Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took his first ever Giro d’Italia stage victory and moved himself back into podium contention on a fast and furious stage 16 to Andalo. Valverde beat maglia rosa Steven Kruijswijk in a sprint to the line as the Dutchman extended his lead in the overall classification for the second consecutive stage.
Ilnur Zakarin had been in a group with Kruijswijk and Valverde but couldn’t handle the finishing speed and rolled in eight seconds down. Home favourite Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) blew up on the penultimate climb and lost over a minute in the fight for the overall classification.
There was action from start to finish with almost all of the key GC riders taking a punt off the front. Sitting just off the podium going into the stage, it was Valverde that forced the race-winning move on the Fai della Paganella with 15 kilometres remaining.
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Kruijswijk was wise to the Movistar rider and comfortably closed the gap with Zakarin the final rider able to make the junction. The move forced the first signs of difficulty for Nibali, who swiftly dropped back to a chasing group that contained Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge).
All intent on turning the screws on Nibali, the three initially put their own ambitions aside to do just that. Valverde’s intentions soon became obvious as he sat on the back of the bunch, allowing Zakarin to take them through the final kilometres. The Spaniard finally made his move just before the last corner and his finishing speed was too much for Kruijswijk to handle. The time gap and the bonus seconds were enough to move him back onto the podium and within touching distance of Chaves in second with 23 seconds separating the two.
Giro d'Italia Stage 16 Video Highlights
How it happened
Valverde punishes Nibali
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