The Giro d'Italia bunch sprint of 173km Stage 10 turned into chaos with about 700 meters to go. A ride went down in a technical section approaching the launch of the sprint, and a large portion of the peloton crashed as a result. However, Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Rigoberto Uran was not one of them.
Uran placed 13th, and lost no time to Maglia Rosa wearer Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team). OPQS escorted Uran to the front as they also helped chase down a two rider breakaway, and then they kept him always near the front in the final kilometers as tension rose in anticipation of the group arrival. His ideal placement in the peloton helped him to avoid being caught up in the crash.
Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ.fr) won the stage, with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) 2nd and Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) 3rd. Evans was 9th, but the Colombian rider of OPQS was close behind.
Alessandro Petacchi was caught behind the crash. Though he stayed upright, he was unable to relaunch his sprint.
OPQS looks next to a Stage 11 medium mountain stage. The 249km course features two categorized climbs, but the second climb is followed by a descent to a somewhat flat finish. Stage 12 — the Barbaresco to Barolo ITT of 41.9km — could prove to be crucial to the GC on Thursday.
"Today it was relatively easy until the last kilometers," Uran said "I felt well the entire day. Then at about 20 kilometers from the finish, the fight to take the last climb in the best position possible started. The team did a great job another time and I took the climb really in the front. The speed was really high, even in the downhill. I managed to stay in the front surrounded by the OPQS guys. Then in the last few hundred meters, there was that crash. I don't know what happened, but suddenly I saw a few riders going down on the ground. The crash happened on the left side of the road and I was lucky that I was on the other side of the road and I passed. As I said already, every day something can happen here at the Giro. I'm happy that this stage is behind us."
"Tomorrow is not an easy stage," Sport Director Davide Bramati said. "In the first 100 kilometers we will cross the Appennini to go to the sea. Then we will stay along the sea along the Riviera Ligure, where the wind can be a factor. The stage is also long. It is more or less 250 kilometers. At about 30 kilometers to go there is a GPM of 2nd category. After all those kilometers, the climb can remain in the legs of a few riders."
