Johan Bruyneel calls gravel stages a “circus” after Wout van Aert’s emphatic Giro d’Italia win

As the dust settles after Stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia 2025, and week 2 begins The Move podcast trio, Johan Bruyneel, George Hincapie, and Spencer Martin, have offered their analysis of the race so far. On Sunday, the gravel stage to Siena, which mimicked the iconic Strade Bianche finish, saw Wout van Aert take a dramatic win. Yet it was 21-year-old Isaac Del Toro who left with the pink jersey and perhaps something more enduring, legitimacy.

But what do we mean by that?

The panel agreed Stage 9 may well prove to be the defining day of the Giro, not just for the GC shake-up, but for the questions it raised about the role of gravel in Grand Tours. “If you want cycling, professional cycling, to be a show and a circus then I agree that these kind of stages have their place,” Bruyneel admitted. “If I put myself in the place of a team manager, a DS, and a sponsor that invests a lot of money… then the perspective changes.”

Bruyneel’s core argument was simple: gravel may make great television, but it introduces unnecessary risk into a discipline that should reward control. “You are adding uncontrollable factors,” he said. “Although I knew it was potentially better for us when everything went okay, I was still not a fan because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Hincapie, however, took a more progressive stance. “It requires all kinds of different skills in cycling and the best of the best equipment,” he said. “Personally, it makes it more exciting.” He added that gravel stages serve cycling's commercial interests as much as its sporting ones: “Cycling is all about promoting brands… they want to sell more of their equipment. And what do you need to do to make that happen? Test the equipment on the most challenging roads you can.”

Still, the fallout from the stage couldn’t be ignored. Primoz Roglic, the pre-race favourite, crashed, flatted, and fell from first to tenth. And whilst Del Toro took the jersey, UAE had four riders in the top nine but looked disorganised, as more questions arose of their tactics without Tadej Pogacar.

And a debate ignited over whether this drama is acceptable or reckless. “Let’s put out a poll amongst the professional cyclists… I can confidently say that 75% would be against it,” Bruyneel proposed.

At the heart of the stage’s tactical swirl was UAE’s performance, or, arguably, their lack of coordination. Bruyneel was blunt: “Too much, too many talented riders actually on the team. I have the impression that any race where Pogacar is not present, it’s a tactical chaos.”

Hincapie, while sympathetic, agreed the team looked unsure. “Clearly they didn’t have the confidence in Del Toro that they have in Ayuso, but maybe they do now,” he said. Spencer Martin pushed the point further, “Have they lost a teammate and gained a rival from the stage yesterday?”

Bruyneel suspects internal promises and unclear leadership roles are sowing confusion. “I would guess for example that Ayuso… must have been promised, ‘okay, you’re the leader in the Giro’. The problem is that if you send too many of those riders with ambitions to the same race, you have again the same problem.” He added, “Yesterday, it looked like there was no clear communication within the team.”

Del Toro’s excellence was undeniable. “He has no chain,” Bruyneel said admiringly. “He’s just flying… the guy is on fire.” Hincapie added that Del Toro's winter training numbers were staggering, “He does rides a couple days a week from like four-hour rides, 380 to 400 watts on rolling roads the whole time.”

And yet, the question lingers – can a 21-year-old really win the Giro? “Do you know how many 21-year-olds have won Grand Tours in the last 100 years? Two. And one of them is Tadej Pogacar,” Martin noted. Bruyneel responded cautiously, “I would give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. He’s in great shape, and they have to take the time back on him.”

Egan Bernal, meanwhile, re-emerged as a serious GC contender on the strade bianche. “I think he’s definitely a serious candidate for the podium,” Bruyneel said. “I wouldn’t even exclude him winning the Giro.” Bernal’s emotional investment was clear: “The day he got third, when Ayuso won… he was pissed,” Bruyneel observed. “We’re starting to see the old Bernal creep in.”

Wout van Aert’s performance also received widespread praise. “That guy is a fighter,” said Bruyneel. “The way he won that stage yesterday… especially also where he won, in Siena, where we discovered Wout as a road racer in 2018.” Martin highlighted the significance, “This was such an important win because of the circumstances… I think that’s just going to catapult him to even more wins in this Giro and probably in July as well.”

Van Aert, who thought he had no chance after missing the initial break, managed to time his sprint perfectly. “He went from thinking he had no chance to winning arguably the biggest stage of the Giro thus far,” Martin said.

Red Bull – BORA - hansgrohe, meanwhile, drew criticism for their inability to support Roglic on what was a stage from hell for the Slovenian. “Without Pelizzari, Roglic would be alone every single time,” Bruyneel said. “They’re nowhere… they lost Jay Hindley early on, but still, I’m surprised they don’t have any more riders around Primoz.”

Ultimately, as the Giro heads into its second week, the race appears both wide open and finely poised. “The top 10 is very promising,” said Hincapie. “Guys like Carapaz and Bernal, both Grand Tour winners, are in the mix, and once you hit those monster climbs in the second and third week, things can change fast.”

Yet perhaps the most remarkable shift is the one happening inside UAE itself. “They couldn’t have had a better result,” Hincapie admitted. “Ayuso didn’t lose any time to Primoz… it was definitely a win for them.” And as Bruyneel summed it up, “Del Toro did the right thing, and now that he has the jersey, he might just hang onto it until Rome.”