Geraint Thomas had dealt comfortably with the hardest part of the day, the sudden surge in pace on the climb of Cima Sappada, but a moment's inattention over the top of the climb almost proved costly in the finale of stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia.
The steady rain and rugged terrain notwithstanding, the pink jersey group had endured a relatively comfortable afternoon in Friuli, but Thomas endured a late scare when he was sent sprawling to the ground after he clipped the rear wheel of Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) with a shade under 6km to go.
Although Thomas was quickly back on his feet, he had to wait a little longer for a replacement bike from the Ineos team car. For a moment, it looked as though his prospects of beating Daniel Martínez to second in this race had been doomed by a maddeningly simple error, but no one sought to benefit from his misfortune.
Instead, the pink jersey group stalled and the Bora-Hansgrohe team car even helped to pace Thomas back on. He remains third overall after rolling home safely with his podium rivals, a shade over a quarter of an hour down on the day's winner Andrea Vendrame (Decathlon-AG2R).
Thomas wheeled to a halt just beyond the Hotel Corona Ferrea, where Carrera tried to keep Stephen Roche hidden from the press in 1987 after he had divested teammate Roberto Visentini of the overall lead. Given his late fall, Thomas would have been forgiven for enacting a silenzio stampa of his own here, but the Welshman paused to talk reporters through his unexpected late drama.
"It was a stupid little mistake," Thomas said. "I was just looking over my shoulder and they moved a bit, and I just overlapped the wheel and touched down. Luckily, I got the spare bike straight away and the Bora car was good actually, they gave me a bit of draft up to the group again.
"When it happened, I just said on the radio, 'I need a new bike.' It felt like the car was miles behind, but it was only a few seconds in the end, so I was straight back on."
Monte Grappa
Thomas' Giro challenges of 2017 and 2020 were ended prematurely by the injuries sustained in heavy crashes, but he escaped relatively lightly here. He downplayed the severity of his wounds here, which appeared to be limited to a cut to his left elbow. "That's just new skin from old crashes: after 18 years a pro, you have a few of them," Thomas said. "It was just a stupid mistake."
When the route of this Giro was first unveiled last October, Friday's leg through the Carnic Alps looked to have the potential to provoke frissons among the general classification contenders. In practice, however, the chasmic time gaps already opened by leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) meant there was never any real prospect of movement from the GC contenders, with only Movistar's Einer Rubio briefly testing the waters on the climb to Cima Sappada.
"Obviously, we were just ready for everything," Thomas said of Movistar's forcing. "It was a bit of a surprise, but obviously when they came it was about staying in the wheel and getting over it as best as possible."
Thomas remains third overall, 8:04 behind the unassailable Pogačar and 22 seconds behind his old teammate Martínez ahead of Saturday's penultimate stage, which features twin ascents of Monte Grappa ahead of the final drop into Bassano del Grappa. With just the passerrella in Rome to follow, Monte Grappa is the last chance for Thomas to move up a place in the standings.
"Today went kind of how we thought, really. I was hoping the rain would hold off, but it didn't," Thomas said before pedalling off towards the Ineos bus. "But it's a big, big day tomorrow."
