Bob Jungels wins stage 15 as Tom Dumoulin retains maglia rosa
Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) won his first Grand Tour stage in a sprint finish between the general classification contenders on stage 15 of Giro 100 as Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) retained his maglia rosa.
Best Young Rider Jungels beat a small group of GC rivals while Nairo Quintana claimed back six bonus seconds on Dumoulin by finishing second.
Stage winner Jungels said: "This was my kind of race. Today was real racing - like a classic. I think I showed some panache at the end but it wasn't easy because the others attacked at the end too. It's a great victory for the team - the fifth in fact - so we're not doing too bad."
Dumoulin said: "Today was pretty mad. It was a hectic stage, super fast. It was a tricky final but we stayed calm and safe to have another day in pink."
A bunch of ten GC riders rode over the final Bergamo Alta climb together and broke away on the descent leaving the winner to be the rider with the best sprint finish. Jungels pipped Nairo Quintana (Movistar) while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) came third ahead of Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R).
Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished sixth just in front of Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Dumoulin and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), while Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo) - who'd initiated the sprint - finished tenth.
Yates moves up to 11th overtaking Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) who crashed heavily on a descent.
The break took the longest to go of Giro 100 so far, travelling a chaotically fast 110km before establishing itself, with Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step), Phil Deignan (Team Sky), Julien Amezqueta (Wilier Selle Italia), Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Silvan Dillier (BMC), Enrico Barbin (Bardiani), Rudy Molard (FDJ), Evgeny Shalunov (Gazprom) and Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emitrates) escaping.
Orica-Scott and Team Sunweb worked together to bring the two minute gap down to the remaining five breakaway riders - Deignan, Amezqueta, Molard, Petilli and Janse van Rensburg - and it was around 40 seconds with 46km to go as the race reached the Miragolo San Salvatore climb.
Over the category two Miragolo San Salvatore, Deignan, Janse van Rensburg and Molard were the only riders left in the break - van Rensburg taking maximum points - but were barely hanging on to a 30 second advantage, with Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Amezqueta and Barbin in pursuit ahead of the peloton.
Quintana crashed on the descent but Dumoulin showed great sportsmanship by slowing the race for their fallen colleague to rejoin the race.
Sanchez and Rolland caught the leading group on the category three Selvino climb, with Orica-Scott and Bahrain-Merida towing the peloton and working for Yates and Nibali respectively.
Janse van Rensburg did most of the work for the break up the Selvino but Rolland jumped ahead moments before the line to take the points.
There were multiple crashes on the Selvino descent, with Kenny Elissonde (Team Sky) and Formolo in particular taking big falls and sustaining injuries.
Tanel Kangert (Astana) was victim of a sickening crash in the final 10km as the Estonian hit a road island and flipped 180 degrees, fracturing his elbow.
The break was caught agonisingly close to the finish on the steep climb into Bergamo with 3.8km to go and the main contenders driving on the front of the peloton.
Alto Bergamo becomes cobbled halfway up and Jungels chose that moment to fly off the front of the group but neither he nor Nibali could force a gap to Dumoulin on the fast descent to the finish and all the GC rivals finished together as Jungels claimed the victory.
Monday is a rest day before the queen stage on Tuesday - 222km from Rovetta to Bormio containing three category one mountains. It's the day that will be Dumoulin's biggest test of his career as not only does he face the fearsome Mortirolo climb but also two ascents of the Stelvio pass - the 2017 Giro's Cima Coppi (highest climb). If Dumoulin can survive with any kind of advantage over Quintana, it may go a long way to deciding the winner of Giro 100 and the claimant of the maglia rosa.
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| Credit: road.cc |
Stage winner Jungels said: "This was my kind of race. Today was real racing - like a classic. I think I showed some panache at the end but it wasn't easy because the others attacked at the end too. It's a great victory for the team - the fifth in fact - so we're not doing too bad."
Dumoulin said: "Today was pretty mad. It was a hectic stage, super fast. It was a tricky final but we stayed calm and safe to have another day in pink."
A bunch of ten GC riders rode over the final Bergamo Alta climb together and broke away on the descent leaving the winner to be the rider with the best sprint finish. Jungels pipped Nairo Quintana (Movistar) while Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) came third ahead of Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R).
Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) finished sixth just in front of Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), Dumoulin and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin), while Bauke Mollema (Trek Segafredo) - who'd initiated the sprint - finished tenth.
Yates moves up to 11th overtaking Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Drapac) who crashed heavily on a descent.
The break took the longest to go of Giro 100 so far, travelling a chaotically fast 110km before establishing itself, with Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step), Phil Deignan (Team Sky), Julien Amezqueta (Wilier Selle Italia), Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo), Jacques Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Silvan Dillier (BMC), Enrico Barbin (Bardiani), Rudy Molard (FDJ), Evgeny Shalunov (Gazprom) and Simone Petilli (UAE Team Emitrates) escaping.
Orica-Scott and Team Sunweb worked together to bring the two minute gap down to the remaining five breakaway riders - Deignan, Amezqueta, Molard, Petilli and Janse van Rensburg - and it was around 40 seconds with 46km to go as the race reached the Miragolo San Salvatore climb.
Over the category two Miragolo San Salvatore, Deignan, Janse van Rensburg and Molard were the only riders left in the break - van Rensburg taking maximum points - but were barely hanging on to a 30 second advantage, with Pierre Rolland (Cannondale-Drapac), Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana), Amezqueta and Barbin in pursuit ahead of the peloton.
Quintana crashed on the descent but Dumoulin showed great sportsmanship by slowing the race for their fallen colleague to rejoin the race.
Sanchez and Rolland caught the leading group on the category three Selvino climb, with Orica-Scott and Bahrain-Merida towing the peloton and working for Yates and Nibali respectively.
Janse van Rensburg did most of the work for the break up the Selvino but Rolland jumped ahead moments before the line to take the points.
There were multiple crashes on the Selvino descent, with Kenny Elissonde (Team Sky) and Formolo in particular taking big falls and sustaining injuries.
Tanel Kangert (Astana) was victim of a sickening crash in the final 10km as the Estonian hit a road island and flipped 180 degrees, fracturing his elbow.
The break was caught agonisingly close to the finish on the steep climb into Bergamo with 3.8km to go and the main contenders driving on the front of the peloton.
Alto Bergamo becomes cobbled halfway up and Jungels chose that moment to fly off the front of the group but neither he nor Nibali could force a gap to Dumoulin on the fast descent to the finish and all the GC rivals finished together as Jungels claimed the victory.
Monday is a rest day before the queen stage on Tuesday - 222km from Rovetta to Bormio containing three category one mountains. It's the day that will be Dumoulin's biggest test of his career as not only does he face the fearsome Mortirolo climb but also two ascents of the Stelvio pass - the 2017 Giro's Cima Coppi (highest climb). If Dumoulin can survive with any kind of advantage over Quintana, it may go a long way to deciding the winner of Giro 100 and the claimant of the maglia rosa.
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