The start of the last week of the race brings us the most awaited for stage in the 2016 Giro. The 16th stage is rather short but feature the Passo Gavia, the Passo dello Stelvio and the final climb to Val Martello. This should be one of the key stage for the favorites in the GC as they will have to cope with 3 very demanding climbs. The Passo dello Stelvio is the Cima Coppi of this year's Giro. The weaker riders in the general classification will also have to be aware of the time limit as it is a short stage and it will not be too big.
Halfway through the climb to the Passo Gavia there were riders all over the place. Christophe Riblon (Cofidis) and Carlos Betancur (Katusha) were leading the race with 50 seconds over Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel) and 1' 35'' over Stefano Garzelli (Movistar), Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). The main bunch was led by Cannondale, with Jerome Baugnies and Fabian Cancellara leading the way and not letting the break get too big.
Peter Stetina jumped from the peloton to grab a few KoM points at the top of the Passo Gavia, still 115 kilometers from the finish line, ahead of Rein Taaramae and Vincenzo Nibali. At the front of the race the 6 riders joined to form one group and they had a gap of 5 minutes at the top. Meanwhile, Fabian Cancellara was doing the hard job at the front of the bunch. The Swiss is great in the flat but does not feel as comfortable in the high mountains. If he stayed at the front for long he would soon be wasted.
The Passo dello Stelvio was the next difficulty of the day. Bormio marked the end of the descent and start of the climb. Cannondale was not letting the gap grow a lot but the leading group was slowly gaining time on them, 6' 25'' with 10 kilometers to go to the top of the Cima Coppi. However, that gap would not be enough for them to have a chance at Val Martello. Rinaldo Nocentini should be the best climber among them if they manage to fight for the stage.
Carlos Betancur was first at the top of the Passo dello Stelvio, the Cima Coppi of this year's Giro. The break had extended their lead to 8 minutes, a considerable gap for them already. There was a lot of headwind in the last kilometers of the climb making it difficult for the riders to get to the top. Meanwhile, Peter Stetina, Vincenzo Nibali and Michael Rogers jumped to grab a few more KoM points and did not wait for the peloton. They had built a gap at the top as Cannondale was not too worried about chasing. With 68 kilometers to the finish they still had time to chase.
Vincenzo Nibali, Michael Rogers and Peter Stetina managed to catch the early break after a couple of kilometers of climb to Val Martello. They had 7' 40'' on the bunch but the chase had started beacuse they did not want Peter Stetina to get close again in the GC. The bad news were that the wind had become stronger and was also against the riders in this last climb, which will not encourage any attacks. That might make the stage not so interesting today.
There were several attacks in the group of the favorites, including Bauke Mollema, Michele Scarponi, Robert Gesink and even David Lopez trying to break the group. However, it was impossible for them to sustain any kind of gap with the strong headwind. With 11 kilometers to go the break still had 6' 45'' over the group of the favorites. Rob Ruijgh was going to be the loser of the day as he was losing 5 minutes at that stage. The Dutch might be ill or injured as there is no other explanation for this.
Vincenzo Nibali attacked very hard from the front group but after a couple of kilometers alone at the front was caught by Peter Stetina and Michael Rogers. They still had 3' 05'' with the group of favorites with 6 kilometers to go but the pace behind had increased so much that their stage win was in doubt. It was Robert Kiserlovski who made the group increase the pace a lot after attacking hard, which triggered the response by Laurens Ten Dam. Still 35 riders sat on the group of the leader due to the wind.
Vincenzo Nibali could not follow the pace of the leaders and was swallowed by the group of the leader with 2 kilometers to go, in the flat section before the last tough part of the climb to Val Martello. That left only Peter Stetina and Michael Rogers with a gap of 1' 15'' but with the last kilometer that has sections with gradients of more than 10% it was still in doubt whether they would be able to take the stage win. Marco Pinotti tried to jump in the flat, as well as Tejay van Garderen, but Laurens Ten Dam did not want any surprises.
Peter Stetina was leading Michael Rogers inside the last kilometer of the stage. The American seemed stringer than the Australian and looked set for a stage win in Val Martello. Jean-Christophe Peraud was trying to get back a bit of time and was 25 seconds behind the two at the front, while Bauke Mollema and Laurens Ten Dam led the bigger group, 40 seconds behind. The headwind in the last climb had caused for the stage to be rather disappointing, with no attacks succeeding at all.
