Giro d'Italia: Chaves wins stage 14 in Corvara

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What had been hyped as a battle between Alejandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali for the maglia rosa took on a very different aspect in the final kilometres of the Giro d'Italia’s 'queen' stage into Corvara. Rather than these former Grand Tour winners, it was Estebán Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) and Steven Kruiswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) who took the headlines.

The beaming Colombian Chaves won the stage, outsprinting the Dutchman and Georg Preidler (Giant-Alpecin), who had been in the break of the day along with BMC's Darwin Atapuma, who was just behind them in fourth.

"I'm really happy. Winning the queen stage in the Giro is really special. This is not only for me, but for the team, who worked really well today. All the guys, the mechanics, soigneurs, people away from the race at the office. Orica-GreenEdge is a big family, thanks to Shayne Bannan, everyone," Chaves said.

"Everyone was riding at their limits. Kruisjwijk started his attack, then I tried to follow. It was a steep climb, and then when we saw Nibali was dropped we started to work together. There's a lot of this Giro left. This is great but we'll see what happens tomorrow."

With Nibali more than half a minute in arrears and race leader Andrey Amador almost four minutes down, Kruiswijk took the maglia rosa from the Costa Rican. He now leads Nibali by 41 seconds, with Chaves at 1:32 and Valverde, the day's big loser, fourth at 3:06.

“I knew I was with Esteban [Chaves], and for the sprint, I knew that he was very fast," Kruijswijk said. "I think I had in my mind to gain more time on my competitors for the GC and it worked out pretty good. I felt really good all day. I knew that this kind of stage would suit me pretty good, after the first mountain stage we had yesterday. Today, I could attack and really had some good power. I was lucky that I had Esteban with me and we could work together. I'm happy to get the pink jersey."

The stage of six mighty climbs came to the boil on the last of them, the second-category Valparola. It was here that Atapuma made his bid for the day's spoils by dropping breakaway companions Preidler and Kanstantsin Siutsou (Dimension Data). Meanwhile, a kilometre or so back down the mountain, the battle for the pink jersey began to rage.

• Complete live report (as it happened)
• Highlights (video)
• Finish line quotes

Nibali made the first thrust, accelerating off the wheel of loyal lieutenant Michele Scarponi. Valverde was right on his wheel, but didn't respond. Kruiswijk and Chaves were next line and did react, very quickly bridging up to the Astana leader. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha), Rigoberto Urán (Cannondale) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) also made the junction but only after a much longer effort.

No sooner had this trio joined Nibali, Kruiswijk and Chaves than the Colombian attacked. Nibali reeled him in, but couldn't respond when Kruiswijk immediately countered and Chaves breezed across to the Dutchman.

Atapuma crested the Valparola with a 35-second advantage on Preidler and Siutsou, who turned to see Kruiswijk and Chaves joining them as they reached the summit. Nibali was another 30 seconds behind. The group containing race leader Amador and his team leader Valverde didn't appear for another two minutes.

BMC’s Darwin Atapuma was in the break but finished fourth, caught in the final 2km

BMC's Atapuma zipped down from the Valparola and began the final five-kilometre climb to the finish at Corvara with his lead just 21 seconds on Kruiswijk, Chaves and Preidler as Siutsou slipped back. The Colombian held his advantage on the steep initial slopes, but in the short dip and gentler gradients that followed the three chasers closed in on him and got on terms with the Colombian just two kilometres short of the line.

Just before the left-hander into the finishing straight, Preidler went to the front of the group and it was the Austrian who opened up the sprint from 200 metres out. But, as they had shown in dropping the other favourites, Chaves and Kruiswijk are currently the race's strongest riders and they made that edge tell.

Chaves swept by on Preidler's left to claim the stage win, with Kruiswijk right on his wheel and destined for the pink jersey as the Austrian thumped his bars with frustration.

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How it unfolded

With six climbs on the menu and the mountains jersey among the prizes still very much up for grabs, the first hour of racing was frantic as riders tried to follow pre-stage instructions to infiltrate the break of the day. It finally formed 45 kilometres into the 210km stage, when the peloton split and 37 riders went clear.

Among its most notable members were the leader of the mountains competition Damiano Cunego, who had Nippo-Vini Fantini teammate Giacomo Berlato for company, Nibali's Astana teammate Andrey Zeits (Astana), Stefan Denifl (IAM Cycling), Lampre-Merida quartet Diego Ulissi, Valerio Conti, Sacha Modolo and Manuele Mori, Lotto-Soudal trio Tim Wellens, Pim Ligthart and Maxime Monfort, Movistar's Carlos Betancur and José Herrada, Orica's Rubén Plaza, Sky’s David López and Nicolas Roche (Sky), and Preidler, Atapuma and Siutsou.

The first climb on the menu was the Pordoi, where Berlato was most prominent, setting the pace for Cunego. Approaching the summit, Denifl attacked to take maximum points but found Cunego was more than a match for him.

Next up was the Passo Sella, where Sky's López made a very early bid for glory. The Spanish climber pushed on alone to take maximum points at the summit. By this point the Movistar-led bunch was 7-13 down.

López's solo escapade soon ended as several riders bridged up to him on the third climb, the Gardena pass. Here, Orica veteran Plaza, a stage winner at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España last year, went clear, cresting the summit with a lead of 48 seconds.

As Plaza flew up the Gardena, another veteran, Trek-Segafredo's Ryder Hesjedal called an end to his race. Struck down by stomach problems, the Canadian quit while holding a place in the top 15.

Damiano Cunego on the attack

Having pushed his lead out to almost two minutes at the front of the race, Plaza's effort came unstuck on the fearsome Passo Giau. Dimension Data's Siutsou led the pursuit of the Spaniard, with Atapuma, Preidler and Roche on his wheel. By the time Siutsou and Atapuma caught Plaza, they had distanced Preidler and Roche, and the agonized Plaza soon slipped off their wheels as well.

Back in the bunch, Astana took over pacemaking duties from Movistar, their acceleration having an almost immediate effect. They quickly cut the two leaders' advantage to five minutes from nine, their pace proving too much for best young rider Bob Jungels and, very surprisingly, Astana number two Jakob Fuglsang. After swinging on the back of the line for some time, race leader Amador fell back too, leaving just a dozen riders in the group of favourites.

Atapuma led Siutsou over the Giau, where their advantage on the group of favourites headed by Astana's Michele Scarponi was a little over four minutes. Amador reached the summit 50 seconds later with a trio of Nibali's Astana domestiques glued to his wheel.

On the long descent off the Giau, Preidler bridged back up to the two leaders, while maglia rosa Amador achieved the same feat and rejoined the other favourites just before they started up the Valparola, the final categorized climb of the day.

It was the scene for the most significant battle of the race so far and, ultimately, its greatest surprise as Kruiswijk and Chaves left the big favourites reeling.  

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