For a long time, the Italians had to wait for a stage win at Giro d’Italia. Of all places on the royal stage, they now celebrated a big triumph. The Slovenian favorite Primoz Roglic, which was pursued by the bad luck,, on the other hand, left the Giro prematurely after another fall drama.
Christian Scaroni won the 16th stage of the Giro with a minimal lead in front of his compatriot Lorenzo Fortunato. The two from Team XDS Astana were handed hand in hand over the finish line. Scaroni’s front wheel rolled over the finish line a few centimeters earlier.
Third place came in third place by the third Italians in the group, Giulio Pellizzani from Team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Podium in green-white-red
The podium beamed in the destination of 1,315 meters in San Valentino in Grün-Weiß-Rot. The heaviest stage of the Giro so far had a length of 203 kilometers and 4,900 meters of altitude.
The lead of the overall leading Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) melted. In the group of classification drivers, the top Mexican talent was unable to attack the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easypost), which ended up fourth, around six kilometers before the finish.
Tension in the overall ranking
Carapaz, overall winner from 2019, shortened its gap from 2:07 minutes to 31 seconds and is now third, Simon Yates (Great Britain/Visma Lease A Bike) occupied second with 26 seconds. Del Toros Spanish teammate Juan Ayuso, third in the overall ranking, fell far back.
Top star Roglic got out
Previously, top star Primoz Roglic had to bury his hopes for a good result in the race. The star of the German team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe crashed around 95 km before the finish on the rainy royal stage to San Valentino.
Roglic had already fallen several times in the course of the 108th Tour of Italy.
On Wednesday, 3,800 meters of altitude are waiting for the cycling professionals. Friday and Saturday there are other stages with more than 4,500 meters of altitude. The 108th Giro ends in Rome on Sunday.