Stage 16

The road

At the start

Monte Bondone, and 6,000 metres

Bruno Armirail still has pink, but the race is between the men behind him: Geraint Thomas at 1:08, Primož Roglič at 1:10, João Almeida at 1:30. Thomas and Roglič have finished on the same time in all thirteen road stages so far — the two seconds between them came from the time trials. Today is the hardest day of this Giro: 200 kilometres, 6,240 metres of climbing, five passes, Monte Bondone at the end.

How it was won

1. 150 km to go

   Into Monte Bondone

   A twelve-man break leads by three and a half minutes as the race hits the day's final climb; Sivakov abandons behind.

2. 28 km to go

   Vine detonates the GC

   Jay Vine ratchets up a savage pace, swallowing the break 8.5km from the top and ripping the favourites apart — only Thomas, Roglič, Kuss and Dunbar can hold on.

3. 35 km to go

   Cracks appear

   Full-on cracks: Dunbar loses the wheel, then Thomas nips around Kuss to bridge to Almeida, riding smoothly away from Roglič as Jumbo hit panic stations.

4. 43 km to go

   The gap grows

   Thomas and Almeida stretch their advantage to 30 seconds with 3km to go, Roglič digging in behind Kuss to stem a haemorrhage of time.

5. 5At the line

   Monte Bondone

   Almeida wins the two-up sprint, Geraint Thomas seizes the pink jersey, and Roglič limps in 25 seconds down — the Giro turning against him.

The result