Stage 16 takes the race to the very edge of Italy. Literally. The finish line marks the border between Italy and Switzerland. It's the 31.4km mountain time trial from Aosta up the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard.
Despite Taylor Phinney holding the race lead, and a strong combination of climbing and time trialling skills, Mountain stat has surely got to be the most important today - which would make it Angel Madrazo's stage to lose. And at 2'54 behind Phinney, he really needs to start gaining!
Could this also be the stage that Emanuele Sella finally shines in this race?
Early on in the stage, the pure time triallists were still managing to top the leaderboards, but it quickly became apparent that the climbers would be king today. Teodoro Costagli heads the standings prior to the final 50 finishers.
Finish
1
Teodoro Costagli
1h20'39
2
Paolo Scarponi
+ 8
3
Artemio Moschella
+ 1'02
4
Richard Ochoa Quintero
+ 1'10
5
Jackson RodrÃguez
+ 1'18
6
Mattia Cattaneo
+ 1'20
7
Remberto Jaramillo
+ 1'27
8
Thomas Peterson
+ 1'30
9
Marco Osella
+ 1'37
10
Jocelin Maillet
+ 1'40
11
Matthieu Sprick
+ 2'10
12
Sergio Pardilla
+ 2'10
13
Matea Kvasina
+ 2'11
14
Juan Carlos Rienda Segura
+ 2'17
15
Valerio Agnoli
+ 2'24
The Wiggle riders perfectly highlights the importance of timing your rider today. At checkpoint 2 - with just 5 and a half km to the finish - Scarponi trailed Costagli by 1'35. Yet just 8 seconds separated them at the finish.
Fabio Duarte set about setting a time he hoped would be harder to beat, and took the lead by 24 seconds.
And into the Top 20 riders, the Top 3 remained Duarte -> Costagli -> Scarponi. Manuel Lloret rode a time good enough to climb 2 places to 21st overall, but still finished over a minute down on Duarte.
Starting the day in positions 13-20 are: Kiserlovski, Eastman, Augustyn, Kohl, König, Caruso, Faiers and López Garcia.
Gianpaolo Caruso was the first of them to beat Duarte through the first checkpoint, although not by much.
But with a strong start, it is Ryan Eastman who grabs a good lead at this early stage of the time trial.
Check 1
1
Ryan Eastman
28'11
2
Gianpaolo Caruso
22
3
Fabio Duarte
25
4
Bernhard Kohl
31
5
Robert Kiserlovski
32
6
Teodoro Costagli
36
7
Thomas Faiers
46
8
Manuel Lloret
52
9
Gianluca Brambilla
59
10
Vitor Rodrigues
1'09
Augustyn and König look like being in for a long day having lost over a minute just 13.7km into the ride. While Eastman has already climbed back above Kiserlovski for 13th in GC.
Next through the first checkpoint is Emanuele Sella. And he is only 11 seconds quicker than Eastman.
But it is worth pointing out that the first section of the course does feature the most non-climbing sections, and Sella's name starts to look better as the following riders all go slower than him.
King of the Mountains? Not today. Leopold König is caught by Bernhard Kohl.
Looking to continue his impressive time trialling form from a few stages ago, Markus Fothen beats Sella at the first checkpoint by 6 seconds.
The lead is shortlived with Vincenzo Nibali looking to strengthen his hold on 4th overall and already going 17 seconds up on Fothen.
Perhaps Nibali is aiming higher though? Simon Spilak already 31 seconds down as he passed through the checkpoint.
Spilak can't afford to lose ground to Angel Madrazo in the battle for 2nd overall, but that does seem to be the case today as the Spaniard becomes the new leader - 4 seconds up on Nibali.
That just leaves Taylor Phinney, but for the first time this race he has gone through a checkpoint without taking the lead!
Check 1
1
Angel Madrazo
27'33
2
Vincenzo Nibali
4
3
Markus Fothen
21
4
Taylor Phinney
26
5
Emanuele Sella
27
6
Riccardo Ricco
28
7
Simon Spilak
35
8
Ryan Eastman
38
9
Peter Velits
47
10
Romain Sicard
52
11
Yuri Trofimov
56
12
Nico Keinath
56
13
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
57
14
Gianpaolo Caruso
1'00
15
Fabio Duarte
1'03
16
Bernhard Kohl
1'09
17
Robert Kiserlovski
1'10
18
Teodoro Costagli
1'14
19
Thomas Faiers
1'24
20
Manuel Lloret
1'30
Ryan Eastman has been continuing his strong ride, and dispatched John-Lee Augustyn. He holds a strong lead at Checkpoint 2.
Check 2
1
Ryan Eastman
58'35
2
Gianpaolo Caruso
45
3
Bernhard Kohl
59
4
Fabio Duarte
1'00
5
Robert Kiserlovski
1'05
6
Teodoro Costagli
1'19
7
Thomas Faiers
1'43
8
Manuel Lloret
2'00
9
Vitor Rodrigues
2'00
10
David López Garcia
2'05
That lead only lasting until Emanuele Sella shows up some 39 seconds faster. Sella is on fire today, and he catches up with Kiserlovski.
Velits, Sicard, Henao, Keinath and Trofimov all go through over a minute down on Sella, but Riccardo Ricco is keeping the Simply Red Bull rider honest and only trails by 9 seconds.
