Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) revealed that he was struggling to breathe on stage 17’s remaining ascent at Passo Brocon of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday. The Australian believed that he may very well be ‘preventing one thing’ in relation to his common well being however hoped it could go earlier than the mountainous stage 20 on Saturday.
“I used to be simply struggling to breathe, so simply preventing one thing, so only a bit common. It was a bit unhappy at the moment. It wasn’t my finest,” O’Connor stated in a post-race interview following stage 17’s 159km race that began in Selva di Val Gardena and ended with the climb to Passo Brocon.
“Today was actually, actually onerous. It’s with the climate, the difficult descents and the moist roads all day made it a day the place you could not change off,” O’Connor stated.
Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) soloed to victory on stage 17 as a battle for the general classification performed out behind the German rider on the ultimate ascent.
Maglia rosa Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) surged on the higher slopes with 2km to go and crossed the end line in second place behind Steinhauser.
More importantly, Pogačar completed 18 seconds forward of a bunch that included his total classification rivals: Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Einer Rubio (Movistar), and Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL).
O’Connor was initially with this group however then appeared to wrestle to carry the tempo and was distanced with just below three kilometres to go. He completed in twelfth place on the day however misplaced over a minute to Pogačar within the GC standings. While he remained in fourth total, he was now 9:47 down.
In the combination zone on the high of the Passo Brocon, O’Connor confirmed that he has been ‘preventing one thing’, and he gave the impression to be coughing and struggling to breathe whereas racing and on the end line.
“Yeah, I’m preventing one thing. Oh nicely. Tomorrow, hopefully, will give the lungs a little bit of a relaxation and be prepared for the ultimate couple of days,” O’Connor informed the press. “I’m not at my finest in the meanwhile, however hopefully, I might be good by Saturday.”
The penultimate stage is 184km from Alpago to Bassano del Grappa, and the ultimate mountain stage earlier than the stage 21 finale in Rome contains two ascents of Monte Grappa.
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