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2015 Giro d’Italia Stage 18: Philippe Gilbert wins his second stage, Contador extends lead

May 28, 2015
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Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/BMC) had no 2015 wins coming into the Giro d’Italia, but now he has two after Thursday’s medium-mountain stage. Gilbert attacked out of the day’s breakaway on a descent to take the flowers. Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo) pulled out more time over his rivals with a cheeky attack, and Ryder Hesjedal continued his indefatigable rise in the GC.

The stage was a flat one until the final 47-km when the Cat. 1 Monte Ologno kicked up. At 10.4-km of 9%, it was a daunting task for the riders, especially since after the official crest the road kicked up three more times before the long downhill.

No break surged forward until the 44-km mark, when 14-riders slipped away. A crash in the escape brought the number to 12, as Damiano Cunego (Italy/Nippo-Vini Fantini) left the race with a broken clavicle.

The break forced a large gap and held 12:00 over the peloton at the foot of the Ologno. Back in the pink jersey group there was a large crash that delayed several Sky riders and second place Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana). Tinkoff-Saxo–remembering how Astana and Katusha lifted the pace when Contador was delayed before the Mortirolo–pushed on at the front of the peloton to put Landa into difficulty.

Up front, the slopes of Monte Ologno whittled the break down to a quintet. Contador attacked and no one could go with him. Behind, Landa was slicing through the field. Once he reached a group containing teammate Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) and mountains jersey wearer Steven Kruijswijk (The Netherlands/LottoNL-Jumbo), he sat in and let Movistar pull.

The break had grown to seven on the easier grade, but was soon down to four again. The closest man behind Contador was Ryder Hesjedal. Leopold Konig (Czech Republic/Sky) upped the pace in the Aru/Landa group and Contador’s gap began to fall. Bardiani’s Francesco Bongiorno (Italy) took the maximum mountains points in the break.

Aru couldn’t hang on to his group and had to scramble, his podium place under threat from Andrey Amador (Costa Rica/Movistar) up ahead. Hesjedal made the junction with Contador at the summit, the duo one minute ahead of the Landa/Aru group. Hesjedal’s Italian teammate Davide Villella was part of the original break, and he drifted back to help.

The quartet up front was fractious, and its dithering allowed a foursome from behind to hook them with 19-km. Immediately, the riders started attacking one another and Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/BMC) pulled out a gap. Behind, Contador and the Cannondale-Garmin duo was two-minutes ahead of the Aru/Landa bunch.

When the race hit the 5-km of flat road leading to the finish in Verbania, Gilbert had 25-seconds over his chasers, while Contador and Hesjedal had 1:30 over theirs. Hesjedal encouraged Contador to do more work.

Gilbert celebrated over the last 4-km. Contador and Hesjedal finished just over a kilometre and 1:13 ahead of the Aru/Landa gang. Hesjedal moved up to ninth over Alexandre Geniez (France/FDJ) and is only 8-seconds behind Kruijswijk.

Friday is another major mountain stage with three Cat. 1 climbs shoehorned into the final 80-km and a summit finish on Cervinia.

2015 Giro d’Italia Stage 18
1) Philippe Gilbert (Belgium/BMC) 4:04:14
2) Francesco Bongiorno (Italy/Bardiani) +0:47
3) Sylvain Chavanel (France/IAM) +1:01
11) Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) +6:05
118) Hugo Houle (Canada/Ag2r) +21:57


2015 Giro d’Italia GC
1) Alberto Contador (Spain/Tinkoff-Saxo)
2) Mikel Landa (Spain/Astana) +5:15
3) Fabio Aru (Italy/Astana) +6:05
9) Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale-Garmin) +13:01
121) Hugo Houle (Canada/Ag2r) +3:40:40

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