GC stalemate on Cogne summit finish as Ineos control the peloton
The 22-year-old Italian made the decisive move with 18km to go
riding away from Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) on the category 2 climb’s steeper gradients
After Ciccone established a strong 1:33 lead on Buitrago
who caught and passed a drained Carthy moments after the Italian went up the road
The emotional Trek-Segafredo rider had time to celebrate his third win at the Giro d’Italia after a frustrating three years of personal disappointment
and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar Team) was third at 2:19
“The steep part of the climb was at the beginning
if I go alone here I can arrive alone,’” Ciccone said after the stage
I tried here today because my legs were really good
“I think this has been my most beautiful victory
even better than the yellow jersey at the tour de France
This has an indescribable value for me,” Ciccone said
Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) finished the stage to retain the pink jersey ahead of the second rest day
The Ecuadorian leads the maglia rosa competition seven seconds ahead of Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and 30 seconds in front of best young rider João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates)
Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) snatches the maglia azzurra lead from Diego Rosa (Eolo-Kometa) after taking 40 points on the first climb of the day
Matthew Holmes (Lotto Soudal) was the first to attack the peloton of 159 riders and
was trailed by an active Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ)
and more attacks followed before a touch of wheels caused a mid-pack pile-up involving the maglia rosa
it didn’t take long for Ineos to escort their race leader back into the bunch
The attempts to get up the road didn’t let up
and familiar breakaway names Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates)
Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) and Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ) made a jump that gained some momentum for a few kilometres
but that too was eventually defused with 160km to go
The mounting fatigue of the last two weeks of racing was evident as teams like Jumbo-Visma and Astana Qazaqstan Team and Israel-Premier Tech continued to send riders up the road
but nothing materialized until kilometre 40 when Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè)
Andrea Vendrame (Ag2r Citroën) and Anthony Perez (Cofidis) found some daylight between themselves and the peloton
The bunch didn’t give in on this group easily and held the five riders at just 20 seconds for about 15km before shutting it down with 115km to go
Things started settling down after Thymen Arensman (Team DSM)
Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa) and Lawson Craddock (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) took off with 100km to go and a large group of 22 eventually bridged across.
There was no real threat to the GC riders within the escapees
with Arensman the best placed at almost 12 minutes down
motivated stage hunters like Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) were present
With the responsibility resting on Ineos to set the pace in the peloton
the gap grew to 4:30 by the time the break reached the bottom of the first climb
Stuck in no man’s land for quite a few kilometres
José Joaquín Rojas (Movistar Team) eventually made it across to the break when the road pitched up for the first time
Noticing the break was getting too comfortable with its pace up the first climb
van der Poel launched an attack that was marked by Bouwman
hungry to claim the KOM jersey from Diego Rosa (Eolo-Kometa Cycling Team)
The move dropped Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) and Craddock and boosted the gap to almost four minutes
Not wanting to leave the KOM points to chance
Bouwman struck out solo with 3km to the top of Pila-Les Fleurs
gained a minute on his chasers and easily collected the 40 points on offer at the summit
The effort put him back in the maglia azzurra ahead of Rosa
Ineos led the peloton over the top of the climb almost five minutes behind
Bouwman kept the pressure on over the top of the climb
which sparked a chase from van der Poel and Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM)
They made the junction with 60km remaining
and the Dutch trio worked together to build up a maximum of 1:34 on their former breakaway companions by the time they started the second climb
Kudus put the pressure on to catch the leaders while successfully shaking off some of the weaker riders for teammate Carthy
The former Eritrean national champion brought the chase group down to eight riders before pulling off.
Ciccone then kept the pace high and pushed away with Buitrago on his wheel
Pedrero was able to latch on to the back of the move
but Carthy found himself incapable of matching Ciccone’s speed and lagged a few metres behind
Buitrago and Pedrero to bridge across to the Dutch leaders
Ciccone attacked the front group several times
with six kilometres of climbing left up Verrogne
Ciccone and Pedrero continued to work together as the climb pressed on
Carthy accelerated out of the chase group to catch the leaders by the time they reached the summit with 40km to go
Ciccone led the group up and over Verrogne to take the 40 points in the KOM competition
Despite Ciccone’s multiple accelerations
Costa and Tusveld eventually caught the leaders at the tail end of the descent to make it a group of six up the road with 25km to go
A feisty Ciccone attacked yet again at the base of the final climb
it was a two-up battle between Carthy and Ciccone
Ciccone fired another acceleration with 18km to go
The 22-year-old Italian gained more than a minute
Carthy and Buitrago were left to lick their wounds
The Italian rode like an unstoppable force the remainder of the climb
putting a minute and 30 seconds into Buitrago
and Pedrero third another 2:19 behind Ciccone’s winning time
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A former professional and two-time cyclo-cross US national champion
Beard is also an award-winning journalist and cycling commentator
she has written for several major cycling media outlets
worked as media director for major US stage races and consulted with men's and women's professional cycling teams
2014: Giro d'Italia 2014 - Stage 13: Fossano - Rivarolo Canavese
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