Peter Stetina wins in Val Martello! It was a very close call for the BMC rider as David Lopez finished very strong and almost caught him at the finish line. This is the very first win for Stetina this year and given his crash earlier in the race it must taste even better. Nevertheless, he is still 15th in the GC but will his form back to normal and the stages remaining he could even try to target the top 10. It was also a good day for Lopez, as both Stetina and him put 21 seconds on the rest of the favorites.
Laurens Ten Dam led the chasing group, grabbing 1 bonus second in the process, but Lopez is looking again very threatening in the GC. Jean-Christophe Peraud was 4th and Robert Kiserlovski completed the top 5 in the stage. All in all it was a rather disappointing stage due to the wind but there were also many riders outside the time limit, most notably Alexander Kristoff and Giacomo Nizzolo. There were teams that lost as many as 4 riders and will struggle from now on.
Tyler Farrar is one of those riders that has consistently achieved results over the years. He started his career on a high, taking the 2009 Giro di Lombardia before signing for the Saxo Bank - Sungard team. That has been the team with which Farrar has stayed for 7 years already. It is strange for a rider to commit to one team for such a long period of time. 2010 was the best year of his career, given that he won the World Tour rankings and the general classification of the Tour Down Under.
He was never able to repeat that performance but he has always had a year good enough to justify being a leader for the Danish - Russian team. His other major win was the 2012 Vattenfall Cyclassics, where he was also 2nd in 2010. However, since then he has been more focussed on the stage wins in all kinds of tours and on the cobbled classics. Farrar had already been 4th in the 2009 Ronde van Vlaanderen but it was not until 2014 that he decided to fight for a good result on them again. He managed to get a 4th in the 2015 Gent - Wevelgem and a 5th on this year's Ronde.
When one looks at the Grand Tours, Farrar also accumulates 6 wins. The 4 he has so far in the Giro d'Italia are especially important but he has never been able to shine in the Tour de France. This is one of the key challenges that Farrar faces for his remaining years in cycling. Given his status as leader of the team it would not be unthinkable that Tinkoff allows him to build a team suited for him in one of the coming years.
At 31 years of age, Tyler Farrar is not getting any younger but Tinkoff has shown a great deal of confidence in him and it would not be surprising if he is renewed again when his contract runs out in 2017. The Russian team will free up much money when Pieter Weening's contract runs out at the end of the season and they are ready to rebuild the team to have a deeper squad. It will be interesting to see what type of riders they bring on board.
There has to be a bit of respite in the middle of the mountains so that the climbers don't get burnt and the 17th stage will be easier for many. The route goes from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto in a stage that could either go to a sprinter or to a break. The several small hills that the riders will have to face in the latter part of the stage suggest that it will not be easy for the peloton to control the race. Most notably, the Muro di Ca' del Poggio is slightly more than 1 kilometers long but averages almost 12% gradient. It being 20 kilometers from the finish line will make things difficult for the sprinters.
There were lots of teams looking to get into the break of the day, given that most of them had not taken a win so far in the Giro. It was difficult to control for the bunch and the break of the day had a total of 11 riders, including Philippe Gilbert (Trek), David Millar (HTC), Lars Boom (Giant), Diego Ulissi (Lampre), Jeremy Roy (Ag2r) and Johann Tschopp (BMC). It was surely much bigger than what the teams of the sprinters had expected. At the first categorized climb of the day, Fastro - Scale di Primolano, they had already built a gap of 5 minutes although Cannondale was not letting the gap grow wild.
The intermediate sprint was placed in Valdobiadenne today, 57 kilometers from the finish line. Cannondale was oddly making work to cut the gap with Fabian Cancellara, Damiano Caruso and Matti Breschel but it was still at 5' 30'' in the sprint. With so many riders at the front the sprinters had nothing to fight for. Tinkoff and Astana replaced Cannondale at the front of the pack just before the sprint and started to chase harder but it might be too late as the leading group is big and well organized.
The last climb of the day was the most interesting one. The top of the Muro di Ca' del Poggio was only 20 kilometers to the finish line. Luis Leon Sanchez attacked from the break and was quickly followed by Jeremy Roy and Luke Durbridge. Although the climb was barely longer than 1 kilometer the steepness of the climb proved too much for some riders in the main bunch and it broke into two. The gap to the break had come down to 3' 25'' but it was bigger again at the top of the climb.
