The riders may have already done two mountain stages but after covering the 249km at an impressive speed, Rigoberto Uran described today's 11th stage as the hardest so far. The Colombian finished safely alongside his main rivals and allowed his teammate Gianluca Brambilla to test himself in the final sprint.
Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team rider Gianluca Brambilla, after protecting GC lead Rigoberto Uran in the 249km medium mountain Giro d'Italia Stage 11 on Wednesday, finished 5th in the stage.
Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the stage solo after attacking on the descent of a GPM 2 climb with about 20km to go. An original 14 rider breakaway was brought back earlier, as was Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) after he attacked out of the peloton, eventually passing those riders and losing contact with those who tried to stick to his wheel.
Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano) was 2nd, and Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani-CSF) was 3rd.
Uran kept himself present near the front with the help of his teammates in the final kilometers of a long stage, and finished 17th in the stage. He remains 2nd in the GC (+57") behind Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) going into what will likely be the crucial 41.9km ITT on Thursday.
Pieter Serry and Julien Vermote crashed after 70 kilometers, on a descent.
"Today was the hardest day of the Giro so far," Uran said. " The speed was incredible since the beginning. We flew over the first part of the parcours. But the guys were super for me again. They kept me out of trouble all day and brought me into great position at the foot of the Naso Di Gatto. We had a bad crash of Vermote and Serry but they fought until the end. I hope they can recover fast."
"Tomorrow we have the time trial," Uran continued. "I like the parcours. We came here on the 5th of March to perform reconnaissance. The parcours is not easy. For the GC guys this will be an important test, as we then hit the mountains over the weekend. "
29.03: La Route Adélie de VItré |
30.03: The Bueng Si Fai |
30.03: Gran Premio Miguel Indurain |
30.03: Volta Limburg Classic |
31.03: Ronde van Vlaanderen |
31.03: Ronde van Vlaanderen |
29.03 - 01.04: Ster van Zuid Limburg |
01.04: Gran Premio del Perdono |
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