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Giro d'Italia stage 15 - Live coverage

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Ciccone solos to a breakaway win as Ineos Grenadiers control GC group behind

Stage 15 Giro d'Italia 2022 profile

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia as the race heads into the Alps. Have you recovered from the non-stop action of yesterday's race to Turin yet?

45 minutes to the start in Rivarolo Canavese and the remaining 159 riders are signing in for stage 15 this morning.

If you needed a reminder of what went on yesterday, here's our stage 14 report...

The action was non-stop yesterday, with a 50km battle for a breakaway which lasted around 30km before Bora-Hansgrohe blew the race apart, then a long GC fight over hilly circuit on the final 70km.

Here's a look at the climbs on the menu today. Click here for a zoomed-in view

The riders will take on 90km of mostly flat roads (though heading slightly uphill all the time) before they hit any of the big mountains though.

Diego Rosa (Eolo-Kometa) remains in blue after taking nine points yesterday. He's on 92 points to Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) on 69.

The first-category climbs of Pila and Verrogne offer up 40-18-12-9-6-4-2-1 points while the second-category summit finish at Cogne offers 18-8-6-4-2-1 points. 

"On the day when anything could happen, almost everything did. For two weeks, the favourites for this Giro had been measured in their approach, carefully meting out their efforts and limiting their exposure. Then, in the space of 147 dizzying kilometres in the hills around Turin, the previous logic of the Giro seemed to collapse upon itself."

Here's what they're all fighting for (well, not all of them at this point)...

Before we begin stage 15 – there's around 15 minutes to go before the riders roll out – why not check out our rider of the day from stage 14?

Under 10 minutes to the start of the roll out now. The riders will roll through a 4.6km neutral zone before the flag drops and the stage gets underway.

Of course, we have a new race leader today in Richard Carapaz. "The last week will be very competitive and pretty complicated," he said after stage 14.

A good reception for Carapaz as he leaves the bus and heads to the start of the stage this morning.

Moments away from the start now...

And here we go! The riders have rolled out to start the neutral zone.

We're just waiting for the riders to get through to km0 and then see the battle for today's breakaway.

177km to go

More riders try to make it out front. Arnaud Démare is up there!

Maglia azzurra Diego Rosa is also among those fighting up front, unsurprisingly.

174km to go

Vanhoucke and Covi are joined by Groupama-FDJ man Clement Davy.

They're around 10 seconds up on the peloton as riders still try to get away behind.

A crash in the peloton! Maglia rosa Carapaz is involved.

Carapaz falls onto the grass at the side of the road. Maybe 7 or 8 more went down and more were held up. Guillaume Martin, Simon Yates, and Fernando Gaviria were also involved.

It doesn't look like anybody is seriously hurt after that. Riders all back up and running pretty quickly.

170km to go

20 seconds from them to the peloton. Another 40 seconds back to the small group with Carapaz who were held up in the crash.

Trek-Segafredo lead more attacks from the peloton.

It shouldn't be any problem for Carapaz and the rest to get back on. Just a bit of energy wasted early on, though.

David de la Cruz and Diego Rosa among those attacking now.

Three Ineos men dropped back to help Carapaz. The group is just about to rejoin the peloton.

166km to go

A large mix of riders from different teams now trying to push on from the peloton.

Now it's just 12 seconds to Covi, Davy, and Vanhoucke.

Trek, QuickStep, Eolo, Alpecin, Jumbo all sending men up front to attack.

161km to go

Now it's over for the leading trio.

Davide Ballerini up front in the peloton along with a couple of Jumbo riders.

Still no separation between the riders trying to attack and the peloton.

KOM leader Diego Rosa still up there trying to make the break.

EF and Israel also active up front.

Trek and Bora are also trying.

A few riders have clipped off the front now, just a few seconds up ahead.

57kph speeds as the riders keep attacking at the front. It's a hard start to the day after yesterday's stage.

Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) among the attackers.

152km to go

Now it's all back together again...

150km to go

A shot of the crash earlier on, with Carapaz involved.

Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè making a move now. Jumbo, QuickStep, Bahrain behind.

Alpecin, Movistar, Astana... An endless list of teams attempting to get involved at the front.

145km to go

Hugh Carthy on the move now but still nobody is getting any separation from the peloton.

Natnael Tesfatsion up there, too.

Cofidis, Bardiani, AG2R trying now. Almost 40km done and we haven't really been close to a break going...

A couple of riders have a few seconds.

Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani) have a few seconds.

Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) has made it across now.

137km to go

Diego Camargo (EF) leading more riders on the attack.

15 seconds for the leading quintet.

