Landa had suffered from gastroenteritis over the rest day, and halfway through Stage 10, after dropping well off the back of the peloton he pulled over and abandoned the stage. His Giro had been a quiet one up to that point anyway, having been a solid if unspectacular 8th overall and tracking attacks, rather than making them himself. Perhaps he was playing a long game, saving himself for the big climbs next week, but Team Sky's wait for a Grand Tour outside France goes on all the same.
Tim de Waele
Stage 10 itself was won by Giulio Ciccone, the fifth straight year a Bardiani-CSF has won a stage at the Giro, He won after joining the break, and broke clear after a strong descent before the final climb, with around three minutes over the elite group, led by Andrey Amador after a late attack. He and his Movistar teammate Alejandro Valverde picked up a handful of seconds over Vincenzo Nibali and the rest on the run up to the finish, as the team made their intentions clear.
One man who was not in that group was Tom Dumoulin, the Dutchman finishing 13 minutes behind Ciccone despite his team's best efforts. Dumoulin had suffered from saddle sores for several days, and after not recovering over the rest day, Dumoulin withdrew overnight before Stage 11. We covered Dumoulin last time out, so to avoid treading old ground I'll just direct you there, with a note that Dumoulin should perhaps plan his races better, either focusing on GC or stage wins. Splitting his efforts does not seem to be within his capabilities right now.
Bettini
Race leader Gianluca Brambilla was also unable to keep pace with the leaders in Stage 10 (albeit nowhere near to Dumoulin's extent), meaning the maglia rosa passed to his teammate Bob Jungels. Jungels is the third Etixx-QuickStep rider to wear pink in this Giro, an outstanding achievement, and testament to the team's depth of quality.
Jungels has looked strong since taking the jersey, and indeed extended his lead over the favourites in Stage 11, finishing third in a sprint between himself, Amador and stage winner Diego Ulissi (LAM), his second win of the Giro. Stage 12 was one for the sprinters, so Jungels retains the lead, and with Brambilla now almost 3 minutes back and Kittel long gone from the race, Etixx-QuickStep will be able to fully focus on keeping the jersey on the Luxembourg rider's back.
Andre Greipel won Stage 12 after squeezing out Caleb Ewan (OGE) in the final sprint, and then in the post-race interviews announced that, according to Lotto-Soudal's pre-race plans, he would be withdrawing from the Giro d'Italia.
As with Dumoulin, this is something I touched on earlier in the Giro when Kittel withdrew, but it bears repeating here. Despite what he said about it not being disrespectful to the Giro organisers and the race itself, personally, I think it's terrible. Withdrawing because you're exhausted and physically can't continue is one thing, but pre-planning to withdraw is something else entirely. If you don't intend to see out the whole race, don't race.
Again, the Tour of California has equally good opportunities for sprinters, and is much shorter than the Giro, running at the same time. If Greipel and Kittel couldn't hack a full three week race, especially considering they're looking at races later in the season (whether the Tour, the Olympics or the Worlds) then go for the shorter race and let the guys capable of making it to Milan fight out the Giro stages. With these sort of snubs, the Giro is in real danger of being seen as irrelevant compared to the other two Grand Tours, and that saddens me.
General Classification
1. Bob Jungels (EQS) 49:32:20
2. Andrey Amador (MOV) + :24
3. Alejandro Valverde (MOV) + 1:07
4. Steven Kruijswijk (TLJ) + 1:07
5. Vincenzo Nibali (AST) + 1:09
6. Rafal Majka (TNK) + 2:01
7. Ilnur Zakarin (KAT) + 2:25
8. Esteban Chaves (OGE) + 2:43
9. Gianluca Brambilla (EQS) + 2:45
10. Diego Ulissi (LAM) + 2:47
Points Classification
1. Giacomo Nizzolo (TFS) 138
2. Arnaud Demare (FDJ) 111
3. Diego Ulissi (LAM) 100
King of the Mountains
1. Damiano Cunego (NIP) 56
2. Giulio Ciccone (BAR) 27
3. Tim Wellens (LTS) 25
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