Perugia – Montalcino (162 km) Etliche Abschnitte auf Strade Bianche

1 Mauro Schmid (SUI) Team Qhubeka ASSOS 4:01:55
2 Alessandro Covi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:01
3 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:26
4 Dries De Bondt (Bel) Alpecin – Fenix 0:00:41
5 Simon Guglielmi (Fra) Groupama – FDJ 0:00:41
6 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani CSF Faizanè 0:00:44
7 Roger Kluge (GER) Lotto Soudal 0:01:23
8 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Eolo – Kometa Cycling Team 0:01:37
9 Taco Van Der Hoorn (Ned) Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux 0:01:43
10 Lawrence Naesen (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 0:01:59
11 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers 0:03:09
12 Emanuel Buchmann (GER) BORA – hansgrohe 0:03:12
13 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana – Premier Tech 0:03:32
14 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:03:35
15 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:03:35

Gesamtwertung
1 Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers 42:35:21
2 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana – Premier Tech 0:00:45
3 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:12
4 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education – Nippo 0:01:17
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:01:22
6 Emanuel Buchmann (GER) BORA – hansgrohe 0:01:50
7 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck – Quick-Step 0:02:22
8 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek – Segafredo 0:02:24
9 Tobias Svendsen Foss (Nor) Jumbo – Visma 0:02:49
10 Daniel Felipe Martinez Poveda (Col) INEOS Grenadiers 0:03:15
11 Marc Soler Gimènez (Esp) Movistar Team 0:03:19
12 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:03:29
13 Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama – FDJ 0:03:51
14 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Trek – Segafredo 0:04:11
15 Gianni Moscon (Ita) INEOS Grenadiers 0:04:25

Mit einer beeindruckenden Performance auf der 11. Etappe des Giro d’Italia rückt Emanuel Buchmann in der Gesamtwertung auf Rang 6 vor

Foto: Gerhard Plomitzer

Die zweite Rennwoche startete mit einer spektakulären 163 km langen hügeligen Etappe. Nach flacher Startphase in Perugia, ging es auf dem Weg nach Montalcino auf teils kräftezehrenden Schotterpisten durch die südliche Toskana. Nach dem letzten Schotter-Sektor, rund 10 km vorm Ziel, ging es weiter hoch zum Passo del Lume Spento, ehe das Ziel erreicht wurde. Für Emanuel Buchmann war es wichtig, sturzfrei und, besonders auf den Schotterpisten, ohne Defekt, ins Ziel zu kommen um Zeit gegenüber den GC-Favoriten zu gewinnen. Das Team aus Raubling rückte bei den Positionskämpfen vor dem ersten Schotter-Sektor nach vorne und wenig später löste sich eine Gruppe um Peter Sagan vom Feld ab und setzte der 12 Mann starken Ausreißergruppe nach. Der Slowake musste sich allerdings nach dem zweiten Schotterabschnitt zurückfallen lassen, während es Emanuel Buchmann gelang in der Gruppe der GC- Favoriten zu fahren. Im Schlussanstieg attackierte der Ravensburger aus der Verfolgergruppe heraus und konnte einen Vorsprung gegenüber der reduzierten Favoritengruppe herausarbeiten. Am Gipfel schloss E. Bernal noch zu Emanuel auf und beim Sieg von M. Schmid aus der Ausreißergruppe, erkämpfte der Ravensburger den 12. Platz und rückte damit vom 15. auf den 6. Rang in der Gesamtwertung auf.

Reaktionen im Ziel

„Ich hatte mich heute von Anfang an ganz gut gefühlt und das Team hat mich im ersten Sektor sehr gut positioniert. Es war ein sehr hartes Rennen. Auf den Schotterabschnitten sind wir Vollgas gefahren und ich bin immer vorne gewesen. Am letzten Berg hatte ich mir die anderen Fahrer angeschaut und gedacht, ich probiere es einfach einmal. Am Ende ist noch Egan zu mir gestoßen und wir sind zusammen ins Ziel gefahren. Ich glaube, das war ein richtig gutes Rennen und so können wir hoffentlich weitermachen.“ – Emanuel Buchmann

„Wir wussten, dass es eine ungewöhnliche Etappe sein wird, sehr nervös, und wir waren auf alle Eventualitäten vorbereitet. Es war wichtig, potenzielle Probleme, wie zum Beispiel mechanische Probleme, vorauszusehen und darauf bereit zu sein. Ich denke, die Teams waren mehr darauf konzentriert, Risiken zu reduzieren und keine Zeit zu verlieren, als tatsächlich auf den Sieg zu fahren. Wir haben uns auf Emanuel Buchmann und seine GC-Position konzentriert, und das gesamte Team hat für ihn gearbeitet. Die Jungs haben ihn im ersten Schottersektor sehr gut unterstützt und Peter war auch mit ihm im zweiten Sektor. Er blieb in der reduzierten Favoritengruppe und von da an war es einfacher für ihn. Er hatte gute Beine und ergriff die Initiative, um im Schlussanstieg zu attackieren. Er distanzierte fast alle GC-Fahrer und wurde nur von Bernal eingeholt. Im Großen und Ganzen war es ein guter Tag für uns.“ – Jan Valach, Sportlicher Leiter

