Giro d'Italia: Tao Geoghegan Hart wins stage 15 atop Piancavallo

Image 1 of 38

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) took his maiden Grand Tour stage win on stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia on a dramatic day that saw João Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) cling onto the maglia rosa by the skin of his teeth after Wilco Kelderman and his Sunweb team turned the race on its head at the Piancavallo summit finish.

The British rider kicked for the line to beat Kelderman to the line to take Ineos’ fifth stage win of the race. In the battle for the maglia rosa, Kelderman clawed back 41 seconds on Almeida, while the Dutchman’s teammate Jai Hindley finished third on the line. Almeida leads Kelderman by 15 seconds going into the second rest-day.

"This one was for Nico Portal, we lost him this spring and I think it’s been really difficult for the team," Geoghegan Hart said. "We’ve had some great highs this season but also some big lows in the Tour, for me personally and in this race. We just had to show the Grenadier spirit we try to foster in this team and try to bounce back as we know we can.

"It’s been such an up and down race for us. We had an incredible Filippo Ganna and equally incredible Rohan Dennis yesterday and Johnny (Narváez), who we were really sad to lose today, he also won a stage from a breakaway. Everyone in our team has been in a top-four minimum, so I’m really honoured to be part of this team and to be a Grenadier and to be in this Giro."

Despite seeing his lead cut to shreds, it was still an incredible performance from Almeida, who looked destined to relinquish his 56-second lead to Kelderman when he was dropped with 7.2km to go on the final climb. 

"For sure I'm really happy," Almeida said. "I have to be very grateful to the team for all their work. I felt good today but there were stronger riders out there and so congrats to them. In the first one or two kilometres I thought I could come back to them. Then I was just pushing my limits, it was a suffer-fest all the way to the finish. I took my radio out because I was so focused on doing the best I could. I was doing everything I could to keep the jersey."

Sunweb had decimated the field almost on the lower slopes, first catching breakaway survivor Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers) and then lifting the pace once more to crack a host of GC contenders.

Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren), who started the stage in third overall, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Domenico Pozzovivo (NTT Pro Cycling) Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) were all distanced thanks to a furious pace set down by Sam Oomen and Chris Hamilton (both Sunweb) with 9.5km to go. Not content with dropping most of their rivals, Sunweb kept the pace at an almost relentless speed and 8.9km from the summit Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) cracked.

When Hamilton swung over just under two kilometres later, and Hindley took over only a handful of riders remained in the front group but 7.2km from home Almeida, his last man Fausto Masnada, and Rafal Majka began to struggle to leave only Hindley, Geoghegan Hart, and Kelderman at the head of affairs. As the gradient rose to 14 per cent it looked as though the young maglia rosa would be able to hold the first group at around 10 seconds, but with each pacing kilometer, Hindley edged the leaders further away as back down the climb Nibali, Bilbao and Pozzovivo struggled to keep their GC hopes alive. 

With 6km to go Nibali’s group had already lost close to a minute but Almeida, earpiece out, and struggling with every pedal stroke began to slowly lose time as the gap to Kelderman opened up to 32 seconds two kilometers from the line. With Geoghegan Hart along for the ride, and the British rider knowing full well that he was under no obligation to work and that his top-ten chances would be greatly improved if he sat on, Hindley continued on the front for the leading trio.

When Hindley finally swung off with the line in sight, Kelderman finally made his move. He had neither the top-end speed nor the power to match Geoghegan Hart, with the British rider taking the win and moving up to fourth overall.

Kelderman’s second-placed finished and bonus seconds were enough to make serious inroads into Almeida’s lead and the Dutchman will head into the final week relishing his chances of taking his first Grand Tour. Hindley, too, will have reason to celebrate, with the Australian now into third at 2:56, and Geoghegan Hart a further second back.

As for the rest of the GC contenders, with Majka losing 1:20 to Kelderman, but Bilbao, Fuglsang, and Nibali all conceding 1:34. Pozzovivo faired even worse, losing close to two minutes and dropping to eight, while Brandon McNulty dropping seven places to 11th overall. There’s no shame in that for the young American, who in his first Grand Tour has shown flashes of genuine promise but for Nibali, now in seventh at 3:29, any hopes of a win are even further out of reach.

How it unfolded

The peloton raced 185km from the Base Aerea Rivolto to the mountaintop finish at Piancavallo in what was a decisive stage to the overall classification as Joåo Almeida (Deceuninck-QuickStep) started the day in the maglia rosa by 56 seconds ahead of Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) and 2:11 ahead of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain McLaren).

The peloton were treated to an aerial exhibition as pilots took flight and put on a show complete with tri-colour smoke across the skies at the Base Aerea Rivolto. It was a tough stage with four categorised climbs that included three category two ascents at Sella Chianzutan (65km), Forcella di Monte Rest (105km), Forcella di Pala Barzana (143km), and the category one finale at the 1,290-metre high Piancavallo, a 14km ascent with an average gradient of 8 per cent all the way to the finish line.

An early breakaway of 12 riders set off that included Andrea Vendrame (AG2R La Mondiale), Luca Chirico (Androni Giocattoli), Manuele Boaro (Astana), Mark Padun (Bahrain McLaren), Nathan Haas (Cofidis), Daniel Navarro (Israel Start-Up Nation), Thomas De Gendt and Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal), Davide Villella and Sergio Samitier (Movistar), Rohan Dennis (Ineos Grenadiers), Giovanni Visconti and Edoardo Zardini (Zini Zabu), and none were a threat to the overall classification.

The breakaway gained seven minutes on the main field as De Gendt set a quick pace over the Sella Chianzutan climb. His efforts distanced Zardini, Haas and Carboni, but Visconti was the first to summit and took full mountain points. Deceuninck-QuickStep led the chase, but with no threats to the overall classification in the move, they held the escapees at five minutes as they headed into the second climb of the day at the 7km-long Forcella di Monte Rest.

Visconti took full points from the breakaway over the top to build a significant lead of the mountain competition over runner-up Ruben Guerreiro (EF Pro Cycling). The peloton ramped up the chase bringing the gap to the breakaway down to four minutes on the descent off the Forcella di Monte Rest, but Visconti, Dennis and De Gendt did not let up and pushed the breakaway on toward the final two ascents. 

De Gendt and Dennis dropped their companions part way up the Forcella di Pala Baarzana, a 13.3km with the final 4km at 7.3 per cent, but Visconti didn’t give up and bridged back up to the two leaders. Dennis put in one searing attack and crested the climb alone, and then time trialled through the valley roads toward the looming final ascent of the Piancavallo.

A chase group reformed behind Dennis that initially included Visconti, De Gendt, Vendarme, Samitier and Villella but they were a minute behind the lone Ineos Grenadiers rider and only a minute ahead of the chasing peloton led by Sunweb. The chasers began to split apart at the base of the final climb with De Gendt and Samitier the last two chasers behind Dennis to be caught. 

Dennis hung on for as long as possible, and although he was caught partway up the climb in the battle for the overall classification, his move ultimately helped set up teammate Geoghegan Hart for the stage win.