As it happened: Breakaway given no chance on Swiss summit finish as GC favourites contest the win on Giro d’Italia stage 16
Back to the mountains and into Switzerland for the 11.7km climb to Carì
Hello and welcome to stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia!
We hope the riders are all fresh and raring to go after their rest yesterday, as a typically tough final weeks get underway with a brute of a mountain top finish.
To get to the summit finish today, the riders will cross the border into Switzerland to take on a fearsome climb to Carì. Like the stage to Pila last Saturday, and to the Blockhaus during the first week, this one is a proper mountain, and only the best climbers will be able to cope with its 8% gradient stretched out over 11.6km.
For Jonas Vingegaard, having seized the Maglia Rosa with a crushing win on Saturday, the final week is all about seeing the victory home. He’ll have one eye on the Tour de France, which he intends to ride as fresh as possible, but will still have a difficult final week to negotiate to seal victory here.
While Vingegaard has a big lead of 2:26 at the top of the GC, the riders immediately behind him are far more closely clustered together. Between Afonso Eulálio in second and Michael Storer in seventh, the time gap is only 2:20, and therefore there are plenty of opportunities for changes in the GC, starting today.
The flag has just been waved for the unofficial start, greeted by the usual fanfare of Europop and a fast talking Italian announcer on a mic.
How will Visma-Lease a Bike ride today? While they were intent on bringing the breakaway back last Saturday to set Vingegaard up for the stage win, they’re often happy to cede the stage win to the breakaway on late mountain stages like this, so may chose to take it easy at the font provided no GC threat manages to slip into the break.
The riders at the start, for what is another hot and sunny day at the Giro.
The mountain top finish ensures this is one for the climbers, but the opening 25km are flat, so it will be interesting to see which riders manage to get into the breakaway at the start. There are still no less than 17 teams without a stage win at the race yet, and so desperation to do so will be reaching fever pitch in the peloton, and therefore another big fight to get into the break is on the cards.
It was announced this morning that Pascal Ackermann has withdrawn from the race, but the other 157 riders who finished in Milan have taken to the start today.
The first attacker is Van der Lee. He's wearing the blue jersey, but is only wearing that jersey in reserve from Jonas Vingegaard who leads the mountains classification. He'll be after the points on offer today to take that jersey outright.
Van der Lee has two riders with him: Naberman and Jacobs.
They've all been brought back.
Jacobs has gone again, this time with Tarozzi and Nelson Oliveira.
6 more riders have joined them, including Beloki and Ulissi, while there are multiple groups strewn across the road behind.
11 riders have come together at the front and the rest of the peloton has regrouped. Could this be the break of the day?
Not yet - Lidl don't seem happy with it and have put Milan at the front to pace the peloton.
The 11 riders up the road are: Beloki, Ulissi, Jacobs, Oliveira, Morgado, Van den Broeck, Juul-Jensen, Gualdi, Teutenberg, Crescioli and Tarozzi.
That might be a big group, but it's not one made up of riders with the kind of pure climbing legs that will be necessary to win on finish like today's.
Right now the break has 30 seconds, with Lidl still leading at the front of the peloton.
Lidl might have given up the ghost! They’ve sat up and no other team is taking it on in the peloton.
It’s still not over - UAE are next to lead the peloton with Bjerg.
100KM TO GO
Lidl are contributing with UAE now, but it's still looking like a big ask to bring them back - they're 38 seconds behind.
The breakaway up the road.
This is a proper pursuit between the breakaway, who are desperate to stay out, and the peloton, which is being pulled along by both UAE and Lidl.
At the moment the peloton is winning the pursuit they've brought the gap down to 20 seconds.
In the break, Beloki stands out as the best climber, as well as being easily the highest ranked rider on GC, in 18th at 11:33.
Both Lidl and UAE actually have men in the break, in Teutenberg and Morgado respectively, but can't be hopeful of their chances winning the stage on the summit finish, as they continue to chase.
90KM TO GO
The break is holding the chasing peloton, and have increased their lead a little to 25 seconds.
The pace slows down in the peloton for a few moments, but now a UAE rider has attacked.
Arrieta is the UAE rider, and behind Lidl are chasing again.
That Lidl pace has forced a split, about 20 riders going clear from the rest of the peloton.
The road is going stedily uphill, which will make it easier for sttronger climbers to bridge the gap to the break.
Along with Arrieta, multiple other UAE riders are in this group, and some Lidl-Treks and Visma-Lease a Bikes.
