Giro d'Italia: Egan Bernal increases overall lead on stage 14 atop Zoncolan

Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team) was the surprise winner on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia with the 25-year-old Grand Tour debutant winning atop the Monte Zoncolan after being in the race-winning break.

The Eolo-Kometa rider, who had never won a race heading into the Giro, attacked Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious) with 2.3km to go, on the toughest part of the climb and managed to hold off the chase to take a memorable and well-deserved win.

Tratnik, who had Fortunato in his sights with 1,000 metres to go, finished second with Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) in third.

"I'm very happy for today. The team is the best and in first attacks my teammate Albanese was with me in the breakaway. The breakaway went easy all day but at the start of the Zoncolan I attacked and stayed behind Tratnik. My legs are very good and I'm very very happy," said Fortunato after the stage.

"I want to thank to all of Eolo-Kometa, Luca Spada who is here with me, because without them, I would never have achieved this wonderful result. I came here thinking of getting into breakaways, but I never imagined winning on the Zoncolan.

"But in the car with Stefano Zanatta, Sean Yates, Ivan Basso, and Jesús Hernández, and Alberto, who is in the team, I think it is the minimum I can do to win this stage, and now we’ll look for others. I’m climbing well, I’m strong, and for sure we will see each other in other stages."

In the race for the maglia rosa Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) improved his race lead. He responded to a late attack from Simon Yates (Team BikeExchange) before attacking the British rider with a few hundred metres to go.

Behind Bernal and Yates the overall contenders were blown all over the final climb of the stage after the duo moved clear inside the most-difficult final 3km of the climb. 

Bernal now leads Yates by 1:33, with Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) third at 1:51.

Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana Premier Tech), who had put his team to work for most of the stage, was unable to follow when Bernal and Yates attacked and dropped from second to fourth overall, now 1:57 down.

As expected, the race came down to the final climb, and although the peloton tackled the Zoncolan from the apparently easier side, there were still sizable gaps by the finish. 

The break of the day hit the lower slopes of the climb with over six minutes on the peloton and it was Tratnik who attacked first as he went after his second ever Giro stage win. 

Fortunato bided his time and was patient before kicking free from a group that included such decorated riders as Bauke Mollema and George Bennett before catching Tratnik a few kilometres later. The pair shared the workload as behind them Ineos Grenadiers replaced Astana on the front.

Gianni Moscon brought Bernal and the rest of the British team to the front and they never looked back with almost all of the team taking long pulls on the front as they whittled down the maglia rosa group. Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) was the first major name to be cut adrift but he certainly wasn’t the last.

As Tratnik and Fortunato established a 45-second lead over the remnants of the break, Ineos tore up the climb, lining out their rivals as the once confident Vlasov sought shelter in the wheels.

With 2.3km to go, Fortunato accelerated away from his final companion but further down the climb the GC contenders were hanging onto Ineos’ coattails. Remco Evenepoel was the next rider to slip back, while Davide Formolo also shipped considerable time. When Daniel Martinez took over, the maglia rosa group was down to less than a dozen riders but it was Yates – who has been rather subdued thus far in the race – who split the group completely as Hugh Carthy, Caruso, Buchmann and Vlasov failed to follow.

At first, Bernal seemed content to simply follow the BikeExchange rider but inside the final few hundred metres the race leader struck for home, cutting through what was left of the break to finish fourth on the stage and put 11 seconds into Yates on the line.

How it unfolded

As with so many stages at this year’s the main break of the day took time to form but when it did finally escape the clutches of the peloton it contained some serious firepower with Andrii Ponomar (Androni), Jan Tratnik (Bahrain Victorious), Remy Rochas (Cofidis), Vincenzo Albanese (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team), Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team), George Bennett (Jumbo Visma), Edoardo Alfini (Jumbo Visma), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar Team), Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo), Jacopo Mosca (Trek Segafredo), and Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) moving clear.

Mollema and Bennett were the obvious standout riders in the break, and each rider had a supporting act with Mosca and Affini part of the group as the move built up a seven minute lead with 150km to go.

Astana Premier-Tech, who started the day with Vlasov in second place overall, quickly took up the duty of controlling the peloton with Bernal’s Ineos squad allowed to surf wheels as the race approached the first major ascent of the day, the category 2 Forcella di Monte Rest.

By that point the break had established a lead of 8:23 but at the summit, with Mollema leading over the top, the advantage has dropped to just shy of six minutes.

On the descent Astana pressed home their aggression with Luis Leon Sanchez, Vlasov Gorka Izagirre, and Harold Tejada all attacking. Bernal and Castroviejo were quick to follow with Bello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) as panic rained down on the rest of the peloton. Team DSM and EF were forced into a frantic chase with the gap out to almost 30 seconds and with just over 40km remaining there was a slight regrouping in the valley. One rider who missed the boat was Evenepoel, who was caught out and needed the help of his entire team before eventually making contact.

There was still no let up from Astana, however, with Vlasov’s team remaining on the front of the vastly reduced maglia rosa group as they GC contenders raced along the valley and towards the Monte Zoncalon.

Heading towards the daunting Zoncolan the break held a six-minute lead over the bunch with Ineos Grenadiers content to let Astana once more control the pace.