Steven Kruiswijk blasted his rivals in the third and final Giro d’Italia time trial from Castelrotto to Alpe di Siusi as 2013 champion Vincenzo Nibali suffered a series of setbacks that left him far off the pace on Sunday.
The Dutchman, riding a pink-tinged bike, extended his overall lead after finishing second to surprise stage winner Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) of Russia.
Italy’s Nibali had a disastrous day, switching his bike after troubles with his chain and rear derailleur gears and then being forced to push away a spectator who ran too close to him.
Sunday’s 10.8 km stage was almost exclusively uphill including a twisting, turning climb over nine km up Alpe di Siusi.
Kruijswiyk was one of the few riders to use clip-on aerobars and by the end he had increased his overall lead to two minutes 12 seconds from Colombia’s Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) with Nibali in third 2:51 behind the leader.
Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale) slipped out of the top 10 after finishing 50th.
Foliforov excelled in the moutainous conditions to post a rare success for Gazprom-Rusvelo, with team mate Sergey Firsanov coming fourth.
Monday is the tour’s final rest day. (From Reuters: Reporting by Neil Robinson; editing by Ken Ferris)
Stage 15 Results:
- Alexander Foliforov (Russia / Gazprom) 28:39″
- Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / LottoNL) ST
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +23″
- Sergey Firsanov (Russia / Gazprom) +30″
- Michele Scarponi (Italy / Astana) +36″
- Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica) +40″
- Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +47″
- Joe Dombrowski (U.S. / Cannondale) +52″
- Bob Jungels (Luxembourg / Etixx – Quick-Step) +1:04″
- Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) +1:09″
General Classification After Stage 15:
- Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands / LottoNL) 60:41:22″
- Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica) +2:12″
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) +2:51″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +3:29″
- Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff) +4:38″
- Ilnur Zakarin (Russia / Katusha) +4:40″
- Andrey Amador (Costa Rica / Movistar) +5:27″
- Bob Jungels (Luxembourg / Etixx – Quick-Step) +7:14″
- Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus / Dimension Data) +7:37″
- Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark / Astana) +7:55″