Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) took a hugely surprising win in the mountain time trial on stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia. He edged out race leader Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) by less than a second with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team) resurrecting his Giro with third.
It was a day to forget for Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who lost over two minutes. The Italian was already down on his rivals for the maglia rosa before dropping his chain and changing bikes.
Kruijswijk looked unflappable, unbreakable even, setting the fastest time at the first time check at 4.4km and carrying that momentum onto the stepper sections of the climb. He now leads Chaves by 2:21 as the race heads into the third rest-day. Nibali is at 2:51, while Valverde remains in fourth at 3:29.
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Foliforov though caused perhaps the shock of the Giro d’Italia and providing second division Gazprom with their first ever Giro d’Italia stage win. The 24-year-old with little of a back ground in time trial had finished fourth in last year’s Tour de l'Avenir but few had him circled as a rider to watch ahead of the stage.
He soared up the climb, catching several riders on the way and dislodging Ian Boswell (Team Sky) from the hotseat.
There were still dozens of riders to come but the likes of Michele Scarponi (Astana) and Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) were unable to dislodge the stage leader.
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