Giro d'Italia: Cataldo wins stage 15 from breakaway

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Dario Cataldo (Astana) claimed victory from a two-man breakaway on stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia, as Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) suffered a mechanical and a crash and lost 40 seconds to race leader Richard Carapaz (Movistar) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).

While Cataldo was picking off his day-long companion Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli) in a two-up sprint in Como, Nibali and Carapaz were baring down in the home straight. Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and Hugh Carthy (EF Education First) were with them, taking third and fourth, respectively, on the stage, but there were gaps to the rest of the overall contenders.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Mikel Landa (Movistar) finished in a small group of five, 25 seconds down on Nibali and Carapaz, but the damage was worse for Roglic, who crossed the line with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) a further 15 seconds down.

The Slovenian endured a torrid time on a parcours inspired by Il Lombardia, and it was Nibali, right at home as a two-time winner of that autumn Monument – on the Como route no less – who piled on the pressure.

Roglic was stripped of support over the Madonna del Ghisallo and Colma di Sormano, and ran into trouble alongside the shores of Lake Como as a mechanical problem forced him onto teammate Antwan Tolhoek’s bike. On the final climb of the Civiglio, he was unable to respond when Nibali launched a stinging acceleration.

Having crested the climb on his ill-fitting bike with a deficit of 15 seconds, he ran into more trouble on the descent. While Nibali glided down, distancing Carapaz in the process, Roglic overcooked a right right-hand turn and crashed into a roadside barrier. He picked himself up and fought on to the finish but his favourite status, which looked so secure at the start of the week, was dealt another blow.

He remains second overall but now Carapaz leads the general classification by some 47 seconds. Nibali remains 1:47 down on Carapaz but is now just one minute behind Roglic. Majka and Landa remain fourth and fifth overall, now at 2:35 and 3:15, respectively. Mollema remains sixth, with Jan Polanc still seventh, while Yates gained a small chunk of time for a second day to leapfrog Pavel Sivakov (Ineos) into eighth. Lopez rounds out the top 10 at 5:55.

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How it unfolded

Stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia saw the race leave the high mountains, but there was still potential for drama as the route drew on the parcours for Il Lombardia, featuring the Ghisallo, Sormano – albeit the ‘easier side’ - and Civiglio climbs that form most of the finale of the ‘Race of the Falling Leaves’ when it finishes in Como. The stage was long, at 232km, with some 160km of largely flat roads before the hilly terrain north of Milan. The parcours seemed apt for breakaway success but only Cataldo and Cattaneo went up the road.

They only did so with difficulty, after a frantic start run off at nearly 50km/h, but eventually the peloton sat up and they began to build a handsome advantage. Movistar controlled the peloton but were hardly chasing, and the gap grew and grew, reaching a maximum of 16 minutes with just over 100km remaining. At that point, it was now or never for the teams interested in a stage win, and Mitchelton-Scott duly came to the fore and lifted the pace considerably. They worked almost all the way to the foot of the Ghisallo with 67km to go, at which point the deficit had been reduced to eight minutes.

The peloton had split on the downhill run-in to the climb and Roglic was already a couple of teammates down. Movistar took back control on the lower section of the climb – 8.6km at 5.6 per cent – but towards the top Yates and his teammate Lucas Hamilton took the reins. Despite a brief flyer from Jan Bakelants (Sunweb), the climb passed without great action and the reduced peloton crested 6:52 in arrears of the two breakaway men.

A brief descent took them to the Colma di Sormano – 9.6km at 6.6 per cent – where Hamilton continued his charge, paving the way for an early onslaught from Yates. He kicked once and was swiftly followed by Landa and Carapaz before the rest of the favourites dragged themselves across as the bunch was decimated. When he kicked for a second time, he was away, but he never really gained any meaningful ground and was kept in sight by Hector Carretero (Movistar). Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Merida) took over towards the top and Yates was caught in the final 500 metres as Lopez tried a brief acceleration. There were 27 riders in that GC group as they took on the descent with a lead of 4:10.

At that point, the breakaway duo were still fearful, but there was a reprieve when the group behind hit a flat 16km section and debated who should chase. Movistar hit the front but only set a steady tempo and the gap grew. That was until they received word that Roglic had suffered a mechanical and was swapping onto Tolhoek’s bike. The Slovenian, having suddenly lost 20 seconds, made his way back on without too much fuss but it would all have added to the mental stress, not to mention the physical disadvantage of riding the wrong bike.

Cataldo and Cattaneo took 3:30 onto Civiglio – 4.2km at 9.6 per cent – and stayed together all the way to the top, at which point they’d been cut to just 55 seconds. That’s because Nibali went on the attack early on the climb. Carthy and Yates had already clipped off from the Movistar-led bunch when Pozzovivo came to the front for a brief moment before Nibali took flight. Carapaz was straight on the case but Roglic found himself in difficulty, notably spinning a low gear on his teammate’s machine.

Landa initially chose to mark Roglic but soon sensed it was a sinking ship and tried to drop the Slovenian himself. Having reached Yates, Nibali accelerated again, Carapaz responding comfortably once more before later coming through to help extend the advantage. Nibali and Carapaz dropped Yates but reached Carthy towards the top of the climb, while Roglic steadied himself behind and caught Landa. Lopez looked subdued and climbed just behind Roglic, while Majka began to suffer and lost a little ground.

At the top, and at the start of the technical seven-kilometre descent, Nibali, Carapaz and Carthy trailed Cataldo and Cattaneo by 55 seconds, with Yates a few seconds back and then Roglic, Landa and Lopez in a group a further 15 seconds down. That wasn’t the end of the world for the Jumbo-Visma leader but he was soon in crisis mode when he misjudged a right-hand bend and had to pick himself up off the roadside barriers. Up ahead, Nibali was in full Nibali mode, using his descending skills to briefly distance Carapaz, Carthy, and Yates, who’d got back on.

The road flattened out in the final two kilometres and the breakaway’s fortunes hung in the balance. Nibali was at just 40 seconds, and any cat-and-mouse games would cost them dearly. Cattaneo chose to stop working but Cataldo did not panic and continued to set a solid tempo into the home straight. He led all the way to the final 200 metres and was the first to launch his sprint. It was soon clear that Cattaneo was unable to come past.

"It's something amazing - something I've been dreaming of all my life," said Cataldo, who won for the first time in five years and for the first time at the Giro. "I was not thinking to go in the break today because I had two difficult days. This morning I was just thinking 'I have to go to the finish line'. But at the beginning the legs were ok, I just tried one time to follow Cattaneo and the legs were going well. At that moment I said it would be difficult to go to the finish but step-by-step it went ok, I was eating the right way, drinking the right way, and at the end I was confident in myself."

Yates crossed the line for third place – and four bonus seconds – 11 seconds further back, followed by Carthy, Carapaz, and Nibali. Next in, at 36 seconds, was the group containing Lopez, Majka, Pozzovivo, Landa, and Davide Formolo (Bora-Hansgrohe), while Roglic came home with Mollema and Ion Izaguirre (Astana) at 51 seconds. 

The Giro now pauses for its second rest day, and if there was pessimism about the spectacle at the start of this week, there can only be excitement now about what's to come in the final week of this race.

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