BOLOGNA, Italy  Struggling to pedal up the final hill of Stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday, the Australian Simon Gerrans felt as if he were moving in slow motion.

Some of his European teammates had told him about this climb. Evidently, they left out some tiny details, including how painfully steep and long it was.

At one point, the road rose so sharply to meet Gerrans’s bike that he began to look over his shoulder, searching for riders ascending much more quickly. But there was no one.

“When I was at the top, I thought someone was going to catch me because I was going really slow,” he said after the 107-mile stage in 90-plus-degree weather.