We have so many climbs on route today, before the finish at Pescocostanzo. The finish itself may be easier than yesterday, but the climbs that come beforehand surely offer a prime opportunity for some teams to tear the race up and really look to make big time gaps at the finish.
Time bonuses aside, Angel Madrazo only gained 11 seconds yesterday - but did at least show signs of being the strongest climber in the race. He trails Taylor Phinney by 59 seconds, and with the American sure to gain more over the 59.6km time trial in four stages time, Madrazo needs to take advantage of whatever climbing legs he has.
Simon Spilak is well placed for a podium ride as it stands, while the Italian trio Riccardo Ricco, Vincenzo Nibali and Emanuele Sella are amongst those who really need to step up and gain time to get back into the overall picture.
It's not long before the climbing begins today, and it is also not long before the attacking commences.
Those trying to get themselves up the road at this early stage are (although not all at the same time): Leopold König Alex Howes Damiano Caruso Lars Croket Santo Anza Moris Possoni Philipp Walsleben Mickaël Delage John Degenkolb Thomas De Gendt Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan Sergio Pardilla Tim Kennaugh Michal Kwiatkowski Ivan Santaromita Manuel Lloret William Walker
Lloret is one of the latest to join in with the attacks. He is certainly being aggressive over these mountain stages, although his team manager might prefer him to focus on salvaging as high a GC position as possible instead.
And already 53 riders are dropped! There will be serious time limit concerns for all involved.
They are mostly the weakest 53 climbers in the race here, although it is worth noting that some of the top sprinters of the race have made the effort NOT to be dropped at this stage. Of those who finished in yesterday's Gruppetto, still in the peloton are Daniele Bennati, Ben Swift, Juan Van Heerden and Maximiliano Richeze.
Wikipedia have been keeping a close control of the attacks, chasing most down, but some riders do manage to stay away for the top of the first climb.
Possoni crosses first, from Pardilla - and that is Caruso in 3rd, to close the gap on the classification leader Riblon.
Former KoM leader Efimkin also managed to pick up a couple of points, following the latest Lloret attack.
Rocca di Corno
Total
1
Moris Possoni
10
10
2
Sergio Pardilla
8
8
3
Damiano Caruso
6
32
4
Manuel Lloret
4
4
5
Aleksandr Efimkin
2
32
On the back of the climb, a very interesting looking 10 man group has formed:
Too interesting for Wikipedia though, and they have chased it down.
Kvasina and Stubbe are involved again in the next attack. Is this the move that Wikipedia allow?
It is! An 8 man breakaway for today then, made up of the following: Matea Kvasina Jocelin Maillet Tom Stubbe Tim Kennaugh Leopold König Johann Tschopp Santo Anza Johannes Frohlinger
Here's what they have ahead of them on the next part of the stage:
Frohlinger leads over the intermediate sprints, and the next points of interest are the King of the Mountains climbs. Nobody in this group has scored any points to date, and thus none of them are interesting in attacking to score some - the group just rolls over each time.
Frascara
Total
1
Leopold König
5
5
2
Tom Stubbe
3
3
3
Johannes Frohlinger
1
1
Roccapreturo
Total
1
Johann Tschopp
5
5
2
Matea Kvasina
3
3
3
Santo Anza
1
1
Colle di Sicoli
Total
1
Tim Kennaugh
10
10
2
Leopold König
8
13
3
Johann Tschopp
6
11
4
Matea Kvasina
4
7
5
Tom Stubbe
2
5
The group of riders dropped from the peloton on that first climb were able to safely rejoin the peloton. It's not until the final 6km of the Cat 1 Colle di Scanno climb that a larger 77 man group is dropped again from the peloton - this time containing all the sprinters. Its far enough in the stage to avoid any time limit fears today though.
Apart from those being dropped, there was a disappointing lack of action on this climb, despite it being the hardest of the stage. It is Stubbe's turn to lead over, and he takes a narrow advantage in KoM points over the rest of the break - but still trailing Riblon's tally of 40.
Colle di Scanno
Total
1
Tom Stubbe
16
21
2
Matea Kvasina
12
19
3
Jocelin Maillet
10
10
4
Johann Tschopp
8
19
5
Leopold König
6
19
6
Johannes Frohlinger
4
5
7
Santo Anza
2
3
8
Tim Kennaugh
10
Wikipedia are the only team who have been involved in the pace setting. Apparantely no team has thought up the idea of riding hard to put pressure on the American squad ... despite the fact that Phinney is the one rider who does not particularly need a fast pace on the climbs.