There are a few Bardiani and Polti riders in this group too, plus Van der Lee in the blue jersey.
Jhonatan Narváez is one of those UAE riders, and he's made a move.
He's caught, the peloton slows, and another UAE rider counters, this time Christen.
All this is seeing the break's lead plummit, to just 12 seconds.
More riders and groups are jumping out of the peloton to try and join the chase group. It's all getting pretty chaotic!
The road gets harder still, the gradient rising to 5.6% for the next 4.7km as they start the first official climb of the day.
The chase group has caught the break, as they start the climb.
But the peloton is mere seconds ahead of them, and other riders are firing out of it to try and join the leaders.
Visma aren't happy with this group, and have a rider at the front of the peloton pacing.
The peloton has caught the back of the group, but it's so big that there are still riders at the front of it a few second ahead.
Meanwhile at the back, the Grupetto is forming. Milan and Magnier have dropped out of the peloton.
About 7 riders have gone clear at the front.
Ciccone and Van der Lee are among them.
There are 8 riders in this lead group - Ciccone, Van der Lee, Rubio, Harper, Hatherley, plus a Bardiani, Polti and Picnic rider.
The summit is nearing - who will go for the KOM points?
The lead 8 have been joined by a few other riders - including Jhonatan Narváez.
80KM TO GO
This group is looking promising - they've managed to grow their lead to 20 seconds on the peloton.
Christen was one of the riders to join this group along with his teammate Narváez, as well as Kench, Ulissi, López and Zana.
Of concern to some will be Harper’s presence in the breakaway. He’s only 7:58 down on GC in 13th, and will be a threat to some riders’ top ten placeings.
Of concern to Soudal-QuickStep and Magnier will be Narváez. He’s only 14 points behind in the Maglia Ciclamino, and there’s an intermediate sprint coming up later today before the final climb with his name written on it.
Visma lead the peloton and are keeping the break pegged at about 30 seconds for now.
The 13-man lead group in full:
Ciccone, Harper, Van der Lee, Narváez, Christen, Ulissi, Rubio, López, Kench, Hatherley, Van den Broeck, Zana and Tonelli
They've finished descending and are now abruptly going uphill again, for the 3km, 8.2% Leontica.
Tim Rex is at the front for Visma, and he's pulling some more pain faces again - a sign that they are chasing, not just riding tempo.
Up ahead the break is breaking up, with riders being dropped.
Harper is riding at the front of the race ,and barely anyone is able to follow this pace - he only has five riders left with him.
Those five riders are Ciccone, Rubio, Zana, Van der Lee and Narváez.
They're nearing the summit, both Ciccone and Van der Lee will want the KOM points.
KOM - LEONITCA
Ciccone attacks for them, and Ciccone takes them. Rubio followed his wheel for second
Visma lead the peloton over the top, just over a minute behind. They don't seem to be riding quite so hard now.
Ciccone hasn't sat up over the summit, and still leads the rest of the break on the descent.
There's a Bahrain rider in the formation of yellow Visma jerseys riding at the front of the peloton. Has he forgotten that their leader Afonso Eulálio is no longer in the pink jersey?
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Ciccone is building his lead - he's now 22 seconds up on the rest of the break.
Ciccone's been joined by Harper and Narváez.
Once again, there's no space between the bottom of the descent and the start of the third climb. This one lasts 4.7km at 5.6%, and they've begun it already.
At the last climb, Rubio, Van der Lee, Harper Narváez and Zana took the points behind Ciccone. Here's what the virtual KOM rankings look like now as a result:
1 Vingegaard 161
2 Ciccone 102
3 Van der Lee 83
4 Gall 72
5 Rubio 65
Ulissi is chasing the leading trio.
The break on the previous climb.
Van der Lee is trying to bridge up to Ciccone, Rubio, Harper, Narváez and Ulissi, but struggling a lot, and is 20 seconds behind.
60KM TO GO
The leading quintet are 1:40 ahead of the peloton, which is the biggest lead anyone has had all day. They'll need to keep increasing if they're to have a chance at the stage win though.
This is a very decorated group that’s leading the race. Between these five riders, they have a grand total of 18 Giro stage wins on their palmares.
KOM - TORRE
They've reached the top, and once again Ciccone takes the points, followed by Rubio. He didn't have to accelerate quite so explosively this time.
The rider are now taking on the same descent, leading up to a second ascent of the Leontica.
