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2015 Giro d’Italia Stage 16: Mikel Landa wins his second consecutive stage, Contador adds to lead

May 26, 2015
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Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana) won the queen stage of the 2015 Giro d’Italia Tuesday on an epic day when Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) showed his courage and strength, Ryder Hesjedal continued to display fighting spirit and Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) faltered. It was Landa’s second consecutive win, both mountain stages.

The big news that was still being digested at the beginning of the stage was Richie Porte’s abandonment on the rest day. The Australian pre-race favourite was suffering from injuries suffered in a Stage 14 crash and was far behind on GC.

However, there was little time for sentimentality as the riders had five climbs to face, including two ascents of the Cat. 3 Aprica (14-km of 3.5%) with the fearsome Cat. 1 Mortirolo (12-km of 11%) in between. The climbing started right away from the start town of Pinzolo with the Cat. 2 Campo Carlo Magno. No breakaway formed, but Carlos Bentancur (Colombia/Ag2r) summited first in the rain.

On the descent of the Carlo Magno, a nine-man move separated itself. Ryder Hesjedal was included in his third escape of the 2015 Giro. Next up on the parcours was Cat. 2 Passo del Tonale, where fugitive Rubén Fernandez (Spain/Movistar) was first over. Before the ascent a tenth rider joined the breakaway and on the descent of the Tonale an eleventh man made the junction.

After a long, gradual drop off the Tonale the first passage of the Aprica began. It’s a fairly mild climb that starts with a sharp pitch that hits 15%. Tinkoff-Saxo did a lot of work at the front of the peloton and the escape never got more than a 2:30 gap. Hesjedal decided to press on by himself. The Canadian went over the top 1:04 ahead his former breakmates.

Hesjedal descended–sometimes a little sketchily on dry roads–and then had an 8-km uphill drag with a little ramp in its middle before the start of the Mortirolo. On the drag, with the remains of the breakaway absorbed, three Katusha riders lit out after Ryder. Several splits had developed in the peloton on the descent, with Contador 40-seconds behind Aru after a flat tire.

So on the way to foot of the Mortirolo there was Ryder, a Katusha led dozen, an Aru/Astana bunch and the Contador’s group, with stragglers lagging and a large “laughing group” far behind. The Katusha and Astana groups merged and doomed Hesjedal’s solo effort. Contador only had a single teammate to help drive him back.

The Aru and Hesjedal group had a 50-second gap over the pink jersey group at the start of the Mortirolo. Contador had to chase by himself, and what a chase it was. Fourth place Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana) did the work for Aru, shedding several riders, including Hesjedal. Contador was coming fast but the gap stabilized at 40-seconds. Landa and Aru found company in the form of Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo), right behind Hesjedal on GC.

Aru was having trouble holding Landa’s wheel. Hesjedal rode with Contador for a kilometre. The pink jersey caught Aru with 7-km left to climb. Kruijswijk roared away just before the junction. Only Landa could go with Contador when he attacked. A Dutchman and two Spaniards carried on together while Aru had Katusha’s Yuri Trofimov (Russia) for company but then, with Hesjedal coming towards them, the Russian attacked.

Hesjedal left Aru behind and then ground his way up to the Russian. For a couple of kilometres the leading trio–Kruijswijk doing the yeoman’s job in the front–had 30-seconds on the Hesjedal chase and 1:00 on Aru, who climbed solo until Andrey Amador (Costa Rica/Movistar) reached him. Finally, the relentless climb relented and the Dutchman led the trio over the summit 49-seconds ahead of Hesjedal and 1:47 over Aru. For all his work, Kruijswijk put himself in the mix for the king of the mountains jersey.

Trofimov dropped Hesjedal on the descent. The sprinkling rain didn’t discourage the Russian, and Aru with Amador also made up a little time on the downhill. However, a necessary bike change slowed Aru once more. Hesjedal then had Amador for a companion and the duo connected with Trofimov. The time between the two trios was 1:30 at the start of the final climb up Aprica, with Aru 15-seconds behind the chasers.

With 10-km remaining, the chase had brought back 15-seconds but Aru had faded back. At the 4.3-km to go mark, the Dutchman attacked and Contador made Landa respond first. Landa simply kept going and his partners showed the day’s efforts in being unable to grab his wheel.

Landa quickly established a huge gap, raised his arms in triumph and took over second place on GC. Kruijswijk’s runner-up spot gave him the blue mountains jersey. Hesjedal’s sixth place on the day bumped him up to tenth, one second behind ninth, where he finished last season. Aru came in 2:51 after his teammate and is 50-second in arrears of Landa in second.

Wednesday’s stage is one for the sprinters, with only a single Cat. 3 climb in the first 15-km and then a gently rolling profile.

2015 Giro d’Italia Stage 16
1) Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana) 5:02:51
2) Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo) +0:38
3) Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) s.t.
6) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Cannondale-Garmin) +2:10
117) Hugo Houle (Canada/Ag2r) +37:54

2015 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) 65:04:59
2) Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana) +4:02
3) Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) +4:52
10) Ryder Hesjedal (Canada/Cannondale-Garmin) +12:49
124) Hugo Houle (Canada/Ag2r) +3:23:32