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Giro d'Italia: Stage 16 Results: Aru falters, Contador gains more time

Roar Guru
26th May, 2015
Start time: 10:30pm (AEST)
Start location: Pinzolo
Finish location: Aprica
Distance: 177 kilometres
Stage type: Mountainous

General Classification
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:34
2 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:35
3 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:04:19
4 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:04:46
5 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:06:36
6 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:06:58
7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:07:10
8 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:20
9 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:09:53
10 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr 0:10:03
Can Alberto Contador make up for lost time? (Tinkoff-Saxo)
Roar Guru
26th May, 2015
160
3017 Reads

Stage Result

It was a stage for the ages at the Giro D’Italia as Astana’s Mikel Landa took his second stage victory in a row, Fabio Aru lost over 2 minutes and Alberto Contador cemented his grip the overall Giro lead.

It was the scramble for the minor places that blew the race apart today; with team Katusha, looking to gain time for their sixth placed Yury Trofimov, attacking on the wet descent of the Passo Aprica, 70km from the finish, heading into the penultimate climb of the day.

Amongst the chaos and crosswinds, race leader Alberto Contador was left isolated and 50 seconds off the pace being set by Astana and Katusha as the race reached the 2015 Giro’s hardest climb, the Passo del Mortirolo

In a display of pure strength Contador rode himself across the gap to the lead group passing numerous riders with ease.

Once he made contact with the leaders Contador quickly attacked a struggling Fabio Aru, distancing the young Italian.

Aru’s teammate Mikel Landa seized the opportunity to stay with Contador and LottoNL Jumble’s Steven Ktuijswijk, taking time off Aru and overtaking him in the general classification.

Landa also managed to sprint away from an apathetic Contador in the final kilometers of the summit finish up the Aprica, taking his second stage victory in a row.

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Ktuijswijk took second ahead of El Pistoerlo moving him up to seventh overall.

For Fabio Aru though, it was nothing short of a day from hell.

On top of getting dropped on the Mortirolo he suffered a mechanical just when he looked to be regaining his rhythm on the final descent, heading into the summit finish.

By the end of the stage he had been forced to cede team leadership to Landa, losing over 2 minutes to Contador and his teammate, and also blowing a whole load of energy trying to minimise his losses with no support from any other riders.

With three more mountain stages remaining his confidence will have taken a nose dive and he will have to work hard just to hold onto his podium place.

Contador has now taken a vice like grip on the overall lead, 4:02 over the second placed Landa.

After seeing his efforts single handedly dragging himself back to the leaders it is hard to imagine anyone catching him at this point.

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Also of note today were the efforts of 2012 champion Ryder Hesjedal who was part of the early breakaway, broke away solo on the second decent and managed to stick to the front groups after the rest of the break was caught, coming in 6th for the stage and moving himself into the top 10.

STAGE 16 RESULTS
1. Mikel Landa (Astana)
2. Steven Ktuijswijk (LottoNL-Jumble)
3. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)
4. Yury Trofimov (Katusha)
5. Andrey Amador (Movistar)

GC STANDINGS
1. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)
2. Mikel Landa (Astana) – 4:02
3. Fabio Aru (Astana) – 4:52
4. Andrey Amador (Movistar) – 5:48
5. Yury Trofimov (Katusha) – 8:27

Stage Preview

The final ‘week of truth’ of the 2015 Giro d’Italia begins tonight as the remaining contenders line up for the mountainous Stage 16. Join us on The Roar from 10:30pm for live commentary and chat.

Less than a week of riding remains in this year’s Giro, but standing in between the peloton and a merciful ending are this week’s four giant mountain stages.

Tonight the peloton scale over 6500m as it travels the 177 kilometres from Pinzolo to Aprica.

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They will cross two category two climbs, the category one Passo del Mortirolo before finishing at the summit of the third category climb to Aprica.

It is crunch time for the general classification battle, which has been whittled down to two names: Astana’s Fabio Aru and Alberto Contador. Both face different questions coming into the stage.

Can Aru keep up when the going gets tough? Things have been getting progressively harder for the young Italian as this race has worn on. The fresh legs that allowed him to spring away from Contador in the first week seem to have lost their zip. He only just hung on in Stage 15 and yesterday’s rest day couldn’t have come soon enough.

If Aru is going to claw back any of the 2:35 minute gap that separates him from Contador, he will have to have his best climbing legs with him. He has the strongest team at the race behind him but he cannot afford to slip even once in this final week if he still wants to take out the race.

Contador looks to be in imperious form but can he single-handedly take on the might of the Astana team and yet conserve enough energy to leave him standing for his next goal, the Tour de France?

Of course the action will be full of sub-plots, chief among them who will take out the minor placings?

The struggles of Rigoberto Uran and injury and withdrawal of Richie Porte have blown the second tier GC battle wide open.

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Relative unknown Movistar rider Andrey Amador is currently placed third, 30 seconds ahead of Aru’s Astana teammate Mikel Landa. There are plenty of others lining up behind them eyeing a rare and unexpected opening on the podium.

For the climbers well off the pace, the King of the Mountain jersey is far from decided and a breakaway stage victory could also beckon for someone willing to ride for death or glory.

Prediction
Breakaway victories have been the flavour of the 2015 Giro, with escapes holding out for the win more than anyone would have predicted throughout the race. A stage like today’s would traditionally be a perfect opportunity for a breakaway.

A rider like Carlos Betancur from Ag2r-La Mondiale or even Orica-GreenEDGE’s Esteban Chavez would be a good pick if they managed to find their way into a large lead group.

However Astana will be doing all they can to try and break Contador, if not for Aru then for Vincenzo Nibali at the Tour later this year, so don’t expect them to meander across the mountains casually allowing a group to make an easy gap. They will go hell for leather, dropping riders left and right trying to set things up for Aru and fourth placed Mikel Landa, but I predict ‘El Pistolero’ will be too strong and will sprint ahead in the final moments to take the stage win.

But over to you Roarers, what do you think will happen? Let me know in the comments and join us from 10:30pm (AEST) for live commentary and chat as Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia kicks off.

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