Robbie McEwen lauds shock winner Davide Bais at Giro d’Italia: The guy who keeps rolling the dice

After many fruitless days in the breakaway, Davide Bais (EOLO-Kometa) finally got his reward on the big stage with a shock win at the Giro d’Italia on Friday. Bais slogged it out in a three-strong breakaway along with Karel Vacek (Corratec-Selle Italia) and Simone Petilli (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), no doubt expecting to hear the familiar sound of the peloton closing in.

Ad Instead, with the GC big hitters reluctant to attack into a headwind and tee up their rivals, the trio were allowed to contest the stage victory otherwise unopposed, with Bais kicking away in the closing stages to take a famous win for Italy. Giro d'ItaliaBlythe predicts 'huge uproar' after Stage 2 time losses following big crash07/05/2023 AT 18:06 Given the lack of fireworks behind, Bais was the main subject of The Breakaway, where 12-time stage winnner Robbie McEwen heaped praise on him for refusing to lose hope.

“I’ve got to be honest, that was a yawnfest back in the peloton," said McEwen. «But you can’t blame the guys out in front, they did what they needed to do.

“Over the last year or so, I’ve commentated on a number of races and watched Davide Bais in, I would say, something like 16-18 breakaways! And none of them have been successful… until today. “The guy who keeps getting out there, who keeps rolling the dice, putting himself at the front of the race, making those day-long efforts for so long with no reward for so long but now he is a Giro stage winner.” Giro d'Italia Stage 7 recap – GC stalemate as Bais wins from breakaway Deignan 'feeling stronger' for RideLondon and hopes to inspire next generation Pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) was expected to come under stern examination after his double crash on Stage 5 –