Giro d'Italia: Quintana wins mountain time trial

Nairo Quintana cemented his lead in the Giro d'Italia and moved a step closer to the overall win by flying up the Monte Grappa to win the mountain time trial on the 19th stage of the Giro d'Italia. The Colombian climbed up in a time of 1.05:37, beating Astana's Fabio Aru and Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).

Quintana smashed his opposition to take a lead of 3:07 in the overall rankings ahead of Uran. Aru jumped to third overall at 3:48. Pierre Rolland (Europcar) dropped to fourth overall at 5:27, with Domenico Pozzovivo fifth at 6:16 and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) sixth at 6:59.

It looked as if Aru would take the stage win, when he was the first to break the 1:06 mark, and taking a lead of more than two minutes. However, Quintana proved himself the best on the day finishing 17 seconds faster. Uran lost nearly a minute and a half, while the biggest loser of the day was probably Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), who suffered not only a dropped chain but seemingly an off-day, dropping to ninth overall.

A day of climbing

The Monte Grappa is a brutal climb, with tight switchbacks and changes of gradient and pitch, all seemingly designed to keep riders from finding their rhythm on the way up.

Belkin's Jetse Bol was the first to head off to the fog-covered mountaintop, leaving at 13:15. He was not the first to arrive though. That honour went to his one minute man, Australian time trial champion Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEdge), who put in the first time of 1:17:21.

Nicola Boem smashed the best time by nearly three minutes, coming in at 1:12:19 but that was eventually topped, first by teammate Sonny Colbrelli and then by teammate and stage 17 winner Stefano Pirazzi with a great time of 1:10.11.

Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) was really motivated and pushing it, but perhaps too much. He totally misjudged a corner and went into the barriers. He didn't crash but lost time disentangling himself from the bars before he could start again.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol) was the first man to break the 1:10 limit, coming in at 1:09:37.

Nairo Quintana also started out on a time trial bike, smiling as he was cheered off from the start house. His greatest rival was Rigoberto Uran who took off three minutes ahead of the Movistar rider and with a GC gap of 1:41.

Uran picked up an early 18 seconds on Quintana while Cadel Evans (BMC) showed signs of life again, setting the third best time at the second intermediate time check.

Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) suffered when his chain dropped. Evans had already passed him on the virtual rankings, and the unplanned bike change threw the Canadian even further back.

Meanwhile, Quintana who was in pink from head to toe was on top form. He flew up the mountain. He wasn't the only one as Fabio Aru (Astana) smashed the time at the 19 km time check by nearly a minute.

Uran was only 28 seconds slower than Aru at the time check but Quintana was not going to let this one get away and broke Aru's time by eight seconds.

Evans put in a more than respectable time of 1:10:03, which helped to move him back up in the rankings.

Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) caught and passed his three minute man, Hesjedal, and Aru did the same with Maika.

Pozzovivo flew up the climb, taking the best time of 1:08:01 but Aru was right behind him. The young Astana Italian was even faster, smashing Pozzovivo's time by more than two minutes to set an incredible performance.

It wasn't enough though, as Quintana put his stamp on the race with his second stage win.

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