Yesterday the breakaway didn't go until the 50km mark, and then Bora-Hansgrohe ended up bringing it back 30km later anyway. We've already passed the 40km mark today.

Oier Lazkano (Movistar) stops with some paper/plastic lodged in his rear derailleur.

133km to go

Drone Hopper, Astana, Jumbo, EF all have riders at the front of the peloton still trying to attack.

The five up front are losing some time now. It's down to 10 seconds as more attacks fly behind.

128km to go

They have 10 seconds now as another group goes. De Marchi, Covi, Ballerini are on the move. Another 10 seconds back to the peloton.

Is this going to be the end of the moves? Covi, De Marchi and Ballerini making it across would make it eight up front and eight teams represented...

124km to go

Now the pace ups again in the peloton and the gap goes down again...

Démare is at the front of the peloton currently.

19 seconds between the leaders and the chasers. 10 seconds back to the peloton from the chasers.

A few riders get across to the chase group but they're all back in the peloton now.

Nope, a few more riders move away from the peloton to join the Covi, De Marchi, Ballerini group.

119km to go

12 seconds between the lead group and the peloton.

The chase group is just a few seconds up on the peloton and it now has around 10 riders in it. Edoardo Affini and Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma) are in there, as is Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama-FDJ).

Still 13 seconds to the breakaway riders.

The average speed of the first hour: 51.9kph

Now the lead quintet have been brought back. All together once again...

Astana, DSM, Lotto make moves.

More and more riders make the jump off the front. It's barely worth working out all the names because nothing seems to be sticking.

KOM competitors Koen Bouwman and Diego Rosa are up there, though.

Carthy, Yates, Rosa, Bouwman, Van der Poel, Ciccone all in this latest attack group.

Ciccone pushing on at the front. A few small hills here for riders to jump away on.

The front group looks to be around 15 or so riders here. Not far ahead of the peloton, though.

Ciccone, Vansevenant going off the front of the attack group.

111km to go

All back together again.

A downhill run and still more riders are trying to jump away. But now there's something of a stand-off at the front as everybody looks around.

Holmes, Tejada, Mollema, Kudus all towards the front as riders continue to try and break away.

Kudus solo out front, just a few seconds ahead of the peloton.

Thymen Arensman also making a move at the front.

103km to go

Diego Rosa is out the back of the peloton, meanwhile. A mechanical issue?

Not sure what the issue is with Rosa there.

Up front, five men have a small gap. Arensman, Kudus, Craddock are in there.

Seven or eight men try to go from the peloton in response.

Kudus, Craddock and Arensman are joined in the move by Fetter and Rochas.

Rosa is still out the back of the peloton. He's riding behind his team car.

Now around 15 men off the front of the peloton behind that lead quintet.

Almost 80km of fighting for the breakaway now...

100km to go

Only 11 seconds between the five leaders and the peloton. Diego Rosa is 1:30 down...

Ah that timing is way off. He's at the back of the peloton now.

At the moment the situation is: group of five out front, a larger group of maybe 20-25 riders, then the peloton.

1:15 from the leaders to the peloton.

97km to go

Van der Poel is in there but we don't have a full list of riders yet.

Bike changes for Nibali and Carapaz in the peloton. It's calmed down in the peloton as riders take natural breaks and take on food and drink.

2:35 between the large breakaway and peloton now.

Ok, just noting down the full list of breakaway riders...

87km to go

4:10 back to the peloton.

De Bondt leads the way through the intermediate sprint. Not far to the bottom of the climb to Pila now.

The break begins the climb now, 4:30 up on the peloton.

82km to go

Already riders are dropping out the rear of the peloton. Démare is back there with his teammate Konovalovas.

More sprinters, including Mark Cavendish, also drop out the back.

81km to go

Eight Dutchmen in the break, by far the most dominant nationality in the move.

Here's the profile of this climb, by the way. 12.3km at 6.9%.

Van der Poel is now pushing on at the front of the break up this mountain!

78km to go

Pedrero, Craddock, De la Cruz out the rear of the group as a result of that. Van den Berg was also struggling out the back.

I think they're all making it back on, though. It looks like things are back together.

I think Van den Berg is gone for good.

De Bondt is hanging at the rear of the breakaway group.

77km to go

Thymen Arensman is the best-placed man in GC out in the breakaway. He's at 11:47 down, actually in 15th place so a decent position after yesterday's carnage.

Bouwman pushes on at the front now. He has a gap on the rest of the break.

75km to go

40 seconds for Bouwman now. 2km to the top of the climb and 40 points for him.

