I expect their vision will be blurred with the sheer exertion!
The climb up the Colle San Carlo looks particularly evil, it’s just the 4th climb of the day they have to ascend, and the final uphill finish slog comes later!
Giro d’Italia 2019, stage 14: Saint-Vincent to Courmayeur (131km)
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, in 4-02-23
Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 1-323.
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-54
Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana
Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
Joe Dombrowski (USA) EF Education First, all at same time
Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 2-01
General classification after stage 14
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, in 58-35-34
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 7 seconds
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-47
Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2-10
Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 2-50
Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 2-58
Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 3-29
Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos, at 4-55
Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 5-28
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 5-30
Seems to me the riders contesting the top ten are taking turns having good days and bad days, good luck and bad luck also contributes. The time gaps over the top ten have become shorter, which means this is still very much anyones race.
Fantastic win for Carapaz who also takes the Malia Rosa. Nibali, Majka, and Landa also score good results and trend up the leaderboard.
An excellent ride from Yates to get himself back into the top ten!
Bad day from Polanc, losing the Malia Rose may not be such a concern for the struggling UAE team but his position plummets to 7th.
Bad day for Zakarin who drops from 3rd to 11th at over 6 minutes down.
Lack-lustre ride from Mollema who drops two places but retains less then 3 minutes behind the new Malia rose of Carapaz.
More action to come from todays mountain Stage 15, the riders will have the assurance of tomorrow’s ‘Rest Day’ on their minds so maybe more inclined to give it some extra welly in the final climbs of today! : )
Giro d’Italia 2019, stage 15: Ivrea to Como (232km)
Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana, 5-48-15
Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Androni Giacattoli-Sidermic, at same time
Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 11 seconds
Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, all at same time
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 36s
Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, all at same time
General classification after stage 15
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, in 62-24-00
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 47 seconds
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-47
Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 2-35
Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 3-15
Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 3-38
Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, at 4-12
Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos, at 5-24
Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 5-48
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 5-55
Fantastic to see a two man breakaway succeed to the finish with such a narrow margin of escape!
No change to top ten GC positions, Carapaz remains in the Malia Rose after gaining 40 seconds on his closest rival Roglič who was unfortunately delayed after glancing off a armco barrier during the fast decent to the finish, he seems to have come away uninjured.
The Giro continues today with a difficult Stage 16:
Due to the persisting bad weather conditions, despite the considerable effort devoted by the administrations of the provinces of Sondrio and Brescia, which provided numerous crews that worked day and night in order to clear the routes, the Organisation Direction informs that, in order to safeguard riders’ safety, stage 16 Lovere-Ponte di Legno, will have a new route.
The start and finish cities remain unchanged. The stage will have a total length of 194 kilometres
Stage 17 is another big day for the General Classification riders, with climbs along the route before a final run uphill to Anterselva’s Biathlon Stadium.
Giro d’Italia 2019, stage 17: Commezzadura to Anterselva (181km)
Nans Peters (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale, in 4-41-34
Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott, at 1-34
Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 1-51
Fausto Masnada (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec
Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Cycling Academy, all at same time
Tanel Kangert (Est) EF Education First, at 2-02
Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 2-08
Gianluca Brambila (Ita) Trek-Segafredo, at same time
Chris Hamilton (Aus) Sunweb, at 2-22
Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, at 2-34
General classification after stage 17
Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Movistar, in 74-48-18
Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, 1-54
Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, at 2-16
Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 3-03
Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 5-07
Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 6-17
Rafał Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 6-48
Simon Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 7-13
Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos, at 8-21
Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 8-59
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A slight shuffle up in the top ten.
Carapaz gains a few seconds on his closest rival Nibali.
Still some tough mountainous stages to come so the title is far from a done deal as yet.
Today: Thursday Stage 18 is fairly flat, and with much descending, the sprinters will be up to win, the climbers will probably want to go easy, rest their legs for the following days…
Friday Stage 19 is a short 151km day with an easier summit finish – lower gradients could be favourable for a breakaway. Should produce lots of have a go heroic action.
Saturday stage 20 is a very difficult looking Dolomites stage with more than 5,000 metres of gain, including the Cima Camp, Manghen Pass, Rolle Pass and a final ascent of Croce d’Aune-Monte Avena. This could produce an upset to the GC if the winning rider finds good form on the day.
Sunday Stage 21 This years Giro finishes with a 17 km time trail. It will be raced on very tired legs from the previous day, but should be a fascinating watch if the top GC is close.
Amazing Stage 18 win for Damiano Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, incredibility lucky to finish with just a few inches to spare. I feel sorry for the other two break-away guys who got caught and passed by the bunch just before the finish line. It’s certainly been a good year for the Italians : )
No change of GC after Stage 18
Today and tomorrow they are back in the mountains, Saturdays stage looks exceedingly difficult with 5000 meters of climbing, so my guess is that the GC upsetters may plan to ride economically and defensively today, and hope tomorrow [ Saturday ] to hit form and to make huge gains, the exception to this guess is Mollema who will probably have a mind to win the time trial on Sunday, so my hunch is a Trek team secret devious plan to attack today and hope for the best on Saturday. But whatever happens it’s Saturday that will be the real decider : )
Yes Debs, that was nail biting stuff ! Nice to see a breakaway survive to the line like that, for a change. Could see Yates have a go today as his GC aspirations are over and his last real chance of a stage. Sunday’s TT will be a nail biter as well
A well deserved and spectacular win for Esteban Chaves to end Fridays Stage 19
Looks like the GC guys kept it huddled together to the end, albeit with López, and Sivakov doing well to shave off just a few seconds of their time, but the top ten GC positions remain the same again.
Giro d’Italia 2019, stage 19: Treviso to San Martino di Castrozza (151km)
Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott, in 4-01-31
Andrea Vendrame (Ita) Androni Giocattoli-Sidermic, at 10 seconds
Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC, at 12s
Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, at 24s
Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck – Quick-Step, at 32s
Saturday and Stage 20, this is the big one which could really shuffle up the top ten GC, will depend who has the ability to perform well, and who legs have become too tired. Many teams and classy individual riders will be unconcerned with their GC position or tomorrows time trial and ride themselves for the hell of it today, this could be the most exciting stage of the tour! : )
