Marco Canola (Bardiani) did what everybody thought would be impossible: deny the sprinters in one  of the final flat stages of this year's Giro d'Italia. Having been part of a 6-rider breakaway, he was the animator who whittled it down to the final trio and as the sprint teams looked at each other to take responsibility for the chase, they got the chance to sprint for the stage win. Canola emerged as the strongest while Nacer Bouhanni's (FDJ) sprint win was only good enough for fourth. Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) got an easy first day as race leader and defended his position at the top of the leader board.

 

With only three flat stages left and several big mountains to come, the sprinters had very few opportunities left in this year's Giro d'Italia when they headed out for today's 13th stage of the race. Hence, very few would have expected that they would miss out on the mostly flat course to Rivarolo Canavese.

 

When 6 riders took off after just 3km of racing and were initially not given more than a 3-minute advantage before FDJ and Giant-Shimano started to chase, it seemed to be another straightforward stage that would end in a bunch sprint. With FDJ getting worn out and the other sprinters refusing to lend them a hand, however, the script was changed in a dramatic and exciting finale.

 

The rider to benefit the most from the unexpected turn of events was Marco Canola. All day the Italian had looked like the strongest rider in the break and he got his just reward when he took a hugely surprising stage victory.

 

Canola create the initial selection when he whittled the front group down to just three and he soldiered on with just Jackson Rodriguez (Androni) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar) for company. At this point, the sprint teams still seemed to have the upper hand but the tables were turned when FDJ suddenly had no more riders left to lead the chase.

 

Apparently, their rival sprint teams had already used up the riders they wanted to spend in this early part of the race and so they all refused to take over. Instead, it was Omega Pharma-Quick Step team that set the pace for most of the time in the finale and they had no interest in bringing back the break.

 

Inside the final 3km, the chase again got organized as the peloton ramped up the speed for the sprint but at this point it was all too late and the escapees had plenty of time to play the game of cat and mouse.

 

Canola again proved that he was the strongest when he won the battle for the first position in the final turn just 220m from the line and then he launched his sprint immediately. He got a few metres of advantage and despite Rodriguez finishing strongly, the Italian held on to take the biggest win of his career.

 

11 seconds later Nacer Bouhanni was left wondering what might have been when he again beat Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek) in a very close sprint while Elia Viviani again failed to benefit from a great lead-out. This time, however, his lack of speed didn't cost him the win and so the bitter pill was probably easier to swallow.

 

For Rigoberto Uran, it was an easy first day in the maglia rosa and he safely crossed the line to defend his 37-second advantage over Cadel Evans (BMC). However, he faces a much sterner test tomorrow with the first of two consecutive stages in the Alps. In the second half of the stage, the riders go up three big climbs, with the final one leading to the finish in Oropa. This is likely to be the scene of a big battle between the GC favourites as many of them need to gain a lot of time before the finish in Trieste.

 

One for the sprinters

After the dramatic time trial, the GC riders got a chance to recover ahead of the mountain stages in the weekend when the Giro continued with the 13th stage. The 157km brought the riders over mostly flat roads from Fossano to Rivarolo Canavese, with only a single categorized climb coming 34km from the finish. The finale, however, was a bit tricky as there was a 500m climb with an average gradient of 3% inside the final kilometre and strong winds also threatened to split things into pieces.

 

After yesterday's rainy stage, the riders were back in the sun when the 174 remaining riders took off from Fossano. Most of them hoped to get an easy stage ahead of the brutal mountain stages in the weekend and as the sprinters were expected to control affairs, not many riders had any intention of going on the attack.

 

The break takes off

It was no surprise to see 5 riders take off after 3km of racing when Jackson Rodriguez (Androni), Jeffry Romero (Colombia), Marco Canola (Bardiani), Gert Dockx (Lotto Belisol) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar) started to open a gap. And it was no surprise either to see that the break was mostly made up of riders from the wildcard teams.

