Today it was the turn of the second-to-last stage at the Giro d’Italia U23, and the last showdown at the mountains considering that tomorrow the route that will take the riders all the way to the finish will be predominantly flat. The stage was off to a hectic start with several attempts to make it to the breakaway of the way in the category one climb that started right after the flag dropped. Initially, it started with a group of five, including Marco Frigo, but shortly after it was a group that featured Harrison Wood and Daan Hoole that bridged across and increased the leading group up to 16 riders. 

However, 43 km into the race the breakaway was caught and the bunch was back in one piece. In the kilometers that followed, there was a crash in the peloton which caught our Harrison Wood, but the British rider got back on the bike and was quickly rejoining the main group. In the last climb, the race turned into an elimination one, with Harrison Wood hanging in the reduced bunch that the Maglia Rosa was in until 4 km to go. The British rider put in a brave effort after the crash. 

Tomorrow the tenth and final stage will take place between Sant Vito al Tagliamento and Castelfranco Veneto in a predominant flat parcour that previews a bunch sprint. 

Harrison Wood looks back to his day:
“It was a hard start again. We were aggressive and made it with 3 guys in the front group of 6. After the GC group caught us back. After around 80km I had a crash on a sloppy corner and changed bikes and came back. I followed the group the first time on Nevegal and the 2nd time I just couldn’t follow with 4km to go. I was happy with the feeling and how we were aggressive today but would have liked to of seen the result without the crash. Tomorrow one more day to go for it with the team”