Tejay van Garderen wins first ever stage as Tom Dumoulin retains the maglia rosa
Tejay van Garderen (BMC) won his first ever Grand Tour stage as Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) retained his 31 second lead on general classification in the Dolomites on stage 18.
Van Garderen and Mikel Landa (Team Sky) attacked the breakaway on the descent of the Passo di Pinei Panidersattel and opened a sizable gap before the Pontives climb to Ortisei.
Landa didn't learn his lessons when he lost the sprint to Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) on stage 16, and once again lost ground on the final bend to allow American van Garderen to pick up his maiden Grand Tour stage victory.
Neither Nairo Quintana (Movistar) or Nibali could make attacks stick on Dumoulin over any of the five categorised climbs and in the end became so preoccupied with the Dutchman that Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) took over a minute from them on general classification during the final steep ascent into Ortisei.
"It's been a rough couple of years in Grand Tours as far as general classification goes. I did my best to keep the morale high and it's an incredible feeling to get my first Grand Tour win," said van Garderen.
Maglia rosa Dumoulin said: "I was feeling good and I didn't lose any time. Nairo and Vincenzo were only concentrating on my wheel which was a strange tactic because their podium spot is now in danger. I really would like to see them losing it because of this riding."
"We absolutely had to try today," said Quintana, "Nothing really happened the way we wanted it to, unfortunately, the leader defended himself really well. We weren't able to take back any time, but I hope we were able to weaken him a little."
Dumoulin retains his slim 31 second advantage to Quintana and one minute 12 seconds to Nibali but it's below the podium where the time differences have changed markably. Pinot (1'36") and Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin (1'58") round out the top five, with Pozzovivo (2'07"), Trek Segafredo's Bauke Mollema (3'17"), LottoNL-Jumbo's Steven Kruijswijk (5'48") and Orica-Scott's Adam Yates (7'06") all gaining time. Quick-Step Floors' Bob Jungels (7'24") just makes the top ten but drops the Best Young Riders' white jersey to Yates.
Manuele Boaro (Bahrian-Merida), Diego Rosa (Team Sky), Natael Berhane (Dimension Data) and Joseph Rosskopf (BMC) initially got away but it was Rosa, Berhane and Rosskopf who managed to stay away over the first climb and descent of the day on the Passo Pordoi.
The chasing group containing Landa and van Garderen caught the break on the Passo Valparola, allowing Spanaird Landa to extend his lead in the King of the Mountains classification.
Landa also took maximum points on the Passo Gardena Grodnerjoch just after the halfway point in the stage.
Quintana launched the first attack at 54km to go and was followed soon after by Nibali but Dumoulin held strong and reigned in his podium rivals.
Up front, with 15km remaining, Landa and van Garderen opened their lead on the chasers on the descent of the penultimate climb.
The game of cat and mouse was growing more and more tense on the final climb. With 4.8km to go, Nibali tried his hand again but was caught and counter-attacked by Dumoulin - who at this stage was toying with his counterparts.
Noticing the nervous games going on with the podium rivals, Pozzovivo and Pinot saw their chance to climb the standings and attacked off the group with Zakarin, Yates, Kruijswijk and Mollema following.
Landa led van Garderen into the final kilometre - as he had done with Nibali two days previously. He obviously hadn't taken stock of how he lost that stage though and again allowed his opponent through the inside of the final bend with 100 metres to go. The Sky man attempted a sprint to save the stage win but it was gone and van Garderen celebrated his first stage win in ten years as a pro.
Stage 19 will be the penultimate chance for Quintana and Nibali to take time on Dumoulin before Sunday's individual time trial, as the race travels 191km from San Candido to Piancavallo. The profile isn't too harsh for 80% of the parcours but kicks up brutally in the final climb to the finish. If Dumoulin can survive this test it's very likely he'll win the Giro d'Italia.
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| Credit: road.cc |
Landa didn't learn his lessons when he lost the sprint to Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) on stage 16, and once again lost ground on the final bend to allow American van Garderen to pick up his maiden Grand Tour stage victory.
Neither Nairo Quintana (Movistar) or Nibali could make attacks stick on Dumoulin over any of the five categorised climbs and in the end became so preoccupied with the Dutchman that Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R) took over a minute from them on general classification during the final steep ascent into Ortisei.
"It's been a rough couple of years in Grand Tours as far as general classification goes. I did my best to keep the morale high and it's an incredible feeling to get my first Grand Tour win," said van Garderen.
Maglia rosa Dumoulin said: "I was feeling good and I didn't lose any time. Nairo and Vincenzo were only concentrating on my wheel which was a strange tactic because their podium spot is now in danger. I really would like to see them losing it because of this riding."
"We absolutely had to try today," said Quintana, "Nothing really happened the way we wanted it to, unfortunately, the leader defended himself really well. We weren't able to take back any time, but I hope we were able to weaken him a little."
Dumoulin retains his slim 31 second advantage to Quintana and one minute 12 seconds to Nibali but it's below the podium where the time differences have changed markably. Pinot (1'36") and Katusha-Alpecin's Ilnur Zakarin (1'58") round out the top five, with Pozzovivo (2'07"), Trek Segafredo's Bauke Mollema (3'17"), LottoNL-Jumbo's Steven Kruijswijk (5'48") and Orica-Scott's Adam Yates (7'06") all gaining time. Quick-Step Floors' Bob Jungels (7'24") just makes the top ten but drops the Best Young Riders' white jersey to Yates.
Manuele Boaro (Bahrian-Merida), Diego Rosa (Team Sky), Natael Berhane (Dimension Data) and Joseph Rosskopf (BMC) initially got away but it was Rosa, Berhane and Rosskopf who managed to stay away over the first climb and descent of the day on the Passo Pordoi.
The chasing group containing Landa and van Garderen caught the break on the Passo Valparola, allowing Spanaird Landa to extend his lead in the King of the Mountains classification.
Landa also took maximum points on the Passo Gardena Grodnerjoch just after the halfway point in the stage.
Quintana launched the first attack at 54km to go and was followed soon after by Nibali but Dumoulin held strong and reigned in his podium rivals.
Up front, with 15km remaining, Landa and van Garderen opened their lead on the chasers on the descent of the penultimate climb.
The game of cat and mouse was growing more and more tense on the final climb. With 4.8km to go, Nibali tried his hand again but was caught and counter-attacked by Dumoulin - who at this stage was toying with his counterparts.
Noticing the nervous games going on with the podium rivals, Pozzovivo and Pinot saw their chance to climb the standings and attacked off the group with Zakarin, Yates, Kruijswijk and Mollema following.
Landa led van Garderen into the final kilometre - as he had done with Nibali two days previously. He obviously hadn't taken stock of how he lost that stage though and again allowed his opponent through the inside of the final bend with 100 metres to go. The Sky man attempted a sprint to save the stage win but it was gone and van Garderen celebrated his first stage win in ten years as a pro.
Stage 19 will be the penultimate chance for Quintana and Nibali to take time on Dumoulin before Sunday's individual time trial, as the race travels 191km from San Candido to Piancavallo. The profile isn't too harsh for 80% of the parcours but kicks up brutally in the final climb to the finish. If Dumoulin can survive this test it's very likely he'll win the Giro d'Italia.
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