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Tratnik wins Giro d’Italia Stage 16 from massive breakaway

Almeida nabs tiny time gain before Wednesday's high mountain summit finish

Photo by: Sirotti

The beginning of the 2020 Giro d’Italia’s final week found a huge breakaway getting clear and fugitive Jan Tratnik (Slovenia/Bahrain-McClaren) winning in San Daniele del Friuli. Tratnik’s victory eclipses a win in last year’s Tour de Romandie as his career highlight. João Almeida (Portugal/Deceuninck-Quick Step) wasn’t just safe in the pink jersey, he also pried out two more seconds over his rivals.

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The Course

The final week began with plenty of climbing. There were three categorized climbs in the first half of the 229 km route. The second half consisted of three circuits, each containing Monte di Ragogna (3 km of 9 percent). The last climb of Ragogna peaked 12.5 km from the finish in San Daniele del Friuli. The final 600-metre ramp to the line was quite steep.

The Mob

The first climb of the day, Madonnina del Domm, came early in the 229 km. After its peak, a large chase joined a small breakaway, and suddenly there was a fugitive group made up of 28 of the 137 riders remaining in the race.

Ruben Guerreiro beat out King of the Mountains jersey holder Giovanni Visconti to the top of Madonnina del Domm, but Visconti got the better of Guerreiro atop Monte Spig and Monteaperta.

The breakaway riders entered the circuits with 80 km to race and a 9:00 lead. The day was likely theirs.

The Circuits

On Lap 1 Guerreiro dashed away to lead over the first passage of Ragogna. The KOM score was 148 to 118 for Visconti.

Guerreiro continued on Ragogna’s descent, fragmenting the breakaway. By the beginning of the second Ragogna ascent, there was a duo out front with four chasing and the rest of the break making up Chase 2. At the peak, Tratnik was solo.

When Tratnik heard the bell, he had 27 km to race and had a 46-second gap over a chase of seven containing a sandbagging teammate. On the last climb of Ragogna, Ben Swift and Ben O’Connor (Australia/NTT) started to reel Tratnik back. O’Connor made the junction at the crest.

Tratnik and O’Connor stayed clear over the final 12.5 km.

Tratnik followed O’Connor into the last 2 km and then attacked on the steep final ramp to the line to take the victory.

Back in the pink jersey group, Almeida’s Deceuninck-QuickStep team kept the pace high to discourage attacks on the final climb of Ragogna. Thirty riders entered the final 5 km together. Almeida then made a move on the ramp to the finish to gain two more seconds.

Wednesday’s stage finishes on the Cat. 1 Madonna di Campiglio.

2020 Giro d’Italia Stage 17
1) Jan Tratnik (Slovenia/Bahrain-McClaren) 6:04:36
2) Ben O’Connor (Australia/NTT) +0:07
3) Enrico Battaglin (Italy/Bahrain-McClaren) +1:14

2020 Giro d’Italia GC

1) João Almeida (Portugal/Deceuninck-Quick Step) 65:45:08
2) Wilco Kelderman (The Netherlands/Sunweb) +0:17
3) Jai Hindley (Australia/Sunweb) +2:58
4) Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) +2:59
5) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-McLaren) +3:12
6) Rafal Majka (Poland/Bora-Hansgrohe) +3:20
7) Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Trek-Segafredo) +3:31
8) Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy/NTT) +3:52
9) Patrick Konrad (Austria/Bora-Hansgrohe) +4:11
10) Fausto Masnada (Italy/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +4:24