Giro d’Italia Stage 15 Race Report: The mountain stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia, that crossed the Monte Grappa, was won by Carlos Verona of Lidl-Trek. The Spaniard rode away from the eleven riders in the ‘break of the day’ at the foot of the final climb. The Spaniard was on his own when he came over the summit, he then rode the 43 kilometres solo to the finish in Asiago. The favourites were over a minute behind and had set a fast pace which put Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) in trouble on the climb of the Dori. He was dropped and lost a lot of time. Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG) kept the overall lead.
Stage 15 finale
After the easier stages, stage 15 brings down the curtain on the second week. The stage isn’t too hard, but there is the difficult Monte Grappa (25km at 5.8%), the Giro describes it as a ‘pre-Alpine stage’ – a precursor to the real thing in the final week.
There is a Cat 2 climb to Dori (16.3km at 5.5%), but there are 30 kilometres to go to the finish in Asiago.
Simon Yates moved up to 2nd place overall on Saturday, can he hold it on Sunday?
The stage started very fast. After 70 kilometres, the average speed had been 52kph. There were attacks from the guns and, but a leading group couldn’t get together. After the short, steep Muro di Ca’ del Poggio, the peloton split. Antonio Tiberi was in trouble after his crash on Saturday. At the front, the attacks kept coming and eventually there was a big break of 34 riders, before the start of the Monte Grappa.
The stage 15 start in Fiume Veneto
The leading group included Bart Lemmen (Visma | Lease a Bike), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic PostNL), Daniel Felipe Martínez (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and three from XDS-Astana: Lorenzo Fortunato, Diego Ulissi and Christian Scaroni. The best-placed rider overall was Einer Rubio of Movistar, at 4:26 down on the pink jersey, Isaac Del Toro. UAE Emirates XRG were happy to let the break go, this allowed Tiberi to return to the peloton, as the leaders started the long climb of the Monte Grappa with a lead of around 4 minutes.
No, not Liège-Bastone-Liège
Giulio Ciccone had to stop his Giro, because the injuries for his crash on Saturday. In the peloton, UAE Emirates XRG kept the gap at around 3 minutes, but at the front the co-operation was not good mainly due to the KOM, Fortunato, wanting to take more points. The Italian was first over the top for the maximum points score.
Nicola Conci (XDS Astana) made it into the big break
The first real move from the favourites came from INEOS Grenadiers. Juan Ayuso had just returned from a bike change, when Egan Bernal attacked after his teammates had kept the speed high on the climb, which had thinned the group out considerably. Bernal jumped away 2 kilometres from the top of Monte Grappa. Del Toro crossed to his wheel and then Richard Carapaz quickly joined them. Thymen Arensman and Derek Gee also came across, one at a time.
Can Isaac Del Toro hold the overall lead into the last rest day?
Behind them, UAE Emirates XRG were still on the front of the group, even though Del Toro was ahead. They kept the difference at around 20 seconds at the start of the long descent of Monte Grappa. The lead of the break had also shrunk to less than 1 minute due to the action amongst the favourites.
Egan Bernal attacked from the peloton on the Monte Grappa with over 90K to go, Del Toro and Carapaz shut him down
On the descent, Marco Frigo had ridden away. Behind him, a merger had taken place, which meant that the attack by Bernal, Del Toro and Carapaz was pointless. In the valley, the pace slowed down and the break gained more time and had more chance of the stage win. Frigo was able to make contact with Bilbao, Lemmen, Scaroni, Romain Bardet, Nicolas Prodhomme, Carlos Verona, Gianmarco Garofoli, Filippo Zana, Florian Stork and Filippo Fiorelli at the front.
The Colombian champion was on a good day
These 11 escapees were allowed to go by the thinned out peloton, and their lead grew to more than 4 minutes again. Carlos Verona saw his chance at the foot of the Dori climb and rode away from the leading group. He dropped Garofoli and held Zana off. Verona took the KOM points at the top of the Dori and started a 27 kilometre solo to Asiago.
Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek) went solo from the break
Behind Verona, Garofoli and Zana rode away from the others. They came within 15 seconds of Verona, but he pushed harder and extended his lead to more than 30 seconds. A group including Bardet, Stork and Scaroni caught the two Italians, 10 kilometres from the finish, but the GC group was getting closer. Verona kept his pace, to take his first stage win in the Giro d’Italia and his sixth for Lidl-Trek. Behind him, Stork and Scaroni finished second and third.
Bardet leading the break behind Verona
In the favourites group, it was INEOS Grenadiers who lifted the speed on the climb to Dori, but attacks by Bernal and Arensman came to nothing. A break by Carapaz did cause a split which put Primož Roglič in trouble. He must have been on a bad day and couldn’t follow. When the other riders saw him falter, they put the hammer down. Isaac Del Toro also closed a few gaps and looked fresh. The gap on the Roglič group, including Tom Pidcock, grew to more than a minute at the top of the final climb, before the 27 undulating kilometres to the finish.
The favourites were over a minute back – Roglič at a further minute
UAE Emirates XRG set the pace in the GC group, which increased the lead over Roglič, who was now dropping down the overall. Simon Yates’ teammates, Derek Gee, Einer Rubio and Antonio Tiberi also started to work and Roglič was losing more time as the kilometres clicked by. At the finish, the difference had increased to one and a half minutes for the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leader and he dropped to 10th in the general classification.
Verona on his way to victory
A brave solo and a big win for Carlos Verona
Stage winner, Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek): “I certainly didn’t come to the Giro thinking that I could win a stage and I was happy with that. I was here in full support for Mads Pedersen and Giulio Ciccone. Everything changed yesterday when we lost Cicco. Today is my day. I didn’t want to do it for me but I wanted to do it for the team, knowing how much Giulio had worked for this race. When I was in the breakaway, I thought we were missing one rider but I everything happens for a reason. I had to be in that break. I stayed focused. I had the legs to be there. I had to go from far out and I had to win for the team.”
1st and 2nd overall – Isaac Del Toro and Simon Yates finish together
Maglia Rosa, Isaac Del Toro (UAE Emirates XRG): “We still need to see who is the leader of the team. Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates are so strong, we’ll see how we play in last week, we need to play the three of us. Personally, I don’t know how good I’ll be in the third week. I wear the Maglia Rosa but I feel nervous in the race because everyone is my idol, I’m a fan of them and now I have to follow their attacks. To be able to do it is crazy. Ineos was super active in the race today. I could not say for sure that they’d attack on Monte Grappa, but I like how they race and when they passed us with a fast train, I caught their wheels and waited for Egan Bernal’s attack. He got a gap, I needed to go quickly, I’m glad I was able to follow him.”
Primoz Roglič dropped to 10th overall
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Giro d’Italia Stage 15 Result:
1. Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Lidl-Trek in 5:15:41
2. Florian Stork (Ger) Tudor at 0:21
3. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDS Astana at 0:22
4. Romain Bardet (Fra) Team Picnic PostNL
5. Nicolas Prodhomme (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
6. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco AlUla
7. Gianmarco Garofoli (Ita) Soudal-Quick Step at 0:25
8. Filippo Fiorelli (Ita) VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè at 0:29
9. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
10. Max Poole (GB) Team Picnic PostNL.
Giro d’Italia Overall After Stage 15:
1. Isaac Del Toro Romero (Mex) UAE Emirates XRG in 55:54:05
2. Simon Yates (GB) Visma | Lease a Bike at 1:20
3. Juan Ayuso Pesquera (Spa) UAE Emirates XRG at 1:26
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost at 2:07
5. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech at 2:54
6. Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 2:55
7. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious at 3:02
8. Egan Arley Bernal Gomez (Col) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:38
9. Thymen Arensman (Ned) INEOS Grenadiers at 3:45
10. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe at 3:53.
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