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2014 Giro d’Italia: Nairo Quintana wins queen stage in brutal conditions, steals race lead

May 27, 2014
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Colombian Nairo Quintana of Movistar took a giant step towards winning the 2014 Giro d’Italia by taking top honours on an astonishing queen stage Tuesday, taking the pink jersey in the process. It was a nasty, chaotic day of racing that saw Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Garmin-Sharp) put in a gutsy ride to take the runner-up spot and climb the classification.

The peloton look miserable in the cold rain, especially knowing that it was snowing on the Stelvio. Nonetheless, the riders set off with grim faces to tackle the Gavia, 16 km of 8% climbing. Robinson Chalapud (Colombia/Colombia) spurted away from the group, eventually drawing compatriot Julian Arredondo (Trek), who was second over the pass to consolidate his lead in the mountains competition.

On the descent it became very confusing as riders’ numbers were obscured by their jackets. The drop off the Gavia was dangerous, and Cadel Evans (Australia/BMC) and Dominico Pozzovivo (Italy/Ag2r) eased off the back.

By the foot of the Stelvio, Evans and Pozzovivo were back and Movistar was setting the pace. Up ahead, two groups that had escaped merged to form a nontet. Pozzovivo had two men in the break, and the best placed rider was Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia/Trek) in 9th. The fugitives had a 2:30 lead a third of the way up the 21.7 km, 7.1% monster that was the Cima Coppi or highest point of this year’s Giro. Hot tea and neoprene gloves were the orders of the day for all.

Chalapud. among those nine riders, calculated that with Arredondo back in the pink jersey group, he could put himself right in the middle of the mountains jersey battle by grabbing massive points on the Stelvio. With 7 km remaining to scale, the gap dropped below 2:00 as Tinkoff-Saxo whipped along the peloton. A French rider bridged to the escape to reinforce it, but the GC group inched nearer.

Word came that the race would be neutralized on the long, sketchy Stelvio descent. Observers wondered how this would be manifested. Fugitive Dario Cataldo (Italy/Sky) decided to steal the Cima Coppi once he could feel (and see) the peloton’s breath on his neck. He took the euros and the 40 KOM points and started to cruise down. Chalapud was second over. Riders stopped at the peak to bundle up.

Cataldo wasn’t riding neutralized, so with 58 km to go he had a minute’s lead. Then this happened:

There was more confusion on the 25 km descent. Apparently, Hesjedal, Pierre Rolland (France/Europcar), Quintana and three other men had edged ahead of the other GC men, enjoying a two minute gap with 40 km remaining, but it took a while to confirm that they weren’t actually behind. Rolland and Quintana had teammates but took on some passengers in Pozzivivo’s two Ag2r men who had survived from the earlier break.

The day’s final mountain was another behemoth: Val Martello at 22.4 km of 6.4% with a maximum of 14%. Cataldo started clambering up with 3:13 over the pink jersey group and 1:30 over the Quintana/Hesjedal chase. Quintana stripped down for the final skirmishes and then tried to follow his teammate Gorka Izagirre’s tremendous pace. Cataldo lost time with every kilometre.

Rolland and Quintana snagged Cataldo with 17.5 km remaining, and Hesjedal struggled to latch on. The quartet was shaky in composition as Hesjedal and Cataldo kept “stretching the elastic”. With 16 km to go the break had 1:37 over Uran and his dozen fellows. Finally, the sun emerged to make the race steamy.

The gap was steady as the lead group – down to a trio after Cataldo dropped off – wheeled on, Quintana at the front and Hesjedal at the back, dipping into his reserves again and again to hold Rolland’s wheel. With 10 km left the time difference had inflated to 2:15 and, incredibly, it kept growing.

At 7.5 km to go and on a 9% section, it was time for Quintana to try it alone, but again the Frenchman and the Canadian pulled him back. Uran was forced to take up the reins in the peloton. At the first 14% section, the elastic snapped for Rolland, but not for Hesjedal, who put in a Herculean effort to get back to the virtual maglia rosa and then took up the work at the front.

Evans fell behind his rivals in the Uran group and fought his own battle with gravity. The final 1.5 km was 8-14%. From the pink jersey group, Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands/Belkin) zipped on ahead. Finally Quintana spun away from Hesjedal to take a famous victory, with Ryder eight seconds in arrears. Kelderman, Pozzovivo, Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) and Rafal Majka (Poland/Tinkoff-Saxo) all made gains on Uran. Uran finished 4:11 behind Quintana, who has certainly taken the race by the scruff of the neck.

Wednesday is a welcome flat stage of 204 km from Sarnonico to Vittorio Veneto.

2014 Giro d’Italia stage 16
1) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) 4:42:35
2) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Garmin-Sharp) +0:08
3) Pierre Rolland (France/Europcar) +1:13
111) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +39:33

2014 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) 68:11:44
2) Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/Omega Pharma-QuickStep) +1:41
3) Cadel Evans (Australia/BMC) +3:21
9) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Garmin-Sharp) +4:16
158) Svein Tuft (Canada/Orica-GreenEdge) +3:57:04

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