Luis Leon Sanchez, Jeremy Roy and Luke Durbridge were still holding a tiny 12 seconds gap over the rest of the break with 8 kilometers to go. It was a frantic chase between the two groups but David Millar was doing a good job on the second group to pull them closer. Meanwhile, the main bunch had completely given up in chasing after a few sprinters got dropped by the bunch and their teams realised their effort was for nothing. It was going to be the first time in this Giro that a break managed to win with a sizeable gap.
The three escapees were caught and the riders in the break had time to look at each other for a couple of kilometers, given that the peloton was far behind. Johann Tschopp was the first to attack, with 3 kilometers remaining. He was also the first to start the final sprint given that Michael Valgren had come chasing the BMC rider. Tom van Asbroeck and Philippe Gilbert were on paper the quickest riders for this kind of finish but with the whole Giro on their legs it would be difficult to name a favorite.
Johann Tschopp did not go anywhere and with 700 meters to the end of the stage Diego Ulissi took the lead of the race, followed by the other Italian in the break, Mauro Finetto. However, Luke Durbridge, Luis Leon Sanchez and David Millar were really close to the front as well and it was difficult to guess who would have the legs in the last few meters. Philippe Gilbert, the only rider that had already won a stage in this Giro, was a bit behind and did not look good for another stage win.
Diego Ulissi wins in Vittorio Veneto! The Italian takes his first win of the year and also the first for Lampre. This is a very important win for the team as they take it in the most important race of the year for them, the Giro d'Italia, and brings the objective of coming back to the World Tour a bit closer. Mauro Finetto took the second place ahead of Johann Tschopp, while Philippe Gilbert and Tom van Asbroeck completed the top 5 of the stage. It is the first break that comfortably makes it to the finish in the Giro.
The peloton followed a few minutes behind led by Lloyd Mondory but Andre Greipel was not far behind and that meant that the points' jersey is now more or less assured for the German at the end of the Giro. There will only be serious points for them at the final stage in Trieste and Greipel should have no problems holding on to his lead. The roads will turn uphill again tomorrow with the finish at the Rifuggio Panarotta, another very demanding climb. The Giro has a bit of an overdose of super difficult mountain-top climbs this year.
After the rest from the mountains that the riders enjoyed yesterday, today will be uphill and downhill for the whole day. The 170 kilometers route starts from Belluno and heads directly to the Passo San Pellegrino. The middle part of the stage will be the quieter one but the Passo del Redebus starts with 65 kilometers to go. As usual in this Giro, another really hard mountain-top finish awaits the riders. The 17.8 kilometers long climb to the Rifuggio Panarotta averages a gradient of 7.4%. Even if the riders are not willing to fight there will be differences at the top of the climb.
Cannondale tried to control the race at the beginning of the stage but there were just too many riders willing to join the break of the day. A total of 10 riders were ahead at the top of the Passo San Pellegrino. Among them, the most important riders were Geraint Thomas (Tinkoff), Kanstantsin Siutsou (BMC), Stefano Garzelli (Movistar), Maxime Monfort (Quickstep) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel). Johan Vansummeren had jumped later from the bunch and was losing 1' 20'' at the top. Meanwhile, the peloton was already 5' 40'' behind at the top as Cannondale gave up on the chase during the climb.
The peloton took it easy during the central part of the stage, knowing that the last climb was really tough and that the favorites had to save energy for that. At the intermediate sprint in Cavalese the gap had grown to 7' 30'' but with 83 kilometers to go it was still not enough for the riders in the break to think that they had it all done. Cannondale was still setting an easy pace with Matti Breschel and Fabian Cancellara and had all their riders at the front except for Elia Viviani, who apparently had different orders.
Adam Yates was 1st at the top of the Passo del Redebus, 49 kilometers from the finish line. The break was still very well organized but the gap had started to come down bit by bit as Cannondale pushed harder in the main bunch. It was 7' 20'' at the top of the climb. The margin was still big but the final climb was very hard and it would probably by not enough for them to hold on to the lead and fight for the stage. There were already plenty of riders dropping back from the bunch and finding an easier pace to finish the stage.