Mauro Schmid stormed to victory on stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia, claiming the first professional win of his career and Team Qhubeka ASSOS first win at this year’s Giro d’Italia.
The young Swiss rider (21), who was drafted into our Giro team two weeks before the Grande Partenza, got into the early break of the day with fellow teammate Bert-Jan Lindeman, along with 10 other riders.
It was to be a very special stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia as the 162km route through the Tuscan countryside included 4 gravel sectors, totaling more than 35km inside the final 70km of the stage.
Both Lindeman and Schmid were part of our team that raced the Strade Bianche earlier this year, and were able to draw on their experience of having trained and raced on the white roads already this year. Lindeman had in fact also stayed on after Strade Bianche this year to recon this Giro stage, information which proved invaluable for him and Schmid in the break.
Lindeman did a fine job to drive the break along with his younger teammate, as the gap to peloton maxed out at 14-minutes. It soon became clear that the stage victor would come from the breakaway.
The gravel sectors whittled the front group down as expected, but Schmid certainly looked like one of the more comfortable riders on the slippery sandy surfaces. Schmid excited the final gravel sector with just 2 other riders on his wheel and 9km remaining in the race.

A final cat 3 climb into Montalcino left Schmid to battle it out with Alessandro Covi (UAE-Emirates) for the stage win. With a strong track pedigree behind him, Schmid took the sprint on from the front and Covi was unable to match his turn of speed over the final 200m.
I can’t believe it, it’s my first international win and I would never have expected it to be at a grand tour. I was not even expecting to do a Grand Tour this year, but the team believed in me and I got the chance to do the Giro. It’s an amazing race and it means a lot to me.
I started with mountain bike racing when I was younger, and cyclocross and now I also do track. I will go to the Olympics this year. The technical skills from cycle cross and the power from the track have helped me to develop as a rider.
We ride for a bigger cause; we ride for bicycles to change lives. We ride for a charity, but everything in our team is high performance. We have a great team spirit. For me, bicycles mean freedom, it means happiness. And that’s why we ride, that’s the reason.

Mauro Schmid: This Race Can Change Your Life

Montalcino, 20 May 2021 – Mauro Schmid only find out two weeks prior to the announcement of the Team Qhubeka ASSOS squad for the 2021 Giro d’Italia that he was one of the eight riders selected. The 21-year-old, in his first year as a professional, in fact a year ago was uncertain that he’d be able to find a team to take the step up into the professional ranks.
In Montalcino, at the finish of stage 11, the man from Zurich announced himself to the world with a stunning display to win the “Strade Bianche” stage of the 104th Giro d’Italia.
He looked a rider born for the big stage, although just the day prior to his victory, on the first rest of the opportunity of the race, he shed some light on how his debut race had been going.
“The Giro has definitely not been easy,” he said at the team hotel in Perugia. “It’s hard to get a feeling for it and I wasn’t sure what to expect from it. I’ve had a few difficult moments in these first 10 stages so far but now I’m starting to feel better and I hope that I will have two big weeks now.”
On to stage 11 then where he made his move early in the day’s breakaway of 11 riders which included teammate Bert-Jan Lindeman, who drove the pace to ensure the gap to the General Classification riders was big enough for the breakaway to go to the line.
In a stunning finish, Schmid eventually beat Alessandro Covi in the uphill sprint for the line in Montalcino. Behind him in the Tuscan dust, the race’s general classification riders were doing battle while Schmid collapsed, shell-shocked at what he’d just done.

In an instant, his life changed forever as he became a Grand Tour stage-winner in his first-ever Grand Tour.
“Honestly, I was thinking about winning from the start because this is what motivates me. I had concerns – a lot of them during the race – I was thinking about what Giacomo and Victor told me: “second or third place? nobody thinks about that, it’s only the win that counts” and this was my mentality today and in the end I was lucky that the plan was good,” he said on arriving at the team hotel following the podium ceremony and media duties.
“I honestly couldn’t feel anything, I was exhausted but also emotionally I couldn’t believe that I won when I crossed the line. This time last year I was hoping to get a contract but my chances were not very good and I signed quite late in the season. Then at the beginning of the season I wasn’t thinking about doing a Grand Tour or a big race and now I just won a stage at the Giro – it is amazing.
„We have a great spirit in this team. Everybody works incredibly hard for each other but we ride for a greater cause in the belief that bicycles change lives. This means a lot to me, I could feel the energy in the team during this Giro – through the bad times and the good times – and this purpose definitely played a huge role in helping me win the stage today.“