Thomas De Gendt: Stelvio Stage

Last year, Thomas De Gendt passed on the Tour. He had another event on his calendar, his wedding. But this year, he aims for a high finish and a win in a mountain stage. Why not the one to Alpe D’Hez? He knows he can do it because last year, he won alone on the Stelvio.

26 May 2012. Today is the Queen Stage of the Giro, on the programme is a finish on the Stelvio, 2758 meters above sea-level. Thomas De Gendt stands 8th in the GC. Today he wants to hold his position overall. He knows exactly how tough the Stelvio is- it’s his favourite training col- but the Mortirolo, the other monster on the programme, he doesn’t know. It is inhumanly hard, he has been told, and so the Vaconsoleil leader has adjusted the gears he has fitted: 32 at the front and 29 at the back. De Gendt has never ridden such small gears in a race.
And look, the Mortirolo is not that bad. Perhaps because Thomas has good legs. Correction, less bad legs. After 3 weeks of Giro, nobody has good legs. De Gendt sits on the Lombardy mountain pass comfortably in the group of favourites. Ahead is a breakaway, but with no dangerous customers. Their progress stays within the limits. On the Passo Mortirolo the road is bad. It is a concrete road with pieces sticking out, so that the farmers can get up with their trailers in the rain. Handy for farmers’ trailers, but not for racing bikes. On the steepest part of the Mortirolo (26%), Thomas stands on the pedals. Not to attack, but in order not to fall. He looks behind. There’s nobody in his wheel. He takes 10 meters. Twenty. On the top, De Gendt has 40s advantage, but on the descent, Damiano Cunego and Mikel Nieve come across. Shortly after, the favourites group appears, De Gendt returns to the pack when Ryder Hejsedal, at that moment 2nd in the GC, sits up after long kilometres riding alone on the front, he wants the others to close it down. De Gendt and co close the gap to the early escapees and pull further away.
In the valley, the board man gives the escapees 40 seconds. De Gendt gives his team mate Matteo Carrara, one of the early break, the order to ride hard. The gap keeps growing to the foot of the Stelvio!

De Gendt himself tells the rest:

23KM To Go:
“Now it’s serious. Me and Nieve are taking turns. Although I’m especially scared of Cunego, an ex winner of the Giro, I must also keep the Spaniard in mind. That guy won the queen stage of the Giro last year, so I know he can climb. I’m paying no attention to the early escapees, they’re just hanging on.

17KM To Go
“The first steep bit of the Stelvio. I hold to my tempo. No looking back, not yet. I’m scared of what’s behind. Nobody in my wheel? How can it be? I wasn’t going that hard!
Nieve comes back, pretty easily it seems to me. I can barely hear him breathing. Cunego has it worse, he’s hanging about 20m back. Or is he acting? My DS Jean Paul Van Poppel says we have 3:20 advantage, he keeps saying that I must stay calm, “Not too fast! Still a long way!” Im not disagreeing, I’ve climbed this side of the Stelvio and know what a pig it is. I must ride my own tempo here, I mustn’t go over the limit. If I do that, the favourites will catch me, at best, 5km before the summit and I can say goodbye to a good place overall.

15.5KM To Go
Each time Nieve comes to the front the tempo drops. Nothing drastic, just half a kilometre per hour slower. Is he saving himself, or can’t he do any more? I think the first, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to stay following, so he certainly wouldn’t keep coming to the front. Cunego stays hanging at 20 metres. He’s making me nervous. What’s his plan? Is he still feeling good?
Van Poppel shouts in my ear that I must let Nieve do the riding and sit in his wheel. I ignore his advice. I feel good enough to do my share. Plus, if I ride on the front I can set the tempo that suits me best.
I ride with my jersey open. It’s not so hot, but the breeze on my chest gives me the feeling that I’m getting more oxygen in my lungs. If your heart rate is high, your body heats up. Every bit of cooling you get makes it fall a couple of beats.

15KM To Go

I eat a quick gel. I can’t eat solid food anymore, but i must eat as there’s still a good hour of climbing. I’ve had the bonk a couple of times training here and then every kilometre lasts a century.

