Luke Plapp soloes to Stage 8 glory as Primoz Roglic allows Diego Ulissi to take pink jersey at Giro d’Italia

Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) emerged victorious from a multi-dimensional Stage 8 at the Giro d’Italia, set up from the outset and sculpted to go the way of the break. 

That meant an impossibly tough, protracted battle for a place in it. In the end, 19 riders made it into the move that took until kilometre 88 to stick.

Dylan Van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike) rode hard to rapidly reduce that number to a small fighting force, with further competition ensured by the penultimate categorised climb, there were just four riders left. One of them, Australian TT champion Plapp, rode away one kilometre from the summit, building over a minute’s lead that was enough to ensure victory.

Another of his breakaway companions, eight-time Giro stage winner Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana), had the possibility of taking the maglia rosa, which Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had indicated they were happy to hand over. Although at points in the finale Ulissi’s hopes appeared to be heading for heartbreak, as the peloton began to put down the power, the Italian made it to the line 4’12” ahead of Primoz Roglic (Red Bull).

That put Ulissi in the maglia rosa by 17 seconds from Roglic, with his Astana team-mate Lorenzo Fortunato in second place with 40 points ensuring he will wear the king of the mountains jersey on Sunday.

On the long, inviting eighth stage, the first rider popped out of the bunch before the race director was even back in his car. From then on, the attacks would not stop until the stage was almost half done. Before then, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), back in the points jersey and in the hunt for more, was able to make it into the early move and survive long enough to take the maximum score at the first intermediate sprint, increasing his lead in that competition to almost 100 points. 

After further false dawns, including one which saw a cameo from Nairo Quintana (Movistar), the break of the day eventually established itself at kilometre 88. Notables from the 19-rider group included Visma-Lease a Bike duo Dylan Van Baarle and Wilco Kelderman, Georg Steinhauser (EF Education EasyPost), Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL), Davide Formolo (Movistar), Igor Arrieta (UAE Emirates XRG), plus Plapp, Ulissi, and Fortunato. 

That large group swiftly built a lead of five minutes and then was reduced in riders once, then again, thanks largely to accelerations from Van Baarle. With 60km remaining, it was down to six: Vendrame, Steinhauser, Plapp, Bardet, Kelderman, Arrieta and Ulissi.

Veterans Ulissi and Kelderman separated themselves from the rest on the penultimate climb, the six-kilometre, third-category Montelago. Plapp appeared cooked but was able to ride across to them, shortly after Arieta made contact. One kilometre before the top and 45km from the finish, Plapp rose out of the saddle and accelerated away from the others in the big ring. It seemed more likely his intent was to take the descent alone, rather than to go solo to the line.

But his time trialling abilities served him well, and he was able to settle into the effort over the remaining distance. Arrieta attempted to bridge across at the Red Bull kilometre, but it was not long before he was put back in his box by Ulissi, who also claimed two valuable bonus seconds at the sprint.

As the kilometres ticked, Plapp could have confidence that the stage win was his. Less certain was whether Ulissi would move into pink, as both UAE and Bahrain Victorious seemed to prefer it remain on the shoulders of Roglic. 

In the end, they backed off just enough to let Ulissi have it. A late sprint from Juan Ayuso (UAE) was enough for him to gain a one-second gap at the line and reduce his deficit to Roglic to three seconds.

For Plapp, who had experienced a number of challenges in the past 12 months and fell during the opening time trial, it was “a dream come true.”

He admitted the hardest part of the day was getting into the break, the battle for which “just kept going and going.”

Speaking on the decision to go solo from so far out, Plapp said: “I knew I couldn’t beat any of them in a sprint, so I knew I had to go pretty early.

“The way the racing’s been going this year, the long moves have been really successful, so that was in the back of my mind.

“The first one to make a move always has the advantage. I just thought I’d give it a crack. To be honest, I wanted a head start on the descent as well.

“To stay away to the finish is not what I expected.”

The race resumes on Sunday with the much-anticipated Tuscan gravel stage, taking in some of the same stretches of sterrato as are included in Strade Bianche.