Wakeley bows out, Sovis moves into maglia rosa with 2-minute buffer and one stage to go.

Just like 8th grade algebra class, Cody Sovis is proving that showing up consistently pays off. First Jeff Owens, then Jorden Wakeley bowed out of the Giro, leaving Sovis to inherit the race lead with a single stage remaining. If he can hold on, it will be his second consecutive Grand Tour after winning the Vuelta last fall.

Historically, Sovis has flailed on the Giro’s final stage; two years ago, he lost over three minutes in the finale, crashing twice and limping home to finish over five minutes back on GC. With the strong duo of John O’Hearn and Sam Holmes lurking just over two minutes behind, there’s nothing safe about the final stage in this year’s Giro.

Sovis led a pedestrian start, with a half dozen riders hitting the last pitch of the Vasa CC Climb together. O’Hearn eeked out a small gap that he wasn’t committed to opening, and it was O’Hearn, Sovis, Holmes and Ellis going over the top of the Power Section. After a long and well-timed pull from Ellis, Holmes hit out, with Sovis countering. O’Hearn held the wheel until the SUPERIOR AERODYNAMICS OF THE INCREDIBLE 3T EXPLORO got Sovis clear with a half a lap to go. Sovis’ lead never amounted to much, and he crossed the line just a quarter of a minute ahead of the chasing trio, but it erased some miles and opportunity for the others.

O’Hearn looks ensconced as the King of the Mountains, with Sovis nursing a slender lead in the Points classification. Jeff Galsterer stormed to the hole shot last night, and he’s going to be your Best Old Rider by the end of this thing. Brigit Widrig is the women’s GC leader with Emma Schwab doing school stuff or something, and kolo t.c/3T Q+M have moved into a comfortable team lead.

It’s another one for the Sprinters next week, with double points on GO.

The full Giro standings are available here.

The FULL SOL results are right here. Note, the ‘future’ weeks have 2017 times listed still, kind of a cool comparison.