Stage 16

The road

At the start

Gavia, Stelvio, and a snow forecast

Out of the rest day and straight into the queen stage: 139 kilometres, 4,500 metres of climbing, the Gavia from almost the gun, then the Stelvio at 2,758 metres, then the long haul up Val Martello. Snow is falling on the passes and the organisers have still not confirmed the route can be ridden. Rigoberto Urán leads Cadel Evans by 1:03 and Rafał Majka by 1:50; Nairo Quintana is fifth at 2:40 and out of time to wait.

How it was won

1. 1116 km to go

   Snow on the Gavia

   The Gavia is caked in snow and swallowed in mist, and the peloton climbs it huddled together. Only Robinson Chalapud is brave enough to ride away alone, cresting first into the freezing murk.

2. 299 km to go

   Twenty kilometres of falling rain

   The descent off the Gavia is twenty kilometres long, soaking and glassy, and it tears the race apart. Cadel Evans, normally a fine descender, finds himself off the back with Pozzovivo while Pellizotti, Cataldo and Vuillermoz slip away in front.

3. 369 km to go

   Cataldo takes the Cima Coppi

   Sensing the peloton at his wheel, Dario Cataldo strikes out alone and crests the Stelvio first, the roof of this Giro, cheered on by rain-sodden fans in the fog.

4. 459 km to go

   The descent nobody agreed on

   Word filters through the shivering peloton that the Stelvio descent has been neutralised — the organisers later deny it. In the confusion Nairo Quintana, of all riders, plunges away through the mist with Izagirre, Hesjedal, Rolland and Sicard, and Urán is left behind. The Giro is decided on a road nobody could see.

5. 515 km to go

   Quintana attacks the first ramp

   Val Martello opens up, Cataldo comes back into view, and Quintana kicks straight away, taking Rolland with him. Hesjedal cannot match the acceleration but hauls himself back on.

6. 67 km to go

   Attack after attack

   From seven kilometres out the Colombian keeps going: dig, settle, dig again, until the gap breaks three minutes and Evans is drowning far behind, his podium slipping away.

7. 7At the line

   Pink at Val Martello

   Hesjedal is shed inside the last kilometre and Quintana rides in alone, 4:10 ahead of Urán. The maglia rosa changes shoulders and the Giro has its winner.

The result