With just over 50km to go, the breakaway hold a lead of 7 minutes. This could be promising for them. At 33rd overall, Leopold König is the best placed rider in the move, but the best climber in here is Frenchman Jocelin Maillet.
After a bit of descending comes the Cat 3 Colle Barrea. Having led over the previous climb, it appears that Tom Stubbe now wants to take a more active interest in the KoM competition and we have our first attack for points from this breakaway. He reduces his gap to Riblon to 12.
Colle Barrea
Total
1
Tom Stubbe
6
27
2
Tim Kennaugh
4
14
3
Leopold König
2
21
With the break still holding a 6 minute lead with now little more than 20 kilometres remaining, there is an opportunity for Stubbe to further close the gap on Riblon!
And finally the Colle Barrea had awoken the GC riders from their Wikipedia-induced slumber. Markus Fothen and Emanuele Sella attack!
Sicard, Ricco, Kohl, Hacecký and that man again Lloret all follow this move but the descent that follows wipes out the hopes of any of them getting a gap.
Henao Montoya, Dyachenko and Duarte then try to attack during the downhill, but Wikipedia are having none of it. All 8 of Phinney's teammates remain at the front of the peloton, working hard - and now only the Cat 2 Roccaraso, and final stretch to Pestocostanzo remain.
The break still lead by 5'40, so a stage win is surely theirs. Maillet attacks with 5km to the summit of Roccaraso, and he was followed by Stubbe. The rest of the break work together and are quickly able to almost close the gap.
Pearl Adidas are in attack mode today as Romain Sicard launches the moves from the peloton behind. Following him immediately are Ricco, Keinath, Sella, Phinney, Madrazo, Henao Montoya and Caruso.
Phinney attacking means his teammates must almost have had enough, so there is a scramble from the remaining contenders to keep up, and no gap is formed just yet.
Emanuele Sella tries again, with Madrazo right with him.
Fothen and Henao Montoya are next, and when they try to take the lead it is Taylor Phinney himself who marks them.
Back with the breakaway, and Jocelin Maillet has stepped on the pedals as they enter the final 10km of the stage and shown why he is the highest rated climber in the group. Stubbe could not keep up, but Leopold König is now launching a move to chase down the Frenchman.
Maillet warmed up for this race with 63rd in the Tour do Romandie, having earlier been 62nd at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. He completed all 3 Grand Tours for Nestle Cycling Team last year, with a best performance of 4th in Stage 19 of the Tour. A victory today would surpass that for sure.
When the peloton reach the 10km banner a few minutes later, Markus Fothen is again at the forefront in an attack with Angel Madrazo. But charging past them both is Emanuele Sella!
Maillet summits the Roccaraso in the lead, to leave 7km remaining.
Roccaraso
Total
1
Jocelin Maillet
10
20
2
Leopold König
8
29
3
Tom Stubbe
6
33
4
Matea Kvasina
4
23
5
Tim Kennaugh
2
16
And when the leading contenders also reach the summit, we can see that Madrazo and Sella have linked up.
Fothen is chasing and soon to join them, and then there is a chasing group of just 8 riders - the field has really obliterated now.
The gaps and groups and are as follows:
+ 22
+ 44
+ 1'01
+ 1'28
Maillet
König
Stubbe
Kennaugh
Anza
Kvasina
Tschopp
Frohlinger
+ 3'40
+ 4'03
+ 4'36
+ 5'08
+ 5'40
Sella
Henao Montoya
Eastman
Mai
Riblon
Madrazo
Nibali
Keinath
Rodrigues
Faiers
Fothen
Velits
Kiserlovski
Trofimov
Phinney
López Garcia
Lloret
Sicard
Augustyn
Dyachenko
Spilak
Hacecký
Atapuma
Caruso
Kohl
Sprick
Ricco
Pinot
Leopold König seems to be chasing down Maillet. The Czech rider suffered heartbreak earlier in the season as he crashed out of a likely Top 10 finish in Paris-Nice. Today is going much better for him.
And with time bonuses out of the question, it is all about physical gaps for the GC riders. Madrazo, Fothen and Sella are working well together in the joint pursuit of that.
