Pink Banana: Giro d’Italia stage 4 – Valerio Conti

Pink Banana: Giro d’Italia stage 4 – Valerio Conti

A bold late attack that briefly promised to flip the script lands Valerio Conti the first of our occasional Giro awards


Valerio Conti should have won a stage in last year’s Giro. He would still have had to get the better of eventual winner Gorka Izagirre and two other high-calibre breakaway companions, but when he wiped-out attacking through a hairpin bend on the final climb to the finish in Peschici, all he took away from the stage were some wounds to lick.

An aggressive rider who attacks with confidence, especially when the road goes upwards, it was little surprise to see the Vuelta stage winner go up the road as the finish approached on stage four of this year’s Giro. What impressed, however, was for how long the move endured ahead of a ravaging peloton, nervous about gaps opening on the tricky run-in and sniffing an opportunistic stage win.

 

The UAE-Emirates rider went clear following a move from Wilier’s Enrico Zardini as the road reared up with a little over 10km to go. But the moment his compatriot’s presence became burdensome, Conti kicked again on the front, shook him off and settled into a rhythm that saw him open enough of a gap for officials to briefly plonk a car in. It was also enough to stir Carlton Kirby into a frenzied ball of excitement – although we’re not sure that’s a measure of much.

Read: Canvassing Opinion – painting the Giro d’Italia

It’s not often you’ll see a lone rider pull open such a gap on a peloton in the closing throes of a race, and for his effort we’re going to award him Rouleur’s first pink banana of the 2018 Giro.

 

For a while, and as the Eurosport commentator justifiably speculated, it looked like Conti might just defy the odds and land himself the bigger prize of a stage. But a hungry peloton has an insatiable appetite for time gap and after Lotto Fix-All and Bahrain-Merida threaded the bunch through the streets of Caltagirone, Conti was caught around the 3km mark. 

He’ll get his Giro stage one day.

More sporadic than our Tour de France Top Banana competition, the Rouleur Pink Banana goes to an unsung hero of any stage of the Giro d’Italia we feel like awarding it on.

 

The post Pink Banana: Giro d’Italia stage 4 – Valerio Conti appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.


READ MORE

Remco Evenepoel

Tour de France 2025 stage 13 preview: A gruelling mountain time trial

The second Pyrenean stage is an all-out uphill effort against the clock

Read more
Tadej Pogacar

Tour de France 2025 standings: the results after stage 12

The latest results and standings from the Tour de France 2025

Read more
Three Mountains: The Pyrenean summit finishes of the 2025 Tour de France

Three Mountains: The Pyrenean summit finishes of the 2025 Tour de France

The 2025 Tour de France will see three consecutive summit finishes in the Pyrenees: at Hautacam, Peyragudes and Superbagnères. Rouleur goes to explore the culture...

Read more
The ties that bind: a day of temporary and fast-changing alliances

The ties that bind: a day of temporary and fast-changing alliances

Stage 11 was defined by the temporary alliances formed over the course of the stage, and the fight between two groups of five riders, working...

Read more
Victor Campenaerts

From breakaway specialist to domestique deluxe: Campenaerts reinvents himself at the 2025 Tour de France

Victor Campenaerts has long been renowned as a rider who thinks creatively in the pursuit of gains. But he also understands when the situation needs a bit of...

Read more
Tadej Pogacar

‘It’s fair play’ - Cycling and the complexity of the gentleman’s agreement

After his crash in the closing five kilometres of stage 11, Tadej Pogačar’s rivals waited for him to return to the peloton in the name...

Read more

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE