Giro d'Italia: Gilbert wins stage 18 in Verbania

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Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team) won his second stage of the Giro d’Italia, finishing alone in Verbania on stage 18 of the race. Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani-CSF) led home the remnants of an early break with Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) third.

Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) increased his lead in the overall rankings, but not without controversy. When his closest rival Mikel Landa (Astana) was caught up by a crash on the day’s only climb of the Monte Olongo, Contador took off from the front of the field, attacking to leave his rivals in disarray.

The move appeared to be revenge for the Motirolo stage, where Astana attacked when Contador punctured. Contador admitted with a laugh to being "a little" tired, calling it a "tough" day.

"The climb, that was was a time trial for me," he said. "Hopefully I can now recover quickly for the stage tomorrow.”

The Tinkoff-Saxo leader turned serious about his attack, however, without actually answering his own question.

“Whether my attack was revenge for Tuesday, when Astana profited from my puncture?" he asked. "My team rode hard, because the approach to the climb was dangerous."

Contador opened up a two minute gap on the field during the 10 kilometre climb and not even a mechanical could hold him back. Landa eventually regained contact with the main chase group that contained the rest of the GC top 10 contenders and although Aru briefly struggled, Astana set about chasing Contador on the long run-in to the finish.

The Spaniard had been joined by Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) at the summit of the Monte Olongo and the pair – along with Davide Villella – maintained their advantage before a late rally saw the Landa and Aru group claw back time.

Landa and Aru finished 1:15 minutes down on Contador after a frantic chase. The Tinkoff Saxo leader extended his advantage on GC to 5:15 on Landa, with Aru hanging on to third at 6:05.

How it unfolded

The 170km stage from Melide to Verbania had a profile made for a breakaway, however it took 44km for the group to finally form with Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Amael Moinard (BMC), Chad Haga (Giant-Alpecin), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Garmin), Matteo Busato (SouthEast), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge), Sylvain Chavanel (IAM), David De La Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step), Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani CSF), Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2r La Mondiale), Maxim Belkov (Katusha) and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Team Sky) escaping.

Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Fantini) and Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) were part of the original group, but a crash, allegedly with a moto, took them out. Cunego abandoned the race while Ferrari fell back to chasers Jesus Herrada (Movistar) and Fabio Felline (Trek). The three had no chance of joining the leaders and were soon back with the peloton.

Cunego was taken to hospital with a suspected collarbone fracture and a possible concussion. Lotto Soudal’s Stig Broeckx was also diagnosed with a collarbone break and concussion.

The lead group’s gap skyrocketed, hitting the 13-minute mark. None of the riders were a threat to Contador, with the highest ranked being Moinard, who at 15th in GC was 26:21 down.

As the peloton hit the foot of the main climb Tinkoff Saxo set the pace in order to put Contador in the best position. The road narrowed and as riders tried to move up a touch of wheels led to the fall.

Landa was caught behind the crash along with the majority of Team Sky as Tinkoff continued to set the pace. With the Astana leader in trouble Contador appeared to pull alongside his team and order them to put the hammer down. Payback for the Mortirolo in kind. Within a matter of seconds Contador was on the front and without hesitation he lifted the pace once more, immediately dropping the entire field.

The only thing that slowed him was a momentary mechanical problem, but otherwise the race leader continued on as he looked to increase his overall lead.

Now it was Landa’s turn to come from behind, and his valiant chase brought him back to Aru and the rest of the top 10 contenders mid-way up the climb. Up ahead only four riders were still in the lead as they crested the top of the climb, with Bongiorno leading over Moinard, De la Cruz and Siutsou.

Ryder Hesjedal, who won the Giro in 2012, moved up to join Contador and the pair crossed the climb 7:38 after the leaders. Contador and Hesjedal were joined by Villella, who had long since fallen back from the break group, and the Cannondale-Garmin pair led the race leader through the descent.

With 19 km to go, Gilbert had finally worked his way up to the leaders, and almost immediately went on the attack. He was able to quickly put in a good 20 seconds between himself and the others.

“We said this morning on the bus that the break group might have a chance today," Gilbert said. "At the foot of the climb the rest went full out, but I knew that I had to ride my own tempo. When I connected to the front group, I started to attack immediately. Yes, I took risks in the descent, but you have to do that if you want to win a stage in the Giro.”

The Belgian was able to cruise home, taking 30 seconds with him into the final 5km. Bongiorno rolled in for second, and Chavanel won the sprint for third. 

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