Giulio Ciccone of the Trek-Segafredo team took the win on a misty, rainy day in the Alps at the 2019 Giro d’Italia, besting Jan Hirt (Astana) in a two man sprint as Richard Carapaz (Movistar) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) took more time away from Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma).
Stage 16 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia was supposed to be the queen stage of the race with an ascent of the infamous Gavia, but lingering snowpack and the chance of landslides forced organizers to change the route of the stage.
Primoz Roglic was looking to regain time today after a horrible crash and failed bike swap during Stage 15, while Vincenzo Nibali and Simon Yates will be looking to capitalize on the Slovenian’s misfortune.
The day starts with news that Brent Bookwalter (Mitchelton-Scott), who has been “battling health issues on and off since the first rest day”, has dropped out of the race.
Chris Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Davide Villella (Astana), Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Mikkel Honoré (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Jai Hindley (Team Sunweb) attacked almost immediately after the flag dropped. Movistar sent Andrey Amador to chase and the group soon swelled to 22 riders.
Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First), Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) Fausto Masnada (Androni-Giocattoli), Mattia Cattaneo (Androni-Giocattoli), Damiano Caruso (Bahrin-Merida), Jan Hirt (Astana), Andre Amador (Movistar), Pello Bilbao (Astana), Francois Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale), Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), Jai Hindley (Sunweb), Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma), Davide Villella (Astana), Lukasz Owsian (CCC Team), Christopher Juul Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Antonio Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Francisco Ventoso (CCC Team), Nate Brown (EF Education First), Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Mikkel Honoré (Deceuninck-QuickStep) were all in the break and enjoying at least a 3 minute advantage.
Movistar was setting the pace in the peloton and holding the leaders to between two and three minutes.
By the Cevo climb however, the gap had moved out to about four and a half minutes. Cattaneo and Masnada were second and third over the summit, but Ciccone took the maximum of nine points. Movistar continued to set the pace for the maglia rosa.
As the stage heads towards the Aprica climb the gap had moved out to 5’15”. Over that summit Ciccone took off once more to do battle for the mountains points. Ciconne took the maximum of 9 points once more, and extended his lead in the competition.
The break hit the lower slopes of the Mortirolo with Juul Jensen leading the group. There were definite signs the any cooperation in the breakaway was starting to erode, though they were now 6 minutes up the road from the peloton. EF Education First raised the pressure in the break, while Groupama FDJ took some time at the lead of the peloton.
The break was down to four riders. Nieve, Hirt, Caruso and Ciccone were all that was left.
Hirt raised the pace. Caruso and Ciccone were able to follow, but Nieve dropped off the back.
Back in the peloton, Vincenzo Nibali made an attack. Movistar was watching him very closely. Carapaz was managing to stay on his wheel for the most part. Roglic, meanwhile, has popped and is quickly going backwards through the peloton.
Back at the front, it was just Ciccone and Hirt now. They had 4’13 with 27km to go.
Roglic continued to fade, dropping 1’30” behind the maglia rosa group.
The leaders were on the descent on tight and twisty roads, made all the worse by rainy conditions.
13km to go for the two leaders and they still had at 4’16 lead. But it was all uphill. Lopez still had 20 seconds on the maglia rosa group that included Carapaz, Cathy, Landa, Nibali and Amador.
Inexplicably, Roglic was coming back, narrowing his gap to the maglia rosa group to 40 seconds along with Yates.
Ciccone and Hirt looked to be able to hang on to the finish, holding a gap of just over 3 minutes with 4km remaining. Movistar was definitely in control of the maglia rosa group and has been able to contain Nibali. The Roglic, Yates, Mollema group were down to four riders and bleeding time.
Ciccone set the pace in the final kilometer. Hirt looked as if he might sprint, but he did not go. Ciccone took the stage win for Trek Segafredo. Masnada took third on the stage with Nibali crossing fourth.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Giulio Ciccone said: “I’ve been waiting for this second stage win for two years now. So I yelled with joy on the finishing line because it’s been a complicated day with lots of rain and cold. Jan Hirt didn’t want to cooperate so it’s been a bit nervous between us but at the end I’m happy with everything.”
The race leader Richard Carapaz said: “The truth is that it’s been a very complicated day, especially because of the weather conditions and the climbs. But as a team we’ve worked very well for Mikel Landa and myself. It’s another good day in terms of time gained on GC.”
Stage 16 Brief Results:
- Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo 5h36’24”
- Jan Hirt (Astana Pro Team) s.t.
- Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) at 1’20”
- Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 1’41”
- Hugh John Carthy (EF Education First) s.t.
- Richard Carapaz (Movistar Team) s.t.
- Mikel Landa (Movistar Team) s.t.
- Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First) s.t
- Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) at 1’49”
- Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) at 2’03”
General Classification After Stage 16:
- Richard Carapaz (Movistar Team) at 70h02’05”
- Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at 1’47”
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) at 2’09”
- Mikel Landa (Movistar Team) at 3’15”
- Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) at 5’00”
- Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 5’40”
- Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) at 6’17”
- Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) at 6’46”
- Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) at 7’51”
- Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) at 8’06”
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