Competition is something which every professional riders craves, this is the same case with Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ). Arnaud has bagged multiple stage wins in this year’s Giro d’Italia and the thirst for more never ends. Every rider wants to go bigger than they have before and this is Arnaud’s goal, even his parents were there at stage 18, pressing against the barriers to support him.
Arnaud’s team Groupama-FDJ alongside with QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl were leading the peloton, this was a favorable outcome. Even though they lost some points, they had their best people in the lead looking for better ending to the race.
During the historic race, even Chapatte’s theorem came into play. This exacts that when a rider enters the final 10km of a race with a minute’s lead then the chances are high that they can fend off the entire peloton, this is exactly what happened with Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix).
Dries De Bondt won the stage 18 of Giro d’Italia by beating Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma), and Arnaud Demare finished at the sixth position.
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After the race was concluded, Arnaud expressed his views:
It’s a pity because we wanted to sprint for the win. The break was very strong and very smart. They really played with us for a long time, they resisted very well.
Even though Arnaud is doing so well, he is disappointed by the commanding lead in the points classification. There were even hopes of collaboration with other teams after doing so well with Mark Cavendish’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl.
If we reflect back to the 2019 edition of Giro d’Italia, Démare lost the maglia ciclamino to Pascal Ackermann in the finale. This did not stop Demare as he returned back to the Giro in 2020 and gained victory over Peter Sagan.
Even though he Arnaud won four stages, he was pushed back by Peter Sagan, the competition was relentless and he loved this kind of rivalry, this is something that Arnaud even craves now.
For the maglia ciclamino, it was really a bigger battle two years ago with Peter Sagan.
There were only 10 points between us in the final days, so it went down to the wire. But here, it’s already been a week where I’ve had a gap.
The final day of Giro d’Italia is approaching, who will wear the crown? Who will shine on the podium spot? We won’t have to wait long to find out.
Also Read: Miscalculation Or Luck? Dries De Bondt Wins Stage 18 Of Giro D’Italia
Featured Image Via Instagram/equipegroupamafdj