As soon as the final climb to the Rifuggio Panarotta started, Maxime Monfort decided that he wanted to go alone and attacked. He dragged Christophe Riblon with him. They soon opened a gap and with 15 kilometers to go they were 15 seconds ahead of Danny van Poppel, who had jumped from the break later, and 40 seconds over the rest of the early break. The main bunch was starting the final climb with a 6 minutes deficit over those in the lead. The fate of the break would depend very much on how aggressive was the final climb in the bunch.
Robert Gesink was the first of the favorites to do a serious attack. However, he dragged many riders with him and stopped. It was then the turn of Rein Taaramae to give it a go. Michael Rogers and Vincenzo Nibali followed the Estonian and opened a small gap. They still had 12 kilometers to the finish line so plenty of time to react from all of the favorites. Peter Stetina was very active at the start of the climb but did not manage to get into any break.
Maxime Monfort dropped Christophe Riblon but with 8 kilometers remaining he only had 10 seconds over a group of 5 chasers including Kanstantsin Siutsou and Rinaldo Nocentini. The Belgian might have gone too early. Meanwhile, their gap was decreasing too fast for their liking as a group of 3 riders, Robert Gesink, Rein Taaramae and Vincenzo Nibali, were 3' 30'' behind. The group of the leader was 4' 25'' behind. Michael Rogers tried to go from the group but he did not have the legs today. Among those suffering already was Chris Froome. The British was considered an outsider before the race but was clearly not in his best shape for the race.
Andrew Talansky jumped with 6 kilometers to go but that movement triggered the reaction by Laurens Ten Dam, who took the lead of the group and reeled the American back in. David Lopez and Robert Kiserlovski were sitting right behind the leader's wheel. At the 5 kilometers mark they started to catch riders from the break but the front group was still 2 minutes ahead. It was going to be a close call. Among those that had lost contact already with the group were Chris Froome, Michael Rogers and Denis Menchov.
Laurens Ten Dam decided that he did not want any attacks and put a hard pace at the front of the group. That caused the remaining early break riders to be reeled back in with 3 kilometers to go. There were still 16 riders at the front group with 2 kilometers remaining but all of the attacks were worthless given the pace by the leader. Hubert Dupont was the rider that tried harder but to no avail. Meanwhile, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Bauke Mollema had been dropped and were losing 55 seconds. They were joined by Chris Froome in the chasing group. The French might lose the 5th place in the GC if he loses more time.
The leader attacked inside the last kilometer and only David Lopez could follow him. It was clear that the Spaniard was giving it all to stay with Laurens Ten Dam but still struggling to follow his wheel. A few riders followed 15 seconds behind, led by two Euskaltel riders: Rinaldo Nocentini and Hubert Dupont. Mathias Frank was also trying to open a gap or grab bonus seconds. The favorites did not make the climb very hard but the sheer difficulty of 17 kilometers at these gradients maed the gaps appear late in the climb.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in the Rifuggio Panarotta! The Dutch showed how superior he was today but David Lopez knew how to suffer and limited the losses to the 2 bonus seconds difference between the 1st and 2nd positions in the stage. After a lot of mountain-top finishes and a tough time trial the gap between the two best riders in the Giro is still only 22 seconds. Anything could happen in the two relevant stages remaining: the time trial to the Monte Grappa and the mountain-top finish at the Monte Zoncolan.
The chasing group crossed the line 57 seconds behind the winner, not a bad gap for only a 1 kilometer long attack. Hubert Dupont was 3rd, followed by Robert Kiserlovski and Mathias Frank. The Croatian is making a very good defence of his podium place and keeps a bit more than 1 minute on Mathias Frank, the only rider that looks capable of taking him out of that position. Tejay van Garderen has also proven that he was well prepared for this Giro and could even target a final top 5 position, which would be not bad given how badly the race started for him.
The mountain time trial to the top of the Cima Grappa is probably the most important stage in the Giro d'Italia 2016. The stage has two very different parts. The first one has barely 8 kilometers and is completely flat. However, the riders then tackle the climb to the Cima Grappa, 18.9 kilometers long and averaging 8.1% gradient. The total effort will be a bit longer than 1 hour, which normally means that the differences between the riders will be considerable.
Peter Stetina (BMC) was the first of the favorites for the stage to start. The American rider has been suffering from the injuries he sustained in the crash earlier in the Giro. It completely destroyed his possibilities of repeating the win he got last year. Stetina was not too bad today but could not improve on the best time so far in the finish line, which belongs to Vincenzo Nibali. Stetina was 17 seconds slower than the Italian.