A shot of the breakaway before Bouwman (right) took off. Rochas and Carthy to his right.

52 seconds for Bouwman now. He's set to ride into blue here.

He heads into the final metres of the climb.

40 points for Bouwman over the first-cat climb of Pila.

It looks like Van den Berg and Craddock are the only men to drop from the break so far. There are so many riders there that it's hard to tell exactly...

Tesfatsion and Denz were second and third over the top of the climb.

70km to go

So, Bouwman has 109 points now. Rosa is on 92. 

50 seconds between Bouwman and the rest. Five minutes back to the peloton.

The rest of the break are closing in on the descent. Bouwman's advantage is down to 42 seconds now.

Van der Poel leads the breakaway group down the descent. He and a DSM rider are off the front.

62km to go

Van der Poel and Tusveld have made it across to Bouwman at the bottom of the descent!

The riders head through the regional capital of Aosta before heading back uphill now.

48 seconds between the three leaders and the rest. 5:10 back to the peloton.

57km to go

The gap to the rest of the break has gone up to 1:20 on this flat stretch now.

The gap is only growing to the rest of the break as the leaders start the climb to Verrogne.

Movistar lead the main breakaway group in the chase.

Rojas leading the work.

The pace has gone up on the climb and the chasing group is cutting into the lead. 1:15 now.

52km to go

Mollema, Tesfatsion, Arensman all surprisingly dropped.

Sosa also dropped.

Kudus working hard on the front of that group. One minute up to the three leaders now.

Here's the full makeup of the chase group...

50km to go

Ineos certainly aren't going to push the pace today. They seem fully in control, though. Unless someone else, such as Bora-Hansgrohe, take it up, it looks like it'll be a quiet GC day.

Ciccone and Buitrago attack from the chasing break group.

Carthy is trying to get across.

40 seconds between Bouwman-Van der Poel-Tusveld to Ciccone-Buitrago.

Carthy and Pedrero make it across to Ciccone and Buitrago.

49km to go

Out front it's Tusveld leading as Bouwman hangs back a little.

Pedrero is coming across. Carthy nowhere.

Six minutes back to the peloton.

Ciccone, Buitrago, and Pedrero are close to making the bridge to the three leaders.

Bouwman is dropped from the lead trio!

He looked all set to add to his KOM lead here. Now he's back with the three chasers.

Bouwman is totally done. He's dropped by the chase group.

Ciccone and co make the junction and the Italian immediately accelerates.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM) up front now.

47km to go

Ciccone accelerates again!

Buitrago gets back on quickly. Tusveld and Pedrero follow.

Costa still plugging away behind them.

Now UAE have come to the front of the peloton. Diego Ulissi and João Almeida take it up.

They have Formolo somewhere up the road and Rui Costa too.

Tusveld dropped at the front.

Costa is now 25 seconds down, meanwhile. Is he knocking it off a bit? Or can he just not follow.

Ciccone putting the most moves into this group at the front. It looks like he has the best legs so far.

45km to go

Carthy is making his way back to Costa. They're 40 seconds behind the leaders.

The leaders are Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar)

Formolo is back in the peloton, putting on a high pace and his usual pain face. Ineos still up there alongside UAE.

43km to go

Pedrero, Buitrago, and Ciccone still working well together.

Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) jumps from the peloton.

Up front, Buitrago is the only man with any mountain points. He has one in total, so 108 down on Bouwman...

Bradley Wiggins is on the Eurosport moto during the Giro.

42km to go

Martin has 35 seconds on the peloton, which has really been slimmed down in recent kilometres. Maybe 30-35 men left.

Ineos are well in the lead of the peloton now.

Costa also drops back as Carthy heads out alone.

Carthy gets across to make it four out front. Costa is 15 seconds back.

40km to go

The final climb is 22.4km long. Around 13km of descent and then a bit of flat left to go before the riders hit that.

Martin passes Van der Poel on the road. Now he's a minute up on the peloton.

Martin is 12th overall at 9:44. He's almost six minutes down on ninth place though.

All the main GC men are still in the peloton.

Martin is up with Cherel and Arensman as he starts the descent just under a minute up on the peloton.

34km to go

Tusveld leaving Costa behind a little on the descent now. They're reportedly within 10 seconds of the leaders now.

Martin, meanwhile, still hangs a minute on the peloton.

28km to go

5:50 from the front back to the peloton.

Tusveld and Costa make it across to Ciccone, Carthy, Buitrago, and Pedrero at the bottom of the descent.

Ineos Grenadiers continue their control of the peloton.

Just a few kilometres left until the start of the climb.

25km to go

The leaders are just a few hundred metres from the start of the climb now.

