The Tuscan 'white roads' were irresistible for Egan Bernal as he reinforced his hold on the Maglia Rosa, where he left behind all his rivals. Swiss neo-pro Mauro Schmid won the difficult stage and Remco Evenepoel and Romain Bardet lost more than two minutes. Vlasov, Carthy, and Yates limited their losses to about twenty seconds but all suffered by Bernal the former world junior mountain bike medalist.
But, it was Schmid who took the honors on this very special stage of 162km through the picturesque Tuscan countryside, the Strade Bianche stage. Including four gravel sectors, totaling more than 35km inside the final 70km of the stage. The gravel sectors wore down many, but Schmid looked comfortable on the slippery sandy surfaces. He exited the final sector with 2 riders on his wheel and on the final climb turn up the speed over the final 200m to leave behind Alessandro Covi for a spectacular performance.
" I only knew two weeks before the start that I was going to ride the Giro. I suffered a lot but today I really wanted to attack because I really like riding on dirt roads."
-Mauro Schmid. First professional victory
"There are ten stages left, and all the mountain climbs."
-Egan Bernal
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