Soudal Quick-Step Devo’s 20-year-old moved one day closer to his best result in two starts at Giro della Valle d’Aosta.
Henrique Bravo made it three podiums in a row this week in Italy. After winning stage one and finishing third twenty-four hours later, the Brazilian concluded runner-up on the hardest day of the Italian race so far, in Saint-Christophe.
It was a brutal day in the saddle - four classified ascents and 4000 vertical meters - but this didn’t bother Soudal Quick-Step Devo, who assumed responsibility in the peloton as soon as things got underway in the morning and set the pace. Marc Zafra rode an incredible race, single-handedly chasing the breakaway and clawing back time before Said Cisneros and Matthijs De Clercq whittled down the peloton on the Saint-Barthélemy climb.
When the Ecuadorian Mateo Ramirez (UAE Team Emirates Gen Z) attacked, Henrique was the only one capable of responding, and the two of them caught the last survivor of the breakaway before the last difficulty of the day. There, Bravo used his kick to take runner-up and make it a hat-trick of top-three finishes at the Giro della Valle d’Aosta, a result that helped him add more seconds to his gap in the general classification.
I enjoyed the stage, despite the parcours being really hard.
- Henrique Bravo -
“We had a strong team to control it, with Marc being amazing on the flat sections, where he kept the gap in check. On the penultimate climb, Matthijs and Said took over and pulled hard, doing a great job there before the GC fight got ignited. I could respond to the attacks that came on that long first-category ascent, and after we rode clear of the rest, I continued to pull with the GC in mind. In the final kilometer, I still had something left on that uphill drag to take second. I’m happy I could fight for the win again. I felt good the whole day, and that makes me satisfied with my shape and confident ahead of Sunday’s closing stage.”
Photo credit: ©Giro della Valle d'Aosta