14Km To Go

The first little tunnel. I ride a lovely tempo , but I'm definitely not going all out. Today, it's only 15 degrees but I've ridden up the Stelvio when it's 30 degrees. Then, these tunnels are little paradises of cooling. I know this section like my trouser pockets (great dutch expression!): long straight roads, not too steep and no hairpins.

13.3 KM To Go

Cunego has come back again. He goes straight to the front and accelerates. The sly fox! Nieve lets a little gap of 3 meters go. He wants to lure me out of my room One that doesn't really have an English equivilent, but you get what it means) Do I have to do the dirty work? The literal translation of this is something like "Pull the chestnuts out of the fire: Duffield esque) Sh!t! I can't let Cunego ride. I ride into the gap, really easily. We ride again into a tunnel. The light of the motos reflected against the walls. What a racket! When the motos are clear of the tunnel, I look behind. Cunego is exiting the tunnel 40 meters behind me and Nieve stil further! And I haven't even attacked! I must think back to the winning ride I did a couple of months ago in Paris Nice. I wanted to ride to the finish with Taramaee, until he attacked. Twice in fact. I came back to him twice and then attacked myself. The same is happening today. If Cunego doesn't attack, I'll stay longer with him and Nieve. Ok, I'll try and hold a higher tempo and see where I end up.

12 KM To Go

Van Poppel asks me if I'm not going too early. I don't think so.Uphill, there's no benefit to having companions, certainly not on a day like today with so little wind. Climbing is: finding the perfect tempo quickly and then stamping it. I stamp myself a road upwards. I think of nothing. I gasp adn I kick. The sound of Van Poppel talking in my ear, but I hear nothing he says so focused am I.

Tune in tomorrow for more!

Sorry for the delay guys, we had some family problems that required a trip back to the UK and the Davitamon classic cyclo had Delerium for €1.80 a bottle and that wiped out last weekend!

Anyway, on with the show!

6.5Km To Go

I still hear tension in Van Poppel's voice. Apparently, I'm virtual Magila Rosa by 4 seconds. Jean Paul believes that I can take it. I doubt it. I still feel good, but i know that the last kilometers are murderous. Also, I suspect the big guns are still to fire. It's just as likely they can still catch me.

5.4km To Go

A flatter section! 2 to 3%. Finally! If you are still good here, put it in the big ring and pull yourself along. But because of the headwind and the fatigue, I can't turn a big gear so well. But the little ones aren't so good either. A bad mentality falls over me. What if I puncture? Like 3 days ago, also on the last climb 3Km before the end? Then I' rode with a flat. A bike change would cost me more time. I lost 1min 17 to the winner, Joaquin Rodriguez. If that happens again today, I'll lose it.

2.8km To Go

I'm feeling empty on the last steep part of the Stelvio. Above 2500m, the thin air plays tricks on me. It has a percentage between 8 and 9 and, after a pair of snow piles, there is little or no shelter from the wind. I note that I'm only riding at 16kph. I want to stand on the pedals to drive up the speed, but I have to sit down again after 2 seconds. My legs are completely filled with lactic acid (the dutch here just says "acidified". Arf). I'm starting to believe that I can win the stage. With some luck. If I don't fall over. If the favourites are still waiting to turn on the gas. If.. if...

1.5km To Go.

What shall I do if I win? Throw my hands in the air? Make a little heart especially for Evelien (Mrs. De Gendt)? Punch the air? Stupid to think of that now. I'd be better off pushing the pedals harder. I'm still looking behind. Cunego isn't coming back. The realisation comes gradually. If I don't stop completely, I'll win the race.
Still more supporters come running alongside me. It just needs one to fall over his shoelaces and I'm on the ground. I remember Guerini, taken out by a fan with a camera on his way to Alpe D'Huez on the Tour in 1999. Guerini fell, but still won the stage. Since then I've learned that a racer must always hold his line. The fans will eventually move aside. But it's not only the fans, i'm scared of the cars which brush past me at dangerous speeds.

(In the Vuelta, 4 months later, Thomas was on his way to a stage victory when his front wheel was clipped by a car and he almost ended up in the crowd. He managed to close the gap back to his fellow escapee, Dario Cataldo but it cost him a lot of energy that the Semmerzakenaar (Suburb of Gavere where De Gendt is from, same place as the Cross) couldn't ride with the Italian afterwards. )