What do the colour pink, May and the cycling holiday have in common? Yes, it's the Giro d'Italia! And this year, the Force brand is really visible in the fight for the Maglia Rosa!
Last Friday, the 105th legendary Giro d'Italia stage race started in Budapest, Hungary. Our Intermarché Wanty Gobert team entered the race with a really strong line-up, including star Biniam Girmaye, and it was clear they were going to make their presence known. But who would have expected that so soon?
In the three stages, Biniam managed to change three different jerseys - the team one, a white one, and even a purple jersey! Can you believe it? It should be noted that in the first stage, the famous Maglia Rosa was really only centimetres short out of reach. But losing the final sprint to Mathieu van der Poel is really no disgrace!
The fourth stage was the first on Italian soil and its profile was one of the most challenging tests so far. The riders were faced with a final 23.3 km long climb to the legendary Etna with an average gradient of 5.9%. This challenging stage also caught the Wanty-Gobert riders in a very good light, as Rein Taaramae was part of the day's breakaway, and although he started to lose ground to his breakaway contemporaries at the start of the climb, he returned to the game at a constant pace and celebrated an excellent 3rd place, half a minute behind stage winner Lennard Kämna. Rein Taaramäe holds the same excellent position in the overall classification. The successful day was further underlined by the pair of climbers Domenico Pozzovivo and Jan Hirt, who reached the finish in 24th and 26th place respectively, 20 seconds behind the group of the biggest favourites.
We are excited to see what is going to happen next!
