Understandabe confusion reigned on all sides over 'neutralization' of Stelvio descent but the strongest rider is still in pink

“Attention: A communication to directeur sportives. The management of the organisation have planned to put ahead of the head of the riders, depending on the situation, of course, after the top, to place in front of various groups an organisation moto with a red flag. All to avoid having attacks on the descent and after this to ensure that the riders remain in their positions and to prevent taking big risks and, for all, to remain in this position until the security agents lower the red flag.”

That is a transcript of the message delivered in English, Italian and French to the teams as the race went up the Stelvio yesterday ahead of the now infamous descent that has thrown this Giro into controversy.

The word 'neutralized' is never mentioned but you can see why some riders may have thought they were all set to take it easy. The boss of RCS that organises the Giro, Mauro Vegni, has said the teams and riders misunderstood the message and that there was no neutralization of the descent, saying that "We decided to place the bikes to indicate the trajectory."

The result however was confusion as several big name riders, as well as those from the earlier break, continued to press on down the mountain with Nairo Quintana, Ryder Hesjedal and Pierre Rolland, among others, eking out a 1 minute, 30 seconds (give or take) advantage over the pink jersey of Rigoberto Uran by the foot of the mountain. By then it was very much race on. The gap never came back and only increased as they went up the final climb, and by the top we had a new leader in this Giro.

None of what happened should be blamed on Quintana, Rolland or Hesjedal for going ahead however, just as Uran and the rest should not be blamed for being left behind. It's clear that serious confusion reigned and I think if there is any blame it should fall towards the organisation whose communication was about as clear as the field of vision as the sleet fell on the Stelvio. And even at that, with no defined rules or regulations by the UCI, the organisation appeared to be winging it.

What is clear is that the UCI are going to have to look at how these messages are relayed and make clear what the exact course of action is. Do they use specific flags to denote what is going on, like in Motorsport? Or do they use officially agreed upon wording so everyone knows exactly what is expected? Should a red flag mean the stage has been temporarily stopped? Should a yellow flag mean go slow? Should a [insert colour here] mean the stage has been neutralized and as such a maximum speed of, say, 25 km/h is being enforced?

Of course, the problem yesterday was always going to be the fact that different riders were on different parts of the road when word went out and interpretation of those words began and without proper regulation for such a scenario it is hard to neutralize such a stage mid-race without everyone together. Dario Cataldo was up front alone, there were scatterings of riders behind him and there was likely even more small pockets of riders off the back of the main group also. Can they realistically place a motorbike in front of all of them? I doubt it. You come over the climb 1 minute down on the main pack, you're going to descent hard to get back on, not ride down at the same pace of the main group and hit the valley floor having to start your chase.

And even if they could place motorbikes in front of every group, who dictates what speed each individual motorbike goes at? You can see where there's more questions than answers and why perhaps in the moment, with the temperatures dropping, with visibility poor, sleet falling and time gaps between various groups unreliable, so much miscommunication and confusion reigned in the giving of the message by the race officials and receiving of that message by the riders.

To me unless the whole pack is together, it's very hard to suddenly decide to neutralize a section of the course. Perhaps if they have some flag that denotes a maximum speed limit to be adopted by all riders, though how do you police that? Maybe all they could have done was stop the race, get the riders to the bottom of the hill and then set those that were ahead of the peloton off again with the time time gaps in which they crossed the summit.

Just a few ideas, though whether the UCI decide to change the method in which they relay information to the riders during dangerous sections of a course in the future remains to be seen. One things that has been suggested after the fact is that they strip time from Quintana, but how much time? Do they have exact gaps from the bottom of that descent? And where exactly would the end of the neutralized section have been ... when Quintana had a 1-20 lead or at a point in which he lead by 1-40? Back tracking in this way to recover a mistake, if indeed it's decided there was a mistake, would be like going back to a football game that had finished and scrubbing out the goal because they later found out it had been scored by the number 9 in an offside position.

As it is though, I still think the strongest man is in pink today. Quintana came off that descent with a 1-30 gap over Uran but put another 2-40 into him on the final climb. His deficit to Uran coming into yesterday's stage was 2-40 and Quintana got the time bonus on top of that for the win. Had he stuck with a 'go-slow' group down that mountain instead of pressing on, he may have been even fresher to attack that climb. Tactics would have shifted, of course, and he may not have attacked from the bottom of the final climb to get such a gap, but I still think we're seeing the man in Pink that was headed that way anyway.

People might complain that Quintana has moved into Pink in a hollow kind of way, but I disagree. Had he took 5 minutes out of Uran on the descent and then clung on to retain 2-40 of that lead at the finish, then yes, but Quintana put in one of the great riders in the history of the Giro yesterday, neutralization or not. Forget what he gained coming down the hill, it was how he increased his lead on the final climb with conditions improving and Hesjedal and Rolland taking minimal pulls on the front that was truly inspirational. It's a shame about the shambles, but it was still an epic stage to watch and nobody will say they turned off their televisions, or even moved off the edge of their seats, because they felt Uran and those taking it slowly were hard done by.

In the long run, this saga will only remain a problem and a talking point beyond that of fond historical memories if Uran starts taking back time on Quintana in the next few days and loses this Giro by less than 90 seconds. Nothing against Uran, but maybe it would be best now if Quintana went and put another two or three minutes onto his current advantage and left this incident as a non-factor in the big picture of this years Giro, which otherwise has been superb.