Giro d'Italia: Simon Yates takes his third stage win in Sappada

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Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) became the first man since Gilberto Simoni in 2003 to win three stages while wearing the maglia rosa at the Giro d'Italia, riding into Sappada solo to extend his overall race lead. Miguel Ángel López (Astana) took second, 41 seconds behind, while Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) rounded off the top three and salvaged four bonus seconds.

After a fast-paced day it was Yates who once again took the initiative in the finale, attacking on the final classified climb of day, 17km from the line. As Chris Froome (Team Sky) dropped away - eventually losing 1:32 after yesterday’s efforts on Monte Zoncolan - nobody had an answer for Yates as he rode away with apparent ease.

A disorganised chase among the select GC group only meant that Yates piled on the seconds out front. Meanwhile, his main rival Dumoulin was dropped before working his back for the sprint. The flatter final kilometres saw a stronger chase, and some time taken back, but the damage was done as far as Yates was concerned.

“It was a bit of instinct,” said Yates of his stage-winning attack. “When we came off the descent I saw there was a bit of a gap to a few guys, so I asked Jack [Haig] to really push the pace. It was basically very hard from the bottom and I still felt good so I chose my moment to go.”

“They responded the first time, and then I gave everything the second time and managed to get away.”

“It’s a good gap, but he [Dumoulin] could take two minutes out of me in the TT in one stage,” he added. “I’ve been fighting since Israel to have a good gap. I have a good gap now - I’m happy with that gap. But it could vanish in 35km, so we’ll see.”

Today’s result means that Yates heads into the Giro’s final rest day leading Dumoulin by 2:11, with Domenico Pozzovivo lying in third, 2:28 down. Chris Froome’s bad day leaves him in seventh, 4:52 behind his compatriot.

How it happened

After yesterday’s fearsome finish on Monte Zoncolan, more mountains were on the menu for stage 15 as the race headed into the Dolomites for a day. Rather than face the biggest names of the Dolomites (there was no Fedaia, Giau, Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Gardena, Pordoi), three second category climbs and one third category climb filled out the 176km stage.

First up came the third category Passo della Mauria at 48.4km (8.9km at 4.4 per cent), then after two intermediate sprints the Passo Tre Croci (8km at 7.3 per cent) at 110.6km. The final 40km then featured the Passo di Sant’Antonio (8.4km at 7.5 per cent) after 146.9km and finally the Costalissio (3.8km at 9 per cent), just 15.4km from the line. An unclassified climb featured before the finish in Sappada, with 4km at 6.6 per cent, before a rolling final 2.5km.

A busy, fast-paced start to the stage saw several groups of riders attempt a breakaway before Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale) got away over the first climb of the day, 45km into the stage. Over the next 20 or so kilometres, there were waves of attacks out of the peloton as dozens of riders tried to get away.

After 70km the day’s break was finally established, with 25 riders up the road. Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF), Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain-Merida), Dayer Quintana (Movistar), Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) and Diego Ulissi (UAE-Team Emirates) were among the notable names to make the large group.

EF-Drapac set up a long-range Michael Woods attack on Tre Croci, bringing the three-minute gap to the break down to around a minute. He would be caught just 25km later though, as Mitchelton-Scott took up the work.

Up front the break had fractured, with Ciccone, Quintana, Nico Denz and Mickaël Cherel (both AG2R La Mondiale) forming a lead group as Ciccone led over the top of the climb. After the descent Visconti bridged across, making it a group of five.

Fabio Aru (UAE-Team Emirates) was an early casualty in the GC group, dropping 30km from the end on the Sant’Antonio. On the Costalissio, an upping of the pace saw Zoncolan victor Chris Froome (Team Sky) dropped as last man from the break Denz was finally caught.

Yates went on the irregular Costalissio, attacking with 18km to go before going solo a kilometre later. At the top of the climb his advantage was 25 seconds, with Froome languishing over a minute behind. On the final unclassified rise to Sappada, Yates stretched his advantage even further as the chase group struggled to organise.

Richard Carapaz (Movistar) tried an attack in the final 4km, dropping Dumoulin - who had done much of the work to that point. Then came a regrouping but the damage had been done, and Yates was able to savour yet another Giro stage victory.

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