Chris Froome (Sky) has been a bit disappointing during the Giro. There was talk of fighting for the podium in Sky's camp before the race but Froome found himself 12th before the stage. The time trial to the Cima Grappa was an opportunity for him to make progress and he was quite good. He was a bit short of Vincenzo Nibali's best time but took the 2nd provisional time 8 seconds behind the Italian. Nevertheless, he will need a very good stage in the Zoncolan to get a top 10.
The next rider to start was Robert Gesink (Ag2r). The Dutch was among the pre-race favorites for the win and he was not even in the top 10 before the stage. Today was not a good day either for Gesink. He finished in the 7th provisional position, 54 seconds behind Nibali. This meant that Chris Froome would be ahead of him at the end of the day. This result will hurt Ag2r chances in the World Tour, given that they put a lot of faith in Gesink. He will still have the Vuelta to try to get a better result.
Bauke Mollema (Vacansoleil) has been very much on the attack in the mountains in this Giro with not much success. After his win in the Tour de Romandie it was expected that he would do better in the race. However, today was much different for him than the rest of the Giro. Mollema easily took the best provisional time, 27 seconds ahead of Vincenzo Nibali. This result should give Mollema a boost in the GC but it is too late for him to get a decent finishing position.
The 6th rider in the GC before the race was the Italian hope for the GC. Michele Scarponi (Movistar) was losing 18 seconds to Mollema halfway through the climb but only lost 20 seconds to the Dutch at the top of the climb. He was really good in the climb and he could aim for a final 5th position in the GC, which would be a result that would leave Movistar delighted. Scarponi is not the best stage racer for Movistar, which puts the achievement by Scarponi into perspective.
Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery) has had a much better Giro so far than what was expected from him before the start of the race. The French has found himself comfortably in the top 10, starting the day 5th in the GC. The mountain time trial was not the best stage for him but he managed to get the provisional 7th place, 39 seconds behind Bauke Mollema. It was not a bad day for Peraud but still he lost 1 place in the GC to Michele Scarponi. Peraud would finish the day 13 seconds behind Scarponi and 19 seconds ahead of Tejay van Garderen in the GC.
The 4th rider in the GC before the stage was Mathias Frank (IAM). The Swiss rider has been quite solid through the race and is still looking for his second podium in a GC in the Giro d'Italia. Frank was up there with the best today but lost to Bauke Mollema by a tiny margin of only 4 seconds. Frank had to put pressure on Kiserlovski ahead of the stage in the Zoncolan and he managed to do it with this performance.
The most pleasant surprise of the Giro so far has undoubtedly been Robert Kiserlovski (Lotto). The Croatian seemed to have stagnated after his surprising performance in the 2013 Tour de Suisse but Lotto has kept the faith in him. His fight for the podium has been outstanding and he also got a stage win at the Plan di Montecampione. Today was not the best stage for him and had to be in the defensive. He lost 53 seconds with Bauke Mollema and took the 11th provisional place in the stage. That would keep him the 3rd place in the GC but only 19 seconds ahead of Mathias Frank. There will be a good fight for the podium tomorrow.
David Lopez (Euskaltel) has been fighting for the win for the whole Giro. The Spaniard has never been better than a 3rd place in a GC and looks set to improve on that position but his main goal is the overall win. Today was a day for him to fight hard but did not manage to get the best time so far at the finish. He was 2nd, losing only by 1 second to Bauke Mollema. That should grant him at least the chance to grab the overall win tomorrow at the Monte Zoncolan.
Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) was the last rider to finish and his performance today was simply out of this World. The Dutch managed to put 1' 13'' on Bauke Mollema and got his 3rd stage win in the 2016 Giro. This is the kind of result that one was expecting from the current Tour de France winner. It was a stage that suited him fairly well and he proved yesterday to have reached the final part of the Giro in a deadly shape. He will only have to confirm this tomorrow in the Zoncolan but the 1' 36'' that he now holds on David Lopez seems way too much for the Spaniard to be able to come back at him.
The time trial to the Monte Grappa was meant to be one of the key stages of this Giro and it sure was. In the end, the time trials have decided the race in favor of Ten Dam, while David Lopez has proven to be at least as good as him in the mountains. We will have one more stage tomorrow up the Monte Zoncolan but it looks unlikely that Lopez will be able to gain that much time back. Most probably the interesting part of the stage will be deciding who will be third in the final podium of the race.
