Mountain specialists’ day at the Tour of Sardinia – Team Vorarlberg once again holds its own for a long time

“Save energy and at the same time do everything we can to ensure that Giacomo Ballabio (pictured) still has a chance of a good place in the overall standings on Sunday.” This was the motto sports director Paul Renger gave his riders for today’s queen stage of the Tour of Sardinia. And the seven-man Team Vorarlberg squad carried out the instructions well. Ballabio stayed in the first group for a long time and only lost touch with the mountain specialists of the World Tour teams on the last difficult climb.

In the end, he finished in 27th place – 4:03 minutes behind the day’s winner Filippo Zana. The 26-year-old broke away from the leading group shortly before the finish and pulled out a 36-second lead. As a result, the Italian also took over the overall lead from his compatriot Nicolo Garibbo. Zana won a mountain stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2023 and finished third overall at the Giro in 2024 – proof that the Tour of Sardinia once again has a top-class line-up.

All the more pleasing that Team Vorarlberg cut a good figure in the top-class field. Giacomo Ballabio is in 23rd place overall before the final day – 5:12 minutes behind the new leader Zana.