Chris Harper Moves to Top-10 with 4th Place on Stage 11 of Giro d’Italia!
Chris Harper delivered a powerful performance in the breakaway on the hilly 195 km stage from Porcari to Chiavari in Giro d’Italia.
Stage 11 unfolded as a day for the breakaway, and Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team was determined to be active at the front. Nickolas Zukowsky fought to be in the break for 40 kilometres, setting the tone for team’s approach of racing with intent. Shortly after, Chris Harper launched a bold counterattack, joined by Mattias Bais and Andreas Leknessund. Soon after, nine more riders helped form a strong group that would contest the stage.
Harper stayed active in the break throughout the race. As the climbs intensified, the group got smaller, but Harper held his position and showed remarkable consistency, crossing the finish line in fourth place. The stage was won by Narváez from UAE. Zukowsky also delivered a strong ride, finishing 13th on the stage.
"Possibly it was a little crazy when I went, but once we had the gap, I gambled that more guys would come across. Unfortunately, only one rider from Uno-X came at first. Eventually, nine other riders joined us, but even after that it was still very solid until the last couple of climbers, including Narváez, and then it looked like we would get the gap to contest the stage. I think I did a good stage. I gave it 100%, and of course I would have liked to win, but I just didn’t have the legs to follow Enric (Mas) and Johnny (Narváez) on the last climb. We have a hard mountain stage on Saturday, which will be the focus before the final week with some very tough stages."
Chris Harper
Sports director Gabriele Missaglia praised Harper’s performance and the team’s overall effort on the stage:
"Today was the most important stage in the Giro, not because of the big climbs, but because the parcours was not easy. During the team meeting, I said I wanted one of our riders in the breakaway. Chris was supposed to stay with De La Cruz in the bunch, but sometimes the riders are a bit crazy, and I like that. In my opinion, it was a bold attack from Chris. The final today was amazing not only from Chris but from the entire team. In the main bunch with the pink jersey, we had three riders, De La Cruz, Donovan and Zukowsky, while Bax and Gonzalez worked hard to support them during the race. A fourth place is a very good result. Chris is now in the top-10 of the GC, and the pink jersey and other GC riders lost over three minutes to him today."
Sports director Gabriele MissagliaWith the impressive performance on stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia, Chris Harper moves up to 10th place in the General Classification.
