Stage 16

The road

At the start

Up Plan de Corones, alone

The Zoncolan did what it was put there to do. Arroyo keeps the jersey, but Basso is third now at 3:33, Evans fifth at 4:43, and Richie Porte sits 2:35 back with the whole final week still to ride. Today is a mountain time trial and nothing else: 12.9 kilometres to Plan de Corones averaging 8.2 per cent, with ramps of twenty-four. There is nowhere to hide and nobody to hide behind.

How it was won

1. 15 km to go

   Garzelli fastest at the check

   Stefano Garzelli started more than half an hour down on general classification and had no business being watched. He goes through the intermediate check in 21:11, the fastest split of the day.

2. 22 km to go

   Twenty-four per cent

   The last kilometres of Plan de Corones are the reason the stage exists: 12.9 kilometres averaging 8.2 per cent and maxing at twenty-four. The winner will be whoever spent his effort most evenly, and the veteran has been metering his all afternoon.

3. 3At the line

   King of Corones

   Garzelli takes it by 42 seconds from Cadel Evans, ten years after he won this race. Gadret is third at 54. Arroyo keeps the maglia rosa but hands more than a minute of it to Basso, who climbs to third overall.

The result