Enrico Battaglin claimed stage 14 in this year’s Giro d’Italia, by surprising his rivals with a final surge in the closing meters of today’s 164 kilometers of racing from Agliè to Oropa.
Race Highlights
Today’s stage saw a sizable breakaway group containing 21 riders, get underway early on in the race, And, at one point, the escapees established a massive gap of more than nine minutes over the peloton.
However, as the race began the final climb of the day, a trio of riders consisting of Jan Polanc (Lampre-Merida), Jarlinson Pantana (Colombia), Dario Cataldo (Sky), decided to jettison their fellow breakaway companions and set-off for on their own.
However, in the waning moments of today’s stage, Battaglin suddenly came out of nowhere to catch the leaders, and subsequently sail past them to claim the stage win.
Today’s win marked the second consecutive victory for the Bardianai-CSF team, after Marco Canola won yesterday’s stage 13.
“The last kilometer, I was really suffering,” said Battaglin. “It was a hard pace all day long. I thought I had lost it. I saw Cataldo leading out the Colombian, and I just felt a final surge, and decided to give it all in the final 100 meters. It’s a huge victory for me and for my team.”
Despite losing today’s stage, Cataldo praised Battaglin for his efforts.
“This Giro didn’t work out like I had hoped, because I wanted to fight for the GC. Then I had to change the chip to look for stages,” he said. “Today we knew would be a good opportunity. I was trying to save the legs as best I could. Battaglin was very brave, and he played it just right. Of course I am disappointed not to win the stage.”
Following today’s stage, Rigoberto Uran retained his overall race lead. However, Cadel Evans managed to take back some time from the Colombian rider, to reduce his deficit by a few seconds to 32 seconds back in the GC. Meanwhile, Rafal Majka remains in third place at 1:35 behind.
“Today was a hard day,” Uran said. “Every day is going to be explosive. Today the team supported me well. I knew that they were going to attack. There were a few riders ahead, but the team was riding a steady tempo. I didn’t have any problems. I am calm, the team is going well, I am still in pink.”
Despite a final push during the closing 50 meters of today’s stage, Evans could only muster a 21st place finish.
“It might have been a few more seconds, but there was a bit of a wave (of other riders) in front of me,” Evans said. “Someone set a really hard tempo at the start of the climb. That eliminated a lot of riders who might have ridden tempo — Samuel Sanchez or Steve Morabito — who could have been by my side later in the climb. So all the leaders were isolated quite early.”
On the other hand, Majka was happy with his results in today’s stage, by saying:
“It was a very hard stage. I went pretty hard on the first climbs, and I didn’t feel great on the last climb,” he said. “I am content, because I was still able to take some time on Evans and Uran. It’s only starting now, the real Giro. The harder the climb, the better it is for me.”
Stage 14 Results ITA 1 BATTAGLIN, Enrico (BARDIANI CSF) 4:34:41 ITA 2 CATALDO, Dario (SKY) COL 3 PANTANO, Jarlinson (COLOMBIA) + 7 SLO 4 POLANC, Jan (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 17 IRL 5 ROCHE, Nicolas (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 22 NED 6 TIMMER, Albert (GIANT-SHIMANO) + 26 ITA 7 SELLA, Emanuele (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI) + 28 ITA 8 CATTANEO, Mattia (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 33 BEL 9 WELLENS, Tim (LOTTO BELISOL) + 39 ITA 10 SANTAROMITA, Ivan (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 54 NED 11 KEIZER, Martijn (BELKIN) + 1:17 VEN 12 MONSALVE, Yonattah (NERI SOTTOLI) + 1:46 CAN 13 HESJEDAL, Ryder (GARMIN SHARP) + 2:22 FRA 14 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 2:26 COL 15 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 2:39 ITA 16 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 2:43 ITA 17 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) NED 18 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) + 2:47 POL 19 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF-SAXO) NED 20 POELS, Wouter (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 2:59 AUS 21 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) COL 22 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 3:04 FRA 23 DOMONT, Axel (AG2R LA MONDIALE) NOR 24 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (SKY) + 3:22 ESP 25 ANTON HERNANDEZ, Igor (MOVISTAR) + 3:27 FRA 26 VUILLERMOZ, Alexis (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 3:36 ITA 27 AGNOLI, Valerio (ASTANA) CRO 28 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TREK FACTORY RACING) ESP 29 LANDA MEANA, Mikel (ASTANA) ESP 30 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Gorka (MOVISTAR) + 3:46 AUT 31 ZOIDL, Riccardo (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 3:53 ITA 32 ULISSI, Diego (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 4:01 ITA 33 PELLIZOTTI, Franco (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI) + 4:02 ITA 34 BASSO, Ivan (CANNONDALE) BEL 35 VERMOTE, Julien (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 4:05 FRA 36 DUPONT, Hubert (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 4:16 FRA 37 GENIEZ, Alexandre (FDJ.fr) + 4:27 ITA 38 CUNEGO, Damiano (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 4:54 COL 39 DUARTE AREVALO, Fabio Andres (COLOMBIA) POR 40 CARDOSO, Andre Fernando S. Martins (GARMIN SHARP) IRL 41 DEIGNAN, Philip (SKY) COL 42 HENAO GOMEZ, Sebastian (SKY) ITA 43 RABOTTINI, Matteo (NERI SOTTOLI) + 5:25 BEL 44 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO BELISOL) + 5:37 SUI 45 MORABITO, Steve (BMC RACING) NED 46 GOOS, Marc (BELKIN) + 6:38 AUT 47 PREIDLER, Georg (GIANT-SHIMANO) AUS 48 ROGERS, Michael (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 8:24 ITA 49 BONGIORNO, Francesco Manuel (BARDIANI CSF) ESP 50 MORENO FERNANDEZ, Daniel (KATUSHA)
General Classification after Stage 14 COL 1 URAN URAN, Rigoberto (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) 57:52:51 AUS 2 EVANS, Cadel (BMC RACING) + 32 POL 3 MAJKA, Rafal (TINKOFF-SAXO) + 1:35 ITA 4 POZZOVIVO, Domenico (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 2:11 NED 5 KELDERMAN, Wilco (BELKIN) + 2:33 COL 6 QUINTANA ROJAS, Nairo Alexander (MOVISTAR) + 3:04 ITA 7 ARU, Fabio (ASTANA) + 3:16 NED 8 POELS, Wouter (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 4:01 FRA 9 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 5:07 CRO 10 KISERLOVSKI, Robert (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 5:13 ITA 11 BASSO, Ivan (CANNONDALE) + 6:07 CAN 12 HESJEDAL, Ryder (GARMIN SHARP) + 6:13 SUI 13 MORABITO, Steve (BMC RACING) + 6:53 ITA 14 ULISSI, Diego (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 7:21 FRA 15 VUILLERMOZ, Alexis (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 8:08 ITA 16 RABOTTINI, Matteo (NERI SOTTOLI) + 9:09 BEL 17 MONFORT, Maxime (LOTTO BELISOL) + 9:34 FRA 18 GENIEZ, Alexandre (FDJ.fr) + 10:31 ITA 19 CUNEGO, Damiano (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 10:32 ITA 20 PELLIZOTTI, Franco (ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI) + 10:36 FRA 21 DUPONT, Hubert (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 11:25 ESP 22 HERRADA LOPEZ, José (MOVISTAR) + 12:11 COL 23 DUARTE AREVALO, Fabio Andres (COLOMBIA) + 15:13 ITA 24 BRAMBILLA, Gianluca (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 16:13 ESP 25 SANCHEZ GONZALEZ, Samuel (BMC RACING) + 16:56
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