Giro d'Italia: Nieve wins stage 13

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This Giro d’Italia will always be remembered as a disappointing one for Team Sky after the exit of Mikel Landa, but fellow Spaniard Mikel Nieve provided consolation on stage 13 with a fine solo win in the Julian Alps.

The race’s first foray into the high mountains saw blows traded between the overall contenders, and Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep), dropped on the final climb, was forced to hand his maglia rosa over to Movistar’s Andrey Amador.

Nieve, who won a stage at the Giro five years ago, made his way into the large breakaway on the opening first-category climb before making his stage-winning move on the penultimate ascent – the first-category Cima Porzus. A long solo ride ensued; down the descent, up the final second-category climb of Valle, back down the mountain and then through the flat run-in to Cividale del Fruili.

"After the abandon of Landa, it was very disappointing; the Giro team was of course a little low on morale," said Nieve. "We wanted to win stages and we are very happy to do it today.

"After getting in the break I felt good. I was good on the climbs but the descents were very complicated. Thankfully I managed to get down them on my own."

Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) was second, 43 seconds back, having also been part of the break, the Italian once again choosing to plough on rather than drop back for his teammates, who had pink in their sights.

As it was, his assistance wasn't needed as Amador – who had himself been dropped on the final climb before a frantic chase saw him regain contact just in time for the flat – came home in the GC group 50 seconds ahead of Jungels.

That was enough to put the Costa Rican in pink, 26 seconds ahead of the Luxembourg rider, who crossed the line with teeth gritted after a tough but fruitless chase. With four bonus seconds on the line for third place, the GC favourites sprinted for the line, and it was Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), who snagged them to  jump above Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) into third overall at 41 seconds.

"The truth is I didn't ever imagine this. I didn't think it could happen. I'm really happy to have this jersey," Amador said. "They have always supported me in Costa Rica so this jersey is dedicated to all of them.

"I didn't have the legs I wanted to have today but Alejandro was very strong. I was just trying to get up the last climb steadily at my own rhythm and I am really happy I was able to make it back on."

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The GC tussle

The final 40 kilometres of this stage were always going to be the crucial ones, with the first-category Cima Porzus (8.8km at 8.2 per cent) followed by the second-category Valle (6.2km at 7.8 per cent).

It wasn’t long into the first climb that Astana took it up, putting Jungels’ Etixx teammates, who had been on the front for much of the day, under pressure and beginning the whittling down process. As Astana went down to three men towards the top of the climb, with Michele Scarponi keeping the pace mercilessly high, Jungels found himself at the back of the now heavily reduced group of favourites, but still in there.

Onto the descent and Amador accelerated away, a move that was shadowed immediately by Nibali, and the two opened up a gap as they made their way down the narrow, twisty roads. That group caught most of the breakaway remnants, including early threat Ulissi (10th on GC), and the real shots were set to be fired on the Valle climb.

It was Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), eighth overall, who was author of the first dig. The others were quick to react but road opened up in front of Jungels and his race lead was in real jeopardy for the first time.

Jungels was beginning to steadily pace himself back up when Alejandro Valverde injected some more pace, a move that preceded a stinging attack from Nibali. Primoz Roglic reeled it back in for teammate Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) as the attack saw a number of riders, including Rigberto Uran (Cannondale), Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Amador, and Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale) briefly dropped.

As Jungels tried to get back on with Ryder Hesjedal (Trek-Segafredo) and Darwin Atapuma (BMC), Nibali put in another huge acceleration, but most were quick to respond, apart from Amador and Zakarin, with Jungels only losing more ground.

Onto the steep descent and Zakarin regained contact, while Amador did the same only in the nick of time – just before the start of the flat 7km run-in to the line. Jungels went hell for leather on the descent in a desperate bid to hold onto pink and he hit the flat with a deficit of nearly a minute. Hoping to use his rouleur capabilities – along with the resurgent teammate Gianluca Brambilla – to close the gap, he gave it everything, but was powerless to prevent pink from slipping away.

A chaotic start

It was a fast and furious start to the day as the opening 40-odd flat kilometres saw a drawn-out tussle between the peloton and breakaway hopefuls. Many tried their luck but it wasn’t until the first intermediate sprint point that anything stuck.

Several sprinters found themselves in a group that swelled to 30 going onto the Montemaggiore, and Etixx-QuickStep found themselves on the back foot. As more riders tried their luck and things became chaotic, they had to really up the pace, with Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida) – 10th on GC at 2:47 at the start of the day – the principal concern.

Stefan Denifl (IAM) punched clear at the head of the race, going solo and cresting the climb with nearly a minute’s advantage. The Austrian enjoyed a lengthy spell out front, taking risks on the descent and consolidating his advantage on the second climb of the day – the second-category Crai. However, for some reason, he pulled up at the side of the road on the next downhill and was swallowed back into the break.

Visconti took the remaining KOM points at the first climb from blue jersey Damiano Cunego (Nippo Vini Fantini) but the situation was reversed on the second. It was Lampre, with some help from Cannondale, driving things to pile the pressure on Etixx and they hit the flat 30km section before the final two climbs with a lead of around three minutes.

Nieve’s move

With the break two minutes ahead of the pink jersey group going onto the Cima Porzus, Nieve soon made his move. He was followed for a short while by Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale) until the young American was unable to hold the pace. That was the cue for the breakaway to be blown to smithereens and many were dropped for good, while Nieve ploughed on solo with assuredness.

He crested first climb with a gap of half a minute over Dombrowski and Visconti, who had jumped across, and held that all the way down the mountain, as Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale) caught the chasing duo.

He held firm, too, on the flat, and while Visconti looked disgruntled, Nieve could celebrate the third Grand Tour stage win of his career.

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