Markus Fothen and Vincenzo Nibali both led Sella early on, but Fothen has slipped and now trails him by 6 seconds. In contrast, Nibali is going from strength to strength and takes a 28 second lead.
Eastman and Sella have already finished now. Eastman took 52 second off the previous lead, and then Sella took 1 minute off him!
Finish
1
Emanuele Sella
1h18'01
2
Ryan Eastman
1'00
3
Gianpaolo Caruso
1'52
4
Bernhard Kohl
2'07
5
Fabio Duarte
2'13
6
Robert Kiserlovski
2'19
7
Teodoro Costagli
2'37
8
Paolo Scarponi
2'46
9
Thomas Faiers
3'09
10
David López Garcia
3'18
Now back to checkpoint 2 and the arrival of Angel Madrazo.
Still only 15 seconds ahead of Nibali - the UBS rider having a flyer today? Crucially for Madrazo, he now leads Phinney by over a minute!!
Check 2
1
Angel Madrazo
27'33
2
Vincenzo Nibali
15
4
Markus Fothen
49
6
Taylor Phinney
1'07
3
Emanuele Sella
43
5
Riccardo Ricco
52
7
Simon Spilak
1'17
8
Ryan Eastman
1'22
9
Peter Velits
1'44
10
Romain Sicard
1'52
11
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
1'55
12
Nico Keinath
2'04
13
Yuri Trofimov
2'07
14
Gianpaolo Caruso
2'07
15
Fabio Duarte
2'21
From stage win glory to a lacklustre performance. Sergio Luis Henao Montoya loses 1'36 to Sella today as he finishes a provisional 3rd. This of course drops him back below the Italian down to 12th overall.
Peter Velits crosses the Swiss border with a deficit of 1'27. Better than Henao, but he is now less than a minute clear of Sella in GC for that final Top 10 spot.
Romain Sicard equals the time of Henao, 1'36 behind.
While Nico Keinath does a good job to limit his losses and finishes at 1'52.
He drops below Sicard, but just 16 seconds separate Sicard, Keinath and Velits in a big tail end Top 10 battle. All targets for Sella then?
Finally a time trial that Riccardo Ricco can enjoy! He finishes 2nd, 14 seconds behind Sella, as the defending champion looks to kick off a late race charge up the leaderboard.
The next 3 to finish are all in one camera shot!
Yuri Trofimov submits a loss of 1'57 to Sella - not a great ride today. It puts him now below Ricco in GC, by a handful of seconds.
Then it is 3rd at the finish for Markus Fothen, 19 seconds down. Good enough to keep his cushion in the Top 5 overall, but there is no step forwards for him today.
That is because Vincenzo Nibali is finally stepping up to the plate here as the leading Italian, beating Sella at the finish by 21 seconds.
Nibali started the day over 2 minutes away from the podium, but it will be less than that by nightfall as Simon Spilak is fighting through another tough time trial for him - desperate not to get caught for the 2nd consecutive race against the clock!
He loses 1'14 on Nibali, that gap between them now down to 1'08.
Racing home behind Spilak, for the stage win, is Madrazo.
A 25 second victory over Nibali today. It doesnt seem like a lot but I think that just goes to emphasise how good the Italian was.
Eyes on stopwatches now though, as Taylor Phinney fights to the line.
It seems like today was the American's first bad day of the race - and his large cushion has now been slashed in two. He has lost 1'32 on Madrazo today - that gap now reduced to 1'22. Game on?
Despite today being a great big mountain, there were no King of the Mountains points on offer.
1
Angel Madrazo
Santander
1h17'15
2
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
+ 25
3
Emanuele Sella
Simply Red Bull
+ 46
4
Riccardo Ricco
Team Bacardi
+ 1'00
5
Markus Fothen
Festina-Canal+
+ 1'05
6
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
+ 1'32
7
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
+ 1'39
8
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
+ 1'46
9
Peter Velits
Project 1t4i
+ 2'13
10
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Milka - AVG
+ 2'22
11
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
12
Gianpaolo Caruso
Cisco Cycling Team
+ 2'38
13
Nico Keinath
Team B&O
s.t.
14
Yuri Trofimov
Koenigsegg
+ 2'43
15
Bernhard Kohl
Pendleton's
+ 2'53
16
Fabio Duarte
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 3'00
17
Robert Kiserlovski
Hollister Pro Cycling
+ 3'05
18
Teodoro Costagli
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 3'24
19
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 3'32
20
Thomas Faiers
Pendleton's
+ 3'55
21
David López Garcia
Santander
+ 4'04
22
Vitor Rodrigues
Hollister Pro Cycling
+ 4'09
23
Manuel Lloret
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 4'18
24
Gianluca Brambilla
Pro Team Venchi - Sugoi
+ 4'23
25
Artemio Moschella
Lotto - Cervelo
+ 4'26
26
Petar Panayotov
Pearl Adidas
+ 4'31
27
Richard Ochoa Quintero
Hollister Pro Cycling
+ 4'34
28
John-Lee Augustyn
Aker - MOT
+ 4'35
29
Jackson RodrÃguez
Pearl Adidas
+ 4'42
30
Mattia Cattaneo
Wiggle Professional Cycling Team
+ 4'44
31
Remberto Jaramillo
Aker - MOT
+ 4'51
32
Thomas Peterson
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