The penultimate stage of the Giro features yet another really hard finish, the hardest of the race. The race will finish at the top of the Monte Zoncolan, with its 9.8 kilometers averaging 12.1% gradient. The final climb will come after the climbs to the Passo del Pura and Sella Razzo, so the stage is hard enough for significant differences to be made at the finish. It is unlikely that David Lopez makes it difficult for Laurens Ten Dam but the fight for the third in the race is very much on.
The break was again quite big today. As many as 11 riders made it to the front group, including Miguel Angel Rubiano (Ag2r), Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel), David Millar (HTC), Samuel Sanchez (Movistar), Carlos Betancur (Katusha) and Giovanni Visconti (Quickstep). The intermediate sprint was located at Villa Santina, before the start of the climbing for the day. They had built a gap of 5' 30'' on the break, clearly not enough if the fight among the favorites starts early.
The first climb of the day was the tough Passo del Pura. Damiano Caruso took the lead of the main bunch for Cannondale, relieving Fabian Cancellara and Matti Breschel but the gap at the top had grown to 7' 45'' for the break. With 63 kilometers to go it was not enough but the American team did not seem eager to chase. The last kilometers of the stage were a continuous up and down the mountains and the descent between the two climbs was quite short.
It was a peaceful day for the peloton but not anymore. Halfway through the climb to the Sella Razzo Peter Stetina decided that he had enough and attacked to try to recover positions in the GC. A handful of riders followed him and a group was formed with Hubert Dupont, Mikel Nieve, Vincenzo Nibali and Pieter Weening. The gap to the break was still 7' 20'' but the pace had increased considerably and Cannondale increased the pace. Hubert Dupont was 8th in the GC and many riders had to defend their positions.
Mathias Frank led the way in the group of the leader at the top of the Sella Razzo as he tried to unsettle Robert Kiserlovski and grab the final podium in Trieste tomorrow. He followed attacks by Robert Gesink and Michele Scarponi but even though the group was stretched none of the favorites lost contact in the climb. With 40 kilometers to go and 30 to the start of the Monte Zoncolan the break only had 1' 40'' over the group including Peter Stetina and Hubert Dupont and 3' 30'' on the group of the leader. A few domestiques would need to work in the descent to bring Dupont closer as he was threatening a few riders in the GC.
Peter Stetina, Hubert Dupont and Vincenzo Nibali reached the break at the end of the descent of the Sella Razzo and started the climb to the Zoncolan 1' 15'' ahead of the group of the favorites. Rinaldo Nocentini was helping Hubert Dupont by setting a pace at the front for Euskaltel, making others work behind. The group of the leader only had about 40 riders at the bottom of the climb, which suggested big gaps at the top. Francesco Gavazzi was the rider working for Cannondale but the leaders would find not much help from their teammates in such a steep climb.
Laurens Ten Dam started the climb by showing everyone who was in charge and with 6 kilometers to go it was quite clear that David Lopez would not be going for the win in the GC and was happily sitting behind Ten Dam. Euskaltel left Hubert Dupont free to chase his own improvement in the classification. Stetina and him were alone at the front, followed by Rinaldo Nocentini 15 seconds behind. 45 seconds behind was the group of the leader with Chris Froome and Tejay van Garderen very close to the front. They can also make some progress in the GC.
Hubert Dupont made an effort not to be chased by the group of the favorites but he still had 4 kilometers to go. The group of the leader was right behind but only 9 riders were strong enough to stay there. A group with Bauke Mollema and Tejay van Garderen was losing 1' 10''. Robert Gesink and Marco Pinotti were 1' 45'' behind and Mikel Nieve had completely broken down and 3 minutes behind. Laurens Ten Dam had put his own pace at the group and riders were dropping back one by one from the back of the group.
The race completely broke apart in the last few kilometers of the stage and Robert Kiserlovski left Mathias Frank behind in the fight for the podium. The Croatian saw a hint of doubts in the Swiss and he will likely retain the podium place. With 2 kilometers to go Laurens Ten Dam was already leading the race with 25 seconds on the Euskaltel riders, Hubert Dupont and David Lopez. Kiserlovski was losing 45 seconds and a group including Mathias Frank and Michele Scarponi was 55 seconds behind. Rider like Bauke Mollema and Tejay van Garderen were set to lose a good chunk of time today.