KOM - TORRE
The updated KOM rankings:
1 Vingegaard 161
2 Ciccone 111
3 Van der Lee 83
4 Gall 72
5 Rubio 69
The gap to the peloton is coming down again, as Visma up the pace in the peloton. It's down to 1:23; this must be very frustrating for the break.
The break swing right onto the narrow - and steep - road that marks the beginning of the Leontica climb.
Jan Christen has used the climb to attack out of the peloton.
The riders dropped from the original break, like Van der Lee and Zana, have been caught by the peloton.
Christen's move is over too, he's been caught.
Ciccone doesn't look happy. He takes a bottle from a soigneur, but throws it away in disgust - it's unclear why.
You wonder if he’s displacing that anger from towards Jonas Vingegaard. As things stand the Dane is what stands between him and a shot at winning the stage, and the King of the Mountains classification.
Rubio accelerates towards the top, and Ulissi has been dropped.
Giulio Ciccone, who's clearly frustrated with how this stage is panning out.
Though Vingegaard said before the stage that he [didn’t] want to go for every stage’, he did also mention his intention ‘to try to win a stage in the pink jersey’. Based on how his Visma team is riding today, he intends to make today that day.
40KM TO GO
The break has at least managed to increase its lead by a little on the descent. It's just shy of two minutes.
The intermediate sprint that Narváez has had his eye on all day is coming up imminently. He's managed to stay in the front group, so looks set to get them.
INTERMEDIATE SPRINT
And Narváez does indeed take them, with nobody else in the group having a purpose to challenge for them.
The new Maglia Ciclamino standings. There are now just two points in it at the top.
1 Magnier 145
2 Narváez 143
3 Milan 78
4 Stuyven 71
5 Silva 70
And the new KOM rankings, with just one climb to come:
1 Vingegaard 161
2 Ciccone 129
3 Van der Lee 83
4 Rubio 77
5 Gall 72
Ulissi never managed to get back on to the break after being dropped near the summit. So Ciccone, Rubio, Harper and Narváez are the only riders left in the front group.
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Decathlon are also helping Visma set the pace in the peloton. That's a big statement on behalf of Felix Gall, who will have his eye on moving up to second overall, and perhaps the stage win too.
One of Gall’s main rivals for a podium spot is Thymen Arensman. During the rest day ,he spoke about the difficulties he finds in committing to a full GC bid.
20KM TO GO
The break’s hopes of holding on for the stage are looking doomed already. As the final climb approaches, they have a lead of only 1:15.
Decathlon are really taking this on. They've put a man to lead the peloton and are helping bring this break yet closer.
Meanwhile Narváez has given up the ghost, and sat up out of the breakaway.
And now Ciccone has had enough! He's sat up and dropped back to his team car.
Narváez has dropped out the back of the peloton already. Mission accomplished for him today, with the maximum points at the intermediate sprint sealed. That competition could have a thrilling finish to it.
This is a big day for Red Bull-Bora Hansgorhe. They believe their two GC leaders Hindley and Pellizzari are fit and firing again, and have their eyes on rising up the GC.
Harper has dropped Rubio on the approach the Red Bull KM, which the former takes. So we now have just the one rider still up the road.
Filippo Magli attacked out of the peloton to take 2nd place at the Red Bull KM.
Magli was able to do so as the pace had slowed in the peloton, presumably as they no longer had to work to be sure of bringing the break back. But it's up again now as Red Bull take over as they approach the start of the climb.
Harper starts the climb, and as do the peloton 35 seconds later, led by Red Bull.
Rubio is caught, leaving just Harper out front.
Problem for Red Bull - Pellizzari has been dropped, while they were leading the pace!
They're teammates are looking behind them to try to see where he's gone.
Already the peloton is greatly reduced, with maybe about 20 or 30 riders left in it. Campanaerts is pulling the group for Visma-Lease a Bike.
What has happened with Red Bull? Pellizzari has blown up completely, all while they were setting the pace. They've since swung off and left it to Visma to lead, but they can't have expected the Italian to be dropped so early.
Eulálio is struggling, he's being dropped!
Eulálio is with O'Connor, who hasn't appeared to have improved following his bad end to the second week.
There’s set to be some big changes to the top of the GC - that’s 3 of the top 8 dropped already!
Harper was caught earlier, but is hanging on to the back of the GC group.
It's still Campanaerts leading the peloton, which he's reduced down to just 15 riders.