Here's the final climb. It's not exactly the hardest summit finish we'll ever see. 

Ciccone, Buitrago, Pedrero, Carthy, and Tusveld start the climb.

21km to go

Buitrago reacts. Carthy comes next.

Ciccone, Buitrago, and Carthy up front. Pedrero, Tusveld, and Costa couldn't respond.

Now Carthy pushes on a little more.

The first 9km of the climb are run at around a 7% average, with a kilometre of descent in the middle. 

Buitrago drops away from Ciccone and Carthy a little.

20km to go

Pedrero leaves behind Tusveld and Costa.

19km to go

Ciccone attacks again! Carthy can't respond.

The Italian has looked the strongest man from the break for some time, so this is no surprise.

18km to go

The peloton is six minutes down. Martin still a minute up on the group.

Ciccone only gaining time here. Up to 20 seconds now.

30 seconds for Ciccone now. He's powering on.

17km to go

If he keeps on going like this Ciccone is going to win the stage easily.

Ineos continue to control the peloton. Nothing going on there.

15km to go

Martin now has 1:30 on the peloton. He's on track to move up a few places here.

14km to go

Well, it's around a minute from Ciccone to Carthy and Buitrago now. Giro d'Italia timing..

Easy job for me so far on this final climb because there's not really much going on now.

Ciccone is heading onto the softer gradients now.

Now Pedrero is closing in on Carthy.

We haven't had any photos from the race for a while, so here's a look at Ciccone in the larger breakaway earlier on.

11km to go

Martin is 5:25 down on Ciccone. The peloton is 7:05 down.

1:10 between Ciccone and Buitrago now.

10km to go

Still 1:10 for Ciccone. It would take a disaster for him to lose out now.

Will anything happen in the peloton? It's hard to imagine on these shallower slopes. Maybe someone will have a go, though.

8km to go

Martin is set to leapfrog Jan Hirt and Alejandro Valverde from 12th to 10th today.

7km to go

Buitrago is almost a kilometre down the road.

1:30 for Ciccone now. No action in the peloton yet.

5km to go

This final climb didn't look particularly exciting on paper and boy has it lived up to that expectation... I don't know if many fans are going to remember the summit finish of Cogne in years to come.

Well, the Italian fans certainly will, at least. Plenty out on the road to cheer on Ciccone to this stage win.

3.5km to go

A shot of Ciccone getting cheered on by some of the fans lower down the mountain.

3km to go

2km to go

A shot of Ciccone going solo up this final climb.

1km to go

Ciccone rides the final metres.

Just over four-and-a-half hours of racing.

Ciccone celebrates as he approaches the finish.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) wins stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia

Ciccone bursts into tears after finishing.

Buitrago takes second place.

And Pedrero takes third at over two minutes back.

Carthy is fourth at over three minutes.

The remains of the breakaway trail home, four, five minutes down..

Guillaume Martin coming home now.

Martin finishes at 6:06 down.

The glasses throw at the finish from Ciccone! A tradition for him after doing it when he won stage 16 in 2019.

7:49 for the peloton as they cross the line. Almost two minutes for Martin! He'll move into 10th.

Fabio Felline (Astana Qazaqstan) and Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) led the peloton home ahead of Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).

Here's what Ciccone had to say after the stage...

The 26-man peloton all came in at 7:48, no time gaps. No major names lost time today.

Here's a link to our brief report, including results and a gallery of the action today.

Ciccone celebrates his third career stage win on the podium

Another day in pink for Richard Carapaz tomorrow. He wasn't put in any trouble today.

Here's Bouwman in blue after he led the way over the first climb of the day. 

João Almeida remains in the white young riders jersey.

Finally, Arnaud Démare remains in the points jersey.

Our full report is up along with an even fuller gallery. Check it out here

Here's a look at Ciccone's final kilometre today...

Carthy: I'm happy things are turning around at the Giro d'Italia

Giro d'Italia: GC standings after stage 15

Here's a photo of Carapaz celebrating with a Wolfie cuddly toy as we await more news from the Giro d'Italia today

We'll have news and reaction from Carapaz, Nibali, Ciccone, Almeida, and more...

Almeida angry after Ineos Grenadiers let gaps open in overall contenders' sprint

Nibali: Tailwind meant it was pointless to attack on stage 15 of Giro d'Italia

Carapaz survives early crash to retain seven-second lead at Giro d'Italia

A tale of two Sundays as Giulio Ciccone saves his Giro d'Italia in Cogne

That's all for us today. We'll have more news and reaction coming later and of course more tomorrow from the rest day press conferences. 

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