David Lopez fought Laurens Ten Dam until the last stage but he was unable to hold on with the Dutch today. He crossed the flame rouge 25 seconds behind Ten Dam. The Cannondale rider was about to take his 3rd consecutive stage win, showing how dominant he was in the last week. A few others had joined chasing David Lopez. Robert Kiserlovski, Michele Scarponi and Hubert Dupont were losing 1 minute on Ten Dam. Behind them the gaps were continuously growing.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in the Monte Zoncolan! It has been an outstanding performance by the Dutch in this final part of the Giro and he caps his more than likely overall win in the Italian race with yet another win, his 4th in the race. Ten Dam wanted no surprises and he took the role of leading the group of favorites up the Zoncolan leaving David Lopez, his closest rival, 30 seconds behind in the finish line. Robert Kiserlovski successfully defended his place in the podium and took the 3rd place in the stage, 1' 04'' behind Ten Dam.
Mathias Frank will take the 4th place in Trieste tomorrow but could not match Kiserlovski in the climb up the Zoncolan today, even though yesterday he had been much better in the Cima Grappa time trial. Among the losers today were Tejay van Garderen and Bauke Mollema, although Mollema did not lose any places in the GC today. Meanwhile, Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Stetina seemed recovered from their crash earlier in the race but were too far behind the top 10 to be a factor in the GC.
The Giro comes to an end with an easier final stage between Gemona del Friuli and Trieste. Trieste is not the usual place for the Giro to finish and was chosen as it is one of the cities that was out of Italian control in the World War II. It lies in the Adriatic coast and the area is very attractive for tourists. The win in the last stage of a Grand Tour is always very important for the sprinters, given that they had to endure a lot of mountain stages to get there.
A crash by Marcel Kittel marked the first kilometers of the stage. The whole Astana team stayed with the German to bring him back to the pack and a much bigger break than what was expected by the teams of the sprinters formed. It was 11 riders that formed the break, including Tom van Asbroeck (Vacansoleil), Stefano Garzelli (Movistar), Taylor Phinney (Discovery), Diego Ulissi (Lampre), Mauro Santambrogio (Sky) and Johann Tschopp (BMC). With 90 kilometers to go they had built a gap of 5' 15'' but Astana, Tinkoff and Lotto were already working on the main bunch.
There was a strong wind again today but once the riders got to the final 7.3 kilometers long circuit in Trieste it was not too relevant. The intermediate sprint was placed at the 5th passage through the finish line, 29 kilometers to the finish. The gap of the front group had decreased to only 1' 40'' as a few important riders were chasing, including Luca Paolini, Michael Matthews, George Hincapie and Geraint Thomas. However, the gap was coming down slowly as there were many riders to relay at the break.
The break was finally caught in the penultimate climb to the higher part of Trieste, 10 kilometers from the finish. It was not a hard climb but enough to potentially make some of the sprinters uncomfortable. The pace was really hard in the last laps and a few were not too happy at the climb. Elia Viviani crashed a few kilometers before and would not be rejoining the peloton even though Jerome Baugnies stayed with him. Cannondale would only need to take care of Laurens Ten Dam for the remainder of the race.
Peter Stetina tried to make a surprising move in the last climb but it was not hard enough for him to open a gap. The sprint trains were taking shape and Astana had the lead with Luca Paolini ready to work for Marcel Kittel, while Lloyd Mondory was on the German's wheel. Tinkoff had Michael Morkov ahead of Tyler Farrar and Yauheni Hutarovich right behind, while in Lotto it would be Michael Matthews again leading Andre Greipel. It will most likely be a sprint among those who better recovered from the efforts in the mountains and there could be a few surprises.
Michael Matthews was the best lead out man of the day by a long shot. The Australian delivered Andre Greipel to the last kilometer in a perfect position. Other sprinters were following Greipel, like Mark Cavendish, Denis Galimzyanov and Ben Swift. Meanwhile, on the right hand side of the road Marcel Kittel had already started his own sprint with more than 1 kilometer to go and was effectively acting as a lead for Lloyd Mondory. Meanwhile, Tinkoff had again broken down completely and Tyler Farrar was far from the leading positions.
