DISCUSSION Giro d'Italia Stage 18 | Nico Denz's solo win; Ayuso's abandon and more...

There is always calm before the storm, and today we had calm. A hilly day at the beginning, but with the final 50km mostly flat, there were few doubts that the victory would be in the breakaway.

Knowing that, another huge break was formed, enjoying full consent from the peloton, which never tried to chase them down. The GC contenders will have very hard tests the next two days, which will push everyone to the limit, so they didn’t want war today under any circumstances.

Almost 40 riders went clear, including some sprinters such as Mads Pedersen or Kaden Groves, who knew that was their only chance to fight for the win. In the end, Nico Denz attacked in the last kilometres, going solo and achieving a well-deserved win that will boost the morale of the team after losing Primoz Roglic.

Behind, a very relaxed day for the peloton, although not so much for Juan Ayuso. The Spaniard was stung by a bee yesterday, and although he started the stage blind in his right eye in hopes of being able to help his teammate del Toro, he was forced to abandon. Another loss for UAE before the decisive stages on Friday and Saturday.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

And finally, the German stage win has arrived. That it came from Nico Denz whose grandparents still live in Italy (Basilicata) — a German with practically two motherlands — makes it all the more special. Breaking away from a group of 11 is one thing, but the way he did it was truly impressive.

In the final 3 kilometers, the man from near the Swiss border went even harder — in full Asgreen style, so to speak. His third win, and just as unexpected as his previous two at the Giro in 2022.

“Grande Nico! Un minuto!,” an enthusiastic Italian man shouted from the roadside. Nico saw him, but by then, tears of joy were already streaming down his face.

So what happened behind Nico Denz then, you ask? We couldn’t tell you. We were too busy pushing the pedals alongside our countryman.

The mid-week flat stage of the final Giro week is always a day for the breakaway, and the expected happened today. We had a few interesting characters such as Mads Pedersen, who 100% tried to help Mathias Vacek get the stage win. The plan went to perfection until the point where he didn't respond to Nico Denz's attack.

Vacek, Denz and Dries de Bondt were the three main riders I had in mind before the stage, and even though all the attacks happened on flat roads where it can often be a game of luck, they were all there. They let Vacek use the 'Pedersen excuse' not to work in the front group when the winning split went up the road, but then he did not respond to Denz, who was a clear danger man.

Then group 2 syndrome kicked in. After Denz went up the road, everyone was now fully alert and no-one could go up the road as they were just flat roads. With 10 riders chasing, although on paper it sounds stupid, the 1 rider in front will usually win in this circumstance because no-one will fully commit behind.

Denz has been in terrific form and the victory is fully deserved. The BORA demons have been let loose after Roglic left the race.

The day was marked by a large breakaway, which included important names for the day's victory. The peloton did a good decompression workout of 144 kilometres, looking ahead to the high mountain stages on Friday and Saturday.

Up front, Lidl-Trek sent Vacek into the stage and everything pointed to another stage win for the team. But they forgot about Nico Denz, who drank some Red Bull and put the turbo on, leaving his fellow escapees to stare at the dust.

UAE has lost another man, or rather boy... the Spanish kid has to learn to lose and work. He doesn't seem to know how to do either of them. Apparently, he got away with it because a ‘supposed’ bee stung him. Ayuso, you've got to grow up, mate. The UAE has a spoilt little boy who doesn't deserve the jersey he's wearing and ... the money he earns.

Beyond Nico Denz's great victory, which Red Bull - BORA needed after a very tough Giro for the German team, the highlight of the day was Juan Ayuso's withdrawal.

I think UAE's attitude towards their rider after he withdrew from the race was completely inappropriate. The team left a very poor impression after not even giving Ayuso, who had suffered so much throughout the Giro, a simple hug.

He arrived as the UAE leader, that was the plan. Then, the fact that the team did not dare to give Isaac del Toro the baton in time was not his fault. Are they going to sell the idea that Juan did not want to give up his bid for the pink jersey? Does a rider have more power than an entire team, a WorldTour giant?

Otherwise, Isaac del Toro and the rest of the overall favourites benefited from a quiet stage after the sprinters entered the breakaway. For that reason, there was no need to pull in the peloton, and everyone was able to rest their legs before the two brutal mountain stages that will decide the fight between Isaac Del Toro, Richard Carapaz and Simon Yates.

It is always a happy day when a domestique wins! Usually forced to do the most ungrateful and invisible work, they rarely have opportunities to shine, but today was one of them. Nico Denz timed his attack perfectly, and before his rivals had any time to react, he was gone for good. It is already his third (!) win at the Giro d’Italia, after winning twice in 2023. Not bad at all for a domestique.

I expected Ayuso to abandon but definitely not because of a bee sting, that was not in my Bingo card. It has not been his Giro, he has been unlucky with crashes and now this incident is the last straw.

After seeing the interview before the start of the stage, I was so surprised that he wanted to ride. He said he literally couldn’t see anything with his right eye, so continuing to ride a professional cycling race in such conditions is too dangerous, not only for him but for the rest of the riders.

He could have easily caused a massive crash, I think it was an irresponsibility. Luckily nothing happened, it will be time for him to recover and learn from this experience. He said he would like riding another Grand Tour this season, but if that happens it will only be in La Vuelta, and I don’t think he would go there as the leader of the team.

The weird moment of the day was seeing Q36.5 starting to pull from peloton completely out of the blue when they were more than 10 minutes behind the break and with just 30km to go. Since it was the only team with no representation in the break, I thought maybe the director was punishing the riders for that.

But instead, it was the organizers who asked them to do that, given that the final circuit was only about 12km long and they feared that the break would overtake the peloton, creating big chaos. A funny situation that allowed Q36.5 to get some camera time, not bad after their mediocre Giro so far...