mental energy to do this.
00:54I might go out and hunt for a stage and it's not an obvious switch, you know.
00:58And this is something normal nowadays to spend a lot of time away from home.
01:04But once again, remember this to the general, to the public at home is something because it takes a lot to be able to compete at a high level.
01:19Nearly sprayed himself in the face there, the German.
01:22Quite a rock and roll attitude towards popping open that sparkling wine, playing it like an electric guitar.
01:30Good lad, Nico Dens, does it again.
01:32Popular win, popular rider.
01:37And with hindsight, it always looks easy when you think back, you think, well, of course, Nico Dens won.
01:42But he was very strong and he was probably a little bit fresher and on better form than anyone else in that group.
01:48Yeah, definitely, he was mentally very fresh because when you race in such a, with such smart moves, that means that you, that you're present in the race and you're doing always the right decision and just come down when you're very good and in shape.
02:03And we talked about experience, didn't we?
02:05As soon as they entered the circuit and we knew those 10 riders were going to win the stage.
02:09Or one of them was, we talked about experience and Nico Dens has got more than anyone of what it takes to win a stage of the Giro.
02:16So, here we are with the Magla Rosa.
02:20Today was a race day of some sort for the Mexican, Asg del Toro.
02:27Just 144 kilometres, all ridden at a very moderate tempo.
02:33He's basically detrained today.
02:35He'll probably go out on the bike for a bit.
02:38Yeah, relatively, no, the most straightforward day, actually, of the entire Giro d'Italia so far.
02:44It's certainly the spell in which, the prolonged spell now, 11 days, by my calculations, of the Magla Rosa.
02:51And the easiest one he's had so far.
02:53So, he's had one very chastening, humbling, difficult day.
02:59One outstanding day yesterday.
03:01And then a day just to get through and take stock and think about what happens next.
03:10But, UAE team Emirates have suffered a setback today.
03:16And it is potentially quite a significant one.
03:18Juan Ayuso has had to abandon the race.
03:21And that could yet have a negative impact on Isak del Toro's chances.
03:27Or not.
03:28Or not.
03:29Because, you know, we cannot underestimate what's the importance of a harmony, also, of the bike, for a team.
03:36And this, obviously, we cannot know how was the situation within the team after the race, you know, at the table, at dinner.
03:47So, if he was a plus or a minus, the loss of one Ayuso will find out tomorrow.
03:54Yeah, that sort of thing.
03:55We have to wait, don't we, 10 years until they write their autobiographies.
03:58Then we find out what really went on.
04:01No way we care.
04:02But, definitely, tomorrow is going to be a race on for this man, Azar del Toro.
04:08So far, so good for the younger Mexican.
04:12Well, we don't really need to be reminded, but just for the completion of everything, that is the top 10 in the general classification, which has not changed at all today.
04:27Still very tight, all the way down to Derek G, possibly at 1 minute and 57 seconds, who probably still believes, with two amazing days, that he could turn it around and win the Giro.
04:42So, Demaglia Ciclamino, today was on a hunt, but I think he knew immediately they would have been come down to a much reduced bunch.
04:58And when you're such a dominant rider, it's very often you find yourself caught up in tactics by other teams.
05:05I think, and I'm saying this tentatively, he's won it.
05:13There will be 50 points available for Rome, 20 points available for the next two days at the finish line.
05:18That's a total of 90 points.
05:20Just have to ride through the next three stages.
05:22I mean, it's much easier to say than do it for a sprinter in the next two days.
05:27Had Olof Koi won today, and Pedersen not picked up any points, then it would just about have been an open competition.
05:34But I think the total that Maz Pedersen has now is unassailable.
05:41First stage victory so far for Pedersen, who's now in focus, just on Rome, last sprint and last stage of this Giro d'Italia.
05:49But now for two days, it's going to be just survival camp for the Danish rider.
05:52Let's have a look.
06:10I think there are 162 points left in the race.
06:13And, oh, he's not quite there.
06:15He's not quite done yet.
06:17Olof Koi could only mathematically and theoretically catch him.
06:21But Olof Koi would have to win the next two mountain stages, which isn't going to happen.
06:25No.
06:25I think it's very fair to say, with our due respect to Olof Koi, a wonderful rider, not for the mountains, though.
06:32But this man, in the blue jersey, a security jersey, his classification.
06:38But, as he said yesterday, it's now time to try to get a stage victory.
06:42And he has two chances coming up in the next two days.
06:44He will undoubtedly try and get in the breakaway tomorrow.
06:50Whether or not the breakaway actually makes it to the line, I don't know.
06:54Because there's so much at stake in the general classification tomorrow.
06:58The race might come back together again.
07:01And the breakaway might be thwarted.
07:03He'll try, though.
07:03That's all he can do.
07:05Big, big crowds.
07:08In this lovely, hot, late afternoon sunshine now.
07:12And Lorenzo Fortunato, they're showing that jersey off.
07:15Pulling it on again for another day.
07:18An interesting little cameo role played by his teammate, Christian Scaroni, today.
07:22Who seemed intent on getting all the mountains points he possibly could on the road.
07:25Just to shore up his second place.
07:28An insurance policy, I guess.
07:31In case Lorenzo Fortunato, let's really hope it doesn't happen,
07:34were to crash out or otherwise have to abandon the Giro before Rome.
07:40But, as he pops open yet another champagne cork.
07:44and she picks up yet another bouquet.
07:50Lorenzo Fortunato.
07:53So far was a very good Giro d'Italia for Fortunato.
07:57He wrote perfectly.
07:58He just missed one victory.
07:59Which should and could have been his, really.
08:03He was just that he was with his teammate, Scaroni.
08:06Yep.
08:06So Del Toro readying himself for his final appearance on the podium today.
08:16As Fortunato tosses another bouquet.
08:23Never quite clears the fence into the public, does it?
08:25Always ends up with a...
08:26That's a good friend, so...
08:27Somebody with it, yeah, that's fair enough.
08:30So it was a very calibrated.
08:33He hit a photographer.
08:35Christian Scaroni, anyway, is in second place.
08:38Manoeli Tarozzi, though, has moved up into third place today.
08:41Thanks to the abandon of Juan Ayuso.
08:43Not just that, he also moved above Olaglio by picking up points today.
08:48So a good day for Tarozzi.
08:52Everyone else moving up in the rankings, as you say,
08:54because the teammate of this man forced to abandon.
09:01So UEE now two riders down, Ayuso and Jay Vine for the mountains to come.
09:07Still got a frighteningly strong team.
09:10But a lot will rest on the shoulders of Rafa Maika.
09:12Not just physically, but also tactically and temperamentally, psychologically,
09:18to guide this young man through the next 48 hours of racing,
09:22which will determine the outcome of the Giro d'Italia.
09:25Yeah, Rafa Maika is the much expert rider of UAT Memoritz.
09:32Yesterday he played, once again, another key role in leading the Tour to victory
09:38and is going to be vital for the young Mexican in the next two days.
09:42Today was a GC neutral day, so there's no change.
09:59Oh, there's a slight change, actually, with Ayuso's abandon
10:02towards the back end of the classification.
10:04Zambenini moves up to seventh, Arrieta and Garofoli move into ninth and tenth, respectively.
10:15Maz Pedersen is not quite mathematically clear, but as good as.