Marcel Kittel took the lead of the sprint with 600 meters to go but he still had Lloyd Mondory as a threatening shadow right behind him. Both of them had already won in this Giro. A bit further back were the Lotto riders. Andre Greipel had waited probably too long behind Michael Matthews but would probably be quicker than the 2 riders in front in the final meters of the stage. None of those behind Greipel seemed to be good enough to get past him but Mark Cavendish was trying to give it a go.
Lloyd Mondory wins in Trieste! The French was the cleverest of the sprinters today and only emerging from behind Marcel Kittel in the last 500 meters managed to grab his 2nd win in the Giro 2016. Etixx - Quickstep clearly solved their problems taking wins by hiring Mondory at the start of the season. Marcel Kittel was quite strong today but had to settle for the 2nd place in the stage keeping Andre Greipel behind at the finish. The top 5 of the stage was completed by Mark Cavendish and Jose Joaquin Rojas.
As expected, Laurens Ten Dam had no problems today to take the first Giro in his career. The Dutch has already won 2 Grand Tours, something only achieved by Bauke Mollema, Hubert Dupont and Peter Stetina. Only one year ago Stetina was widely considered the best Grand Tour rider but the results of Ten Dam lately might make for a very interesting fight between the two of them for future races. For Robert Kiserlovski it is also the first podium in a Grand Tour. The Croatian is probably the most surprising rider of the race and being slightly younger than others has a good prospect ahead.
Once the Giro d'Italia was over the spotlight was in the two important races in June that can serve as a preparation for the Tour de France but are a target in themselves this season as there will be no Tour in 2016. The first of those is the Criterium du Dauphine, a typically mountainous race held in the French Alps. The route will be the same that was already raced in 2014. The first important stage will be a 33 kilometers long time trial that is completely flat and should open significant differences in the GC. Afterwards, the mountain-top finishes in Valmorel, Superdevoluy and Risoul will give the climbers a chance to cut those differences back.
The last winner of the Dauphine is Tejay van Garderen. That American went on tho win the Tour de France that season, his best in his career. He will be in France to defend his crown. Frank Schleck, winner in 2011, will also be there but Bauke Mollema decided to skip the French race to focus on the Tour de Suisse. Among the top riders in the Giro only Laurens Ten Dam will feature in the race as David Lopez and Robert Kiserlovski will be taking a rest. Nevertheless, the quality of riders taking part is really high, which should make for good racing.
Favorites:
- Cadel Evans (Movistar Team): Evans is the only one among the favorites that has not raced the Giro d'Italia. Movistar let Michele Scarponi take the leading role in Italy for Evans to concentrate on targets later in the season. The best result for Evans this season has been the 5th position in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the route of the Dauphine clearly benefits him with a long time trial that will make considerable time differences.
- Laurens Ten Dam (Team Cannondale - Garmin): Laurens Ten Dam comes from winning the Giro and if he is able to maintain his fitness levels for a bit longer the will be scary in France. This will be the last race for the Dutch before taking a deserved rest ahead of the Vuelta but he will want to do a good job and get another good result. Ten Dam could even take over the lead of the World Tour rankings if he gets a good result in the Dauphine.
- Robert Gesink (Ag2r - La Mondiale): Gesink was the indisputable leader of the Ag2r team last season but in 2016 the picture is not that clear. The arrival of Rui Costa and the bad performance of the Dutch in the last Giro have put question marks around his status in the team. Therefore, he needs to start getting results if he wants to retain his role. The route of the Dauphine is quite good for him, given that he is a decent time trialist and should be among the top climbers in the race.
- Tejay van Garderen (Trek Factory Racing): Tejay van Garderen did not like the many mountain-top finishes in the Giro but nevertheless managed to get a top 10. Tejay already won the Dauphine 2 years ago over the same route that will be raced this year so he should be thereabouts to get at least a podium finish. The American should even be a contender for the time trial at the Parc des Oiseaux and put a bit of time on the pure climbers.
Other riders with a chance could be Marco Pinotti (Etixx - Quickstep), Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel), Levi Leipheimer (HTC - Highroad), Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling), Xavi Tondo (Lampre - Merida) and Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel - Euskadi).
There are not too many chances for the sprinters but the quickest riders in the race should be Andre Greipel (Lotto - Soudal), Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC), Matthew Goss (Movistar Team), Yauheni Hutarovich (HTC - Highroad), Stefan van Dijk (Team Giant - Alpecin) and Bernhard Eisel (Team LottoNL - Jumbo).
, His second greatest victory ever 