 

With Joaquim Rodriguez out of the race, Katusha have to ride opportunistic in their search for stage wins and so Maxim Belkov decided that it was time for him to go on the attack. The Russian bridged across to the leaders to make it a 6-rider front group.

 

No big advantage

The peloton had no intenton of letting this sprint opportunity slip away and so the gap reached a maximum of 1.57 after 18km of racing. At this point, Giant-Shimano and FDJ had already taken control and they brought the gap down to 1.30.

 

That was too early though and they allowed it to grow back up to 2.50 with 95km to go. After Bouhanni and several others returned from a natural break, Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) and Tom Stamsnijder (Giant-Shimano) again upped the pace and for most of the day, the gap hovered around the 2.30 mark.

 

The break takes the peloton by surprise

At this point, everything seemed to be under control and the only drama happened when Vladimir Gusev (Katusha) went down in a solo crash. With 65km to go, however, the escapees hit some hillier terrain and they clearly decided to see if they could catch the peloton by surprise by going a bit harder.

 

That worked perfectly and when the gap had come up to 3.40, the peloton finally reacted. Francis Mourey (FDJ) joined Stamsnijder and Courteille on the front and the trio worked together to bring down the gap.

 

Trek and Cannondale react

With 45km to go, the gap was still 3.20 and this prompted Trek to react. The American team put Eugenio Alafaci on the front and a little later, Cannondale also reacted, asking Michel Koch to contribute to the pace-setting.

 

It worked perfectly and the gap quickly came down to 2.40 while Romero stopped taking turns in the front group. As they hit the day's only categorized climb, Canola tried to up the pace but had to slow down to wait for his companions. Belkov and Romero briefly lost contact while Canola led Rodriguez and Tulik across the line at the top but the duo rejoined their companions on the descent.

 

Mourey goes too fast

On the climb, Mourey did a big mistake as he rode too hard, causing Koch, Alafaci and Courteille to drop off. This left just the Frenchman and Stamsnijder to do the work but they quickly got assistance from Fumiyuki Beppu (Trek) and Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ).

 

Romero again started to contribute to the pace-setting but the situation seemed to be under control when the gap was 1.45 with 22km to go. At this point, Veikkanen, Koch, Alafaci and Alexandre Geniez (FDJ) worked excellently together but they were clearly starting to tire.

 

Canola attacks

With 19km to go, the gap was 1.25 but from there the escapees again started to gain ground. With 15km to go, they were agin 1.50 ahead.

 

At this point, Canola sensed that he was the strongest and made an attack. Tulik responded immediately and Rodriguez also managed to rejoin them. Romero fell off the pace while Dock and Belkov dangled 15 seconds behind for a long time.

 

The sprint teams give up

With 14km to go, the sprint teams suddenly gave up and it was now OPQS riding on the front to keep Uran protected. Colombia tried to chip in, with Miguel Rubiano and Jarlinson Pantano both taking some turns but for a long time it was the GC teams that dominated the pace-setting.

 

As a consequence, the gap wasn't really coming down. With 10km to go, it was 1.24 and with 5km to go it was still 1.10.

 

Canola attacks again

Trek and FDJ  both made a last-minute attempt to get back in contention but Alafaci and Laurent Pichon quickly disappeared. With 4km to go, Giant and Sky briefly reacted but soon it was again Movistar on the front.

 

With 3km to go, Canola tried to attack his companions and while Tulik struggled, Rodriguez stayed on his wheel. That spelled the end of their cooperation but they were still more than a minute ahead.

 

Garmin take control

In the peloton, Garmin took control with Dylan Van Baarle leading Nathan Haas and Tyler Farrar and meanwhile the escapees were playing the game of cat and mouse. The peloton was now quickly approaching as FDJ and Cannondale ramped up the speed for the sprint.

 

However, it was too late and despite Rodriguez leading the break at a slow pace, the escapees had enough time to play their games. Canola passed Rodriguez just before the final roundabout and then launched a long sprint that allowed him to take the win while 11 seconds later Bouhanni narrowly held off Nizzolo in the sprint for fourth.