Giro d'Italia: Michael Rogers wins on Monte Zoncolan

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Michael Rogers took his second stage victory of the Giro d’Italia, finishing alone at the summit of Monte Zoncolan having seen off all of his rivals in the 20-strong break of the day. Although no one could deny the merit of the Tinkoff-Saxo rider’s success, it is sure to provoke a good deal of controversy as a result of the ridiculous behaviour of a small number of fans on the mountain.

The breakaway had slimmed down quickly on the initial ramps of the Zoncolan, where Rogers and teammate Nicolas Roche were among the pacesetters. Ultimately, the Australian, who had already lashed out at fans encroaching into his path halfway up the final climb, found himself in a head-to-head duel with Bardiani’s Francesco Bongiorno. The pair looked well matched, but their contest was effectively ended 3km from the finish when a fan attempted to push the Italian, but instead almost sent him crashing to the ground.

As Rogers continued on, unaware what had just happened behind him. Bongiorno tried to regain his momentum, but was unable to make up the ground he had unwittingly lost.

Rogers pressed on, looking agonized, but knowing one of the greatest victories of his career lay not too far ahead. He was barely able to keep his bike going in a straight line as he celebrated his victory. He collapsed into the arms of his soigneur and of his team owner Oleg Tinkov just a few metres beyond it. Franco Pellizotti took second place, with Bongiorno a very distraught third.

"It’s always been a dream of mine to win a finish like that. The Zoncolan is certainly in the history of cycling and it’s an absolute honour to win here on top," said Rogers. "The crowd was amazing, the team was amazing. We really wanted to have our last chance at a stage win today, and we did it. I’m really proud."

Asked about the incident with Bongiorno, Rogers said: "I had no idea what was happening behind me. All I was doing was counting down the last kilometres to the line. I enjoyed last 50 metres, but it was so hard before that."

Bongiorno cried with frustration at the finish. "I was just following Michael Rogers and waiting for the right moment to attack. The incident came at the most difficult point on the climb and I completely lost my balance and momentum. It really affected my concentration and rhythm," explained the Italian.

Fans also interfered with members of the maglia rosa group, most notably race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who was practically given a bear hug by one man wrapped in the Colombian flag. Quintana thankfully survived this and went on to finish just ahead of compatriot Rigoberto Urán to put the seal on his overall victory.

Behind the two Colombians, the battle for third place on the podium went to Fabio Aru, who fended off attacks by Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale).

How it unfolded

It took only 10 minutes for the break of the day to come together, The 19 riders who made the cut were Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale), Franco Pellizotti, Jackson Rodriguez (both Androni Giocattoli), Bongiorno, Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin), Mattia Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida), Maxime Monfort (Lotto-Belisol), Yonathan Monsalve, Mattio Rabottini (both Neri Sottoli), Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), Simon Geschke, Georg Preidler (both Giant-Shimano), Pieter Serry (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Maxime Belkov (Katusha), Dario Cataldo (Sky), Rogers, Roche, and Trek Factory Racing’s Danilo Hondo and Riccardo Zoidl. The late arrival of BMC’s Brent Bookwalter (BMC) swelled their ranks to 20.

With so many riders in this move, the peloton was reluctant to give them too much leeway. With 91 of the 167km covered, the 20 riders had an advantage of just 3:21, which encouraged a few riders to break out of the peloton in an effort to bridge the gap. Colombia’s Robinson Chalapud and Lotto’s Tim Wellens eventually managed to achieve this.

After Sky’s Cataldo had led over the first climb of the day, the Passo del Pura, Rogers had a mechanical on the descent. The Tinkoff rider threw his bike to the ground and his hands up in the air in despair, but soon managed to make it back up to the break.

On the Sella Razzo, the second of the day’s three climbs, the escape group began to slim down, but was nevertheless steadily increasing its advantage over the peloton. As the maglia rosa group neared the top of this pass, Europcar went to the front, setting up an attack by their team leader Pierre Rolland, who had his sights set on Aru’s third place. However, Quintana’s Movistar and Aru’s Astana were quick to respond and snuff the danger out.

When the break reached the foot of the 10.9km ascent of the Zoncolan, its advantage had stretched to a stage-winning eight minutes. But who would emerge as the hero of the day?

Wellens pressed then slipped back, as did Giant-Shimano duo Geschke and Preidler. With 6km remaining, Rogers went to the front and was soon lashing out at fans crowding what was now only a three-strong group as Italians Bongiorno and Pellizotti tracked the Aussie. At the 5km banner, Rogers’ pace proved too much for Pellizotti, who slipped back to leave just two men in contention.

The pair stuck together until 3.7km out, when Bongiorno attacked hard. Rogers, though, responded quickly and was soon back at the front. Then the curse of the rainbow jersey hit Bongiorno, in the shape of a fan wearing the world champion’s colours and clearly intent on giving the Italian some assistance. He achieved exactly the opposite.

Back in the maglia rosa group, Igor Antón, the winner the last time the Giro visited the Zoncolan in 2011, set a fierce pace for his Movistar leader Quintana. Like those ahead, as well as the gradient, this group was also battling overly eager fans. Omega Pharma’s Wout Poels yanked the sunglasses off one who got too close and threw them away. Then Quintana had his close encounter.

Soon after Poels started driving the pace up for his leader, Urán. His surge saw off Aru, Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo), Rolland and Pozzovivo. When Poels eventually pulled aside, the two Colombians remained together, Quintana trying to shake off his rival, but Urán refusing to yield. Fittingly, the pair finished almost together, but with Quintana all in pink leading the way home and looking fresher.

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