photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Gazprom-Rusvelo’s relatively unknown rider, Alexander Foliforov, took a surprising victory in today’s mountain time trial of the Giro d’Italia, after edging out race leader Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) by less than a second, while Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) finally came to life in this year’s Italian Grand with a third place finish.
Meanwhile, race favorite, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), lost over two minutes in today’s stage, after the Italian rider experienced a mechanical issue that forced him to change bikes.
Race Highlights
Kruijswijk appeared unbeatable in today’s uphill race against the clock, after setting the fastest time at the first time check point.
However, in the end, Foliforov succeeded in eclipsing the Dutch rider’s benchmark by an almost imperceptible margin, to earn the second-division team its first-ever Giro d’Italia stage victory.
Kruijswijk now leads Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) by 2:12, followed by Nibali is at 2:51, while Valverde remains in fourth at 3:29.
Tomorrow marks the second rest day in this year’s Giro.
Top 10 Finishers
1 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:28:39 2 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:23 4 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:00:30 5 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:36 6 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 0:00:40 7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 0:00:47 8 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:00:52 9 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:01:04 10 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff Team 0:01:09
General classification after stage 15
1 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 60:41:22 2 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 0:02:12 3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:51 4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:29 5 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff Team 0:04:38 6 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 0:04:40 7 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:05:27 8 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx – Quick-Step 0:07:14 9 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Dimension Data 0:07:37 10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:07:55 11 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:12 12 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:08:19 13 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:03 14 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:17:21 15 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:37
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