Back to the front and despite König's best efforts, Maillet is starting to edge away once again.
Phinney, Ricco, Spilak and Nibali lead the chase of Madrazo/Sella/Fothen and they are doing a good job at not allowing the small gap to grow.
The stragglers from the day's breakaway now come into view as well, and as they approach the final kilometre, their former companion is on his way to the finish line.
Jocelin Maillet wins the stage!
Leopold König fought hard and 2nd place will certainly be welcomed by the Milka squad.
Tom Stubbe is also able to hold on for a valiant 3rd.
There were a few KoM points for the finish line, while sees Stubbe reduce Riblon's lead in the competition to 5:
Pescocostanzo
Total
1
Jocelin Maillet
6
26
2
Leopold König
4
33
3
Tom Stubbe
2
35
All the groups have merged together behind, as the break (except Tschopp) is caught by Madrazo/Sella/Fothen, who in turn are caught by the chasers, and now they will all sprint for the final ranking points places on the day.
Johann Tschopp holds on for 4th - another good breakaway showing for UBS in the Mountains. Angel Madrazo has charged clear for 5th, while Johannes Frohlinger is also impressively able to find something and take 6th.
Taylor Phinney wins the fight for 7th, but a gap has been awarded between himself and Madrazo. There is a small gain of 14 seconds for the Spaniard. An acceptable loss perhaps, for Phinney?
Fothen and Sella are next, having threatened much more. Ricco completes the Top 10 while all riders in this group receive the same time as Phinney. Another mountain stage where the final selection hasnt been quite as selective as expected! This is not great news for the likes of Henao and the Italians, who really needed to make a bigger impact on the climbs.
They do gain a good 1'17 on the next group however, which is led in by a disappointed Eastman and Kiserlovski. They, plus Kohl, must be wondering how similar rider such as Velits and Sicard have been able to outclimb them. Also here is Nico Keinath, who has been able to keep his place in the Top 10 GC.
Yuri Trofimov loses a further minute than this group as he finishes alongside Thomas Faiers. The Russian has gone from so threatening on the hills, to weak and quiet on the climbs - and he has now dropped to 7th overall.
Wikipedia's 3rd best rider Mai is just behind, and although the team make small losses to UBS and Pendleton's in the teams classification today, they have made good gains on their nearest rivals Aker, Festina, Hollister, and Bacardi, now giving them a 10 minutes lead in that competition. Phinney of course remains the leading U25 rider as well.
All 198 riders finished inside the time limit, and have survived the opening round of Mountains in this year's Giro. Ben Swift remains the leader in the Points competition, ahead of Daniele Bennati. Phinney is now up to 3rd however.
1
Jocelin Maillet
Pearl Adidas
5h15'11
2
Leopold König
Milka - AVG
+ 31
3
Tom Stubbe
Simply Red Bull
+ 1'22
4
Johann Tschopp
UBS - BMC
+ 2'25
5
Angel Madrazo
Santander
s.t.
6
Johannes Frohlinger
Project 1t4i
s.t.
7
Taylor Phinney
Wikipedia
+ 2'39
8
Markus Fothen
Festina-Canal+
s.t.
9
Emanuele Sella
Simply Red Bull
s.t.
10
Riccardo Ricco
Team Bacardi
s.t.
11
Simon Spilak
Aker - MOT
s.t.
12
Vincenzo Nibali
UBS - BMC
s.t.
13
Tim Kennaugh
Pendleton's
s.t.
14
Matea Kvasina
Vesuvio - Accumalux
s.t.
15
Gianpaolo Caruso
Cisco Cycling Team
s.t.
16
Sergio Luis Henao Montoya
Milka - AVG
s.t.
17
Peter Velits
Project 1t4i
s.t.
18
Romain Sicard
Pearl Adidas
s.t.
19
Santo Anza
Koenigsegg
s.t.
20
Ryan Eastman
Heineken presented by California Giant Berry Farms
Leopold König
Alex Howes
Damiano Caruso
Lars Croket
Philipp Walsleben
Mickaël Delage
Mohammad Saufi Mat Senan
Sergio Pardilla
Tim Kennaugh
Michal Kwiatkowski
Ivan Santaromita
William Walker
Marek Canecky
Matea Kvasina
