Even at the last stage of Giro Next Gen the victory goes to a breakaway rider, with the success of Matthew Brennan. The British of Team Visma Lease a Bike he won the victory in a narrow sprint in Forlimpopoli, anticipating the pink jersey group by about twenty seconds, where there were no great sparks.
He can finally release his joy Jarno Widarwho arrived without problems in the main group, officially winning the 2024 edition. The Belgian from Dstny Lot he built his success with victories in the uphill finishes of Pian della Mussa and Fosse, thanks to his notable skills in changing pace. Widar never got into difficulty in the eight days of racing, and indeed demonstrated that he had extreme control of the situation at all times, and now his name succeeds that of Johannes Staune-Mittet in the roll of honor.
Giro Next Gen 2024, the chronicle of the last stage
The last stage is anything but a catwalk, with several climbs already in the first seventy kilometres, before entering the final circuit. Try to take advantage of it too Florian Samuel Kajaminiseventh in the standings and best of the Italians, who tries to break away with his teammate Lorenzo Nespoli (Team MBH Bank Colpack Ballan) and two other riders placed semi-placed in the ranking, Luke Tuckwell (Trinity Racing) e Darren van Bekkum (Team Visma Lease a Bike), twelfth and fifteenth in the general.
However, the group doesn’t leave much space, and Kajamini gives up on her intentions after the Strigara GP. Tuckwell and Van Bekkum are instead part of the thirteen-strong breakaway which stabilizes in the lead, together with the aforementioned Nespoli, at Jeferson Ruiz (GW Erco Shimano), Rasmus Pedersen (Decathlon AG2R The World Development Team), Niklas Berhens (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), Andrea Montoli (Biesse-Carrera), Giovanni Bortoluzzi And Marco Palomba (General Store-Essegibi-F.lli Curia), Luca Bagnara (Team Polti Kometa U23), Luca Paletti (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Pietro Mattio and Matthew Brennan, Van Bekkum’s teammates.
Nespoli is also first on the two initial passes on the climb Bertinoro (2.7 km at 5.8%), thus virtually leading the climbers’ classification, where only one point separated him from Widar at the start. In the meantime, however, the scenario changes considerably, because he also joins the escape Leo Bisiaux (Decathlon AG2R), sixth in the standings, 2’10” from the pink jersey. Also the Dstny Lot at that point he cannot escape the pursuit of a group that at -45 has a 1’30” lead.
After a few kilometers of pursuit they also manage to rejoin the leading group Artem Shmidt (Hagens Berman Jayco), Vicente Rojas (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) and Bagnara, who had broken away from the breakaway, while Palomba definitively lost contact. At the start of the penultimate lap, thirty-two kilometers from the end, the delay of the pink jersey group is still 1’35”, while some riders manage to break away.
Nothing to do for Bisiaux, Brennan wins
The Visma LAB trio tries to increase the pace in the leading group on the penultimate pass in Bertinoro, but their lead has dropped to under a minute. The best climbers in the breakaway then try everything on the last lap, with Ruiz taking the lead to make the selection. Bisiaux sticks to his wheel, and Paletti, Tuckwell, Rojas, Nespoli and even faster sprinters like Berhens and Brennan, who also has the support of his teammate Mattio, follow him.
Behind there is some uphill movement, but at the top there are still thirty seconds separating the two groups. At -4 Tuckwell tries to play the last cartridge, but Brennan immediately closes on the Australian. The ten in the lead need collaboration to get to the end, and Bisiaux takes care of getting everyone to agree, pushing until the last kilometer to try to gain as much time as possible in the standings.
At 500 meters Mattio takes the lead, making the final leadout for Brennan’s sprint. However, the Briton starts a little too long, at 250 metres, with Berhens taking his wheel to try to get out at the last minute. The head-to-head battle between the two lasted until the end, but the Visma rider managed to keep half a wheel advantage over the German, thus winning the stage. Paletti placed third ahead of Rojas, with Tuckwell sixth, Nespoli eighth and Bisiaux ninth. At 21″ the group adjusted by Tim Torn Teutenberg.
Widar’s pink jersey and the other verdicts
It risked being a much more stressful day for Widar, who instead retained his pink jersey without any major worries, and also had time to celebrate the final victory at the finish line. They go up to the podium with him Pablo Torres (UAE Team Emirates Gen Z) e
Pau Martí (Free Palestine), which takes third place against Mathys Rondel (Tudor Pro Cycling U23), who finished with the same overall time. Bisiaux fails to gain a position and remains sixth behind Pavel Novakthe first of the two Colpack riders in the top ten ahead of Kajamini, seventh and best Italian. Alessandro Pinarello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) maintains ninth place ahead of Tuckwell, who entered the top ten thanks to today’s breakaway.
Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team) wins the points classification thanks to his two stage victories, while Lorenzo Nespoli takes the blue jersey of the climbers classification thanks to the many points gained today. The first two in the general are also the first two in the youth classification, reserved for riders in their first year as under 23: Widar takes home the white jersey, with 32″ on Torres and 1’52” on Bisiaux.