Eulálio, O'Connor and Pellizzari have all been dropped, but Vingegaard, Hindley, Arensman and Gall are all still there.
Kuss has taken over from Campanaerts.
Eulálio is with O'Connor, 30 seconds behind. Pellizzari is much further down the road.
Kuss is done, Piganzoli takes over.
Gall is losing teammate now, Mühlberger dropped and Scotsman.
We're down to just Piganzoli, Vingegaard, Gall, Arensman, Hindley and Bernal
Storer is almost with them, Gee-West further behind.
Now Storer's distenced by several seconds.
And Vingegaard drops everyone!
Gall has dropped the others though, and still has Vingegaard in his sights.
Arensman, Hindley and a much-improved Bernal are together in a group behind Gall.
Piganzoli has caught up to the Hindley group.
Vingegaard leads Gall by 25 seconds, the Arensman/Hindley/Berenal/Piganzoli group by 33 seconds.
Gee-West is back on his way to the Arensman group.
Meanwhile Eulálio is a minute behind that Arensman group, meaning he stands to slide from 2nd to 4th overall.
Gall has been caughtby the chase group, which is being led by Bernal.
So that's the riders from 3rd to 5th on GC (Gall, Arensman and Hindley) all in a group together, along with Gee-West, Piganzoli and Bernal.
The moment Vingegaard made his move.
With 4km to ride, Vingegaard is now almost a minute up on the chasers.
As things stand both Gall and Arensman have overtaken Eulálio on GC, while Hindley is only a few seconds away from doing so.
Vingegaard is on another level to everyone else. He's almost as far ahead of the group of chasers as they are to Eulálio.
Just 2km to go for Vingegaard, his lead up to 1:10.
It's still Bernal doing all of the work in the chase group. He stands to jump up the GC, but won't be able to catch Vingegaard for the stage win.
Arensman has taken over from Bernal and upped the pace - Gee-West and Piganzoli are dropped, as is Bernal.
That leaves Arensman, Hindley and Gall together, who look set to the the riders to compete for the final two podium places behind Vingegaard on GC.
Gee-West makes his way back to the Gall group.
Vingegaard is certainly going deep, grimacing and wiping away sweat as he nears the summit.
He's on the finishing straight.
Gall attacks the chase group in the final few hundred metres.
Gall takes second at over a minute, Hindley third, and there's s small gap to Arensman in fourth.
Gee-West is close beind in fifth.
Piganzoli crosses the line as if he won the stage, celebrating with his arms in the air! He did another superb job setting up Visma teammate Vingegaard.
Bernal comes over the line alone for 7th, and Storer shortly after him for 8th.
And here is Eulálio. He finishes 3 minutes down - that will see him fall to 5th overall.
So that’s four stage wins at this Giro for Jonas Vingegaard, more than he has managed at any single Grand Tour in the past.
Vingegaard also now leads the GC by 4:03 minutes ahead of Gall. This is turning into one of the most dominant rides for overall victory at a Grand Tour in recent years.
The race for the podium spots immediately behind Vingegaard, by contrast, remains wide open. Gall is currently second, but has both Arensman and Hindley breathing down his neck at 24 seconds and 57 seconds respectively.
Gall crossing the line for second. He looked fresh at the finish, managing to attack to gain a few seconds on both his podium rivals.
By winning the stage Vingegaard has also solidified his lead to the top of the KOM rankings. For all the work Ciccone put in today sprinting for the first for summits, he's a long way down.
1 Vingegaard 211
2 Ciccone 129
3 Gall 96
4 Van der Lee 83
5 Rubio 77
In his post-race interview, Vingegaard isn’t promising to not continue to chase more stage wins. “We will see what we do for the rest of the Giro” were his cagey final words, when asked if he intends to try to match his rival Tadej Pogačar's total of 6 from 2 years ago.
One of the surprises of the day was Giulio Pellizzari, who eventually finished in a group 18 minutes after Vingegaard. Having gone into the stage still as a podium hopeful, he now finds himself dumped well out of the top ten.
Thanks for joining us today, on a stage where Jonas Vingegaard took an even firmer grip on the Maglia Rosa, and showed some cannibal instincts by having his team chase down the break for a fourth stage win.
Anyone left frustrated by the lack of leeway given the breakaway today should take encouragement from tomorrow’s parcours, which, with its shorter, punchy climbs, looks prime territory for a breakaway success. Be sure to find out how it goes down by joining us for all the action again!
