Three categorized climbs over a 165 kilometer route awaited the peloton ahead of the rest day. Even though the stage started in the town where we spent the night, Andrea and I were more interested in seeing the riders do what they do best–ride!–rather than just make small talk and gather autographs, so we put our fate in the hands of the satnav and eventually ended up at La Fricca. The first categorized climb of the day stretched just shy of 10 kilometers with an average gradient of 5.6%. We scouted the climb and discovered a fantastic place where we’d be able to see the whole spectacle approach us.
While we waited for the Giro, the weather gods gave everyone a break and actually let the sun shine for awhile. After yesterday, when it rained so hard at the TT that I got a text shortly after the race from photographer friends who’d seen me shivering at the end of the stage asking if I was ok, this was a welcome change!
Right on time, the crowd began to murmur and point off into the distance as the first riders were spotted.
Giovani Visconti and Ilnur Zakarin led the charge with KOM Benat Intxausti not far behind.
Zakarin & Visconti
Intxausti
Four chasers were a few seconds down the road, followed closely by the peloton en masse led by Tinkoff Saxo.
The maglia rosa & maglia bianca at the front of the bunch
Knowing KOM points awaited him a few kilometers up the road, Intxausti bridged to his teammate and Zakarin.
The trio had a handful of seconds on the peloton.
A Nippo Fantini rider stumbled going up one of the steeper sections and got a push from a teammate to get going again.
Intxausti wanted to increase his 8 point lead in the blue jersey classification over Simon Geschke.
The cooperative chasers were quickly being hunted down by the peloton.
Mikel Nieve, Esteban Chaves, Franco Pellizotti, & Carlos Betancur
Pellizotti & Betancur
Not a surprise to see Tinkoff setting tempo on the front.
Contador back in the maglia rosa after yesterday’s TT
Astana looking after Aru, who started the stage 2:28 behind Contador
Spanish champion Ion Izaguirre and former Colombian champion Darwin Atapuma
Rigoberto Uran (center) moved up to 4th place after the TT
2012 Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal (center) is stage hunting after seeing his GC chances disappear
Jurgen Van Den Broeck has had an unspectacular first half of the Giro but catapulted into the top 5 with a strong TT
After much speculation, Richie Porte (center) started stage 15 after a rash of bad luck saw him lose tremendous time
While Tinkoff’s pace was no where near blistering, it was enough to string out the peloton and cause some noticeable suffering only 60k into the stage.
Axel Domont & Davide Villella
After wearing the KOM jersey earlier, Simon Geschke found himself over 30 points down and in third place in the blue jersey classification at the end of the stage.
Former Brazilian champion Murilo Fischer
Suffering from a knee injury and struggling on the early climb, Tom Danielson would later be forced to abandon the race, having finished 7 of the 13 Grand Tours he has participated in over his career.
Bernie Eisel
A tough day in the saddle for this Androni rider
Marcus Burghardt
Bringing up the rear, Fabio Silvestre received a very sticky bottle.
With the peloton on its way to Madonna di Campiglio, Andrea and I drove back to catch the rest of the stage on TV. As expected, Contador put more time into his Italian rival after snatching intermediate bonus seconds and launching attacks Aru visibly struggled to follow. As Porte can attest, anything can happen in the Giro, but Contador looks like he will continue to distance himself from Aru after tomorrow’s rest day.
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