• Miserable weather conditions torture peloton

  • Cataford could not recover from earlier crash and abandons

  • Cimolai looking forward to stages ‘at home’

In ‘normal times’ most riders would travel to a sunny place to enjoy the off-season at this time of year. But this is ‘corona times’ and everything is different. Instead of sunbathing on the coast with blue skies, ISN’s riders had to deal with brutal weather conditions in stage 12 of the Giro.

It was rainy. And cold. Freezing cold.

Guy Sagiv will not forget stage 12 anytime soon, he said. “It was hectic with today’s weather, parcours and time cut. It was super tough.”

And if the weather wasn’t torture enough, imagine doing this stage with the injuries Alexander Cataford sustained after his crash in stage 8. The Canadian climber survived stage 9 (nearly as brutal as today), but wasn’t able to recover enough over the last few days to make it to the finish of stage 12.

“I was pushing as hard as I could”, a disappointed Cataford said when he arrived in the hotel, “but the pain in my hip just limited me too much today. “I was unable to continue anymore. I gave it everything I had out there, but with the injuries I sustained from the crash, it just wasn’t enough.”

Davide Cimolai, a good climbing sprinter himself, did make it to the finish line with five of his teammates in the grupetto. The Italian sprinter was determined to make it this far, as the race now heads into his home region.

The next four days are close to my home, Cimolai said. “I get emotional when I think about that. I will see my girlfriend, friends and family again. I hope to see many fans, who follow all the safety measures, alongside the road.”