Giro d'Italia: Chaves Breaks Hearts for Stage Win & Stage 15 Preview

Stage 14 Review

Earmarked as one of the hardest days in the saddle by the peloton, six angry climbs of first and second category awaited the riders on the 210km journey from Alpago to Corvara.

A split in the bunch after the first hour had 37 very notable favorites in the mix. Nibali, Valverde, Chaves, race leader Amador and Ulissi led the race with the attacks coming thick and fast over the second and third climb. Amador was sliding out the back of the group and losing grip on his GC lead every second he let the bunch of favorites distance him.

But it was the final climb that saw BMC’s Darwin Atapuma make ground on the dwindling group of favorites but his hopes of winning the stage were spoilt when Georg Preidler (Giant Alpecin), Steven Kruiswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Estaban Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) caught the solo attacker within the last 2km to the finish.

The moment the chasing group caught Atapuma on the final climb. Photo by Sirotti

Chaves had a handful of aces and he laid his cards on the table as Preidler opened up the sprint with 200m to go. Chaves floated around the Giant-Alpecin rider who was visibly upset at the finish as the Columbian climber riding for the Australian team took the stage honours.

A change of race leaders too after Stage 14 as Amador was forced to hand over the pink jersey to Steven Kruijswijk who finished second on yesterday’s stage.

An earlier breakaway on the slopes of the Passa Selle with Nicolas Roche and Atapuma. Photo by Sirotti

Stage 14 Podium

1. Esteban Chaves (Col) – Orica-GreenEdge – 6:06:16
2. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) – Team LottoNl-Jumbo
3. Georg Preidler (Aut) – Team Giant-Alpecin
4. Darwin Atapuma (Col) – BMC Racing Team – 0:00:06
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) – Astana Pro Team – 0:00:37

Mountain Classification after Stage 14

1. Damiano Cunego (Ita) – Nippo – Vini Fantini – 134 pts
2. Stefan Denifl (Aut) – IAM Cycling – 72 pts
3. Darwin Atapuma (Col) – BMC Racing Team – 69 pts

General Classification after Stage 14

1. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) – Team LottoNl-Jumbo – 60:12:43
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) – Astana Pro Team – 0:00:41
3. Esteban Chaves (Col) – Orica-GreenEdge – 0:01:32
4. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) – Movistar Team – 0:03:06
5. Andrey Amador (CRc) – Movistar Team – 0:03:15
6. Rafal Majka (Pol) – Tinkoff Team – 0:03:29
7. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) – Team Katusha – 0:03:53
8. Rigoberto Uran (Col) – Cannondale Pro Cycling – 0:05:01
9. Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) – Dimension Data – 0:05:38
10. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) – Astana Pro Team

Stage 15 – CASTELROTTO – ALPE DI SIUSI ITT, 10.850km

The route

The stage is an uphill Individual Time Trial. After a first false-flat drag (1,800m), the route climbs steadily over the next 9km, with an average 8.3% gradient. The road is wide and well paved. Straight stretches alternate with hairpins that feature a high bend radius. Split time is taken at km 4.4.

Final kms

The final kilometres run entirely uphill, with constant slopes (an average gradient of 8%, and a maximum gradient of 11%), and on wide, well-paved roads. The route takes in a series of hairpins in the stage finale. The finish line lies at the end of a 180m long, 6m wide asphalt home straight.