Giro dItalia stage 15 – Live coverage | Cyclingnews – Cyclingnews.com – Cyclingnews.com

Dan Martin slips his chain and is forced to stop. He should be fine coming back though. 

Puccio and Ganna continue to trade turns on the front of the main field with 53km to go and the gap at 11’05.

A reminder of the GC heading into the stage, although we have lost Buchmann:

56km to go and the gap is down to 11’06. So the winner will obviously come from the break as we see Ineos remain on the front of the peloton.

Mollema has dropped back to the car, not for food but for a chit chat with his DS. No teammates today for the Dutchman but he’s one of the best climbers in this group but today’s ascent is pretty punchy rather than long and steady. He’s won Lombardy though so can’t be ruled out in the slightest. 

Jonathan Castroviejo loses his cool in the feedzone and slams a gel onto the tarmac. Must have been some kind of mix up there.

Yates and his teammates continue to save their powder and follow the Ineos train on the climb. The Australian team are now Bernal’s main challenger in the race after what happened on the Zoncolan but today they’ll just wait and save their resources for the all-important climbing we’ll see on stage 16. 

Even though we’re over the classified climb the road drops down but then rises again for another few kilometers. 70km to go.

Ganna on the front and tapping out a decent pace for Ineos. 74km to go. We’ve got huge crowds on either side of the road as well with the gap at 11’47.

Here’s our story on George Bennett climbing the Zoncolan twice yesterday. 

11’55 now for the break with 77km to go as the peloton head towards the foot of the climb for the first time.

Back in the bunch and Moscon and Ganna are sharing the pace with Bernal being well looked after. He’s looked so comfortable in the race so far.

Mollema kicks out as he wants the 3 points for the KOM but it’s De Bondt who is first. Mollema was third. If Mollema wanted the KOM jersey then surely tomorrow would be the day to go for it. First and foremost he wants a stage in this year’s race and for the second day in a row he’s in the break.

Harm Vanhoucke, who is one of just three Lotto Soudal riders left in the race, is setting the pace as the peloton drift to 11’39.

The riders do this climb three time today and even though it’s a fourth cat ascent it’s still steep as we see the break line out. 

The break are on the fourth cat climb for the first time and they’re doing more than enough to hold onto their 11’30 lead over the peloton. 80km to go. 

Out to 11’15 now for the break. A reminder of who is in the break:

Dries De Bondt, Oscar Riesebeek, Simone Consonni, Lars Van den Berg, Quinten Hermans, Stefano Oldani, Harm Vanhoucke, Dario Cataldo, Albert Torres, Nikias Arndt, Victor Campenaerts, Maximilian Walscheid, Lukasz Wisniowski, Bauke Mollema, and Juan Sebastian Molano. 

The peloton has lined out slightly as Ganna sits on the front and just gobbles up the kilometers. 

The GC teams will appreciate the gentle pace at the moment because tomorrow is going to be a brute but there’s been a change and BikeExchange have moved into second position just behind the Ineos train. 

10’43 now for the break as we head towards the final 85km of the stage. 

EF on Guerreiro:  He will undergo further medical assessment for pain to his ribs.

Away from the world of WorldTour road racing we’ve had some gravel action over in the US with the Gravel Locos race in Texas taking place. Laurens ten Dam won the men’s race while Emily Newsom won the women’s race by almost 20 minutes. Click on links for reports and results. 

97km to go

Inside the final 100km of the stage and the break have built a lead of 9’37. Unless there’s a drastic intervention from the peloton the stage will be decided by the riders up the road.

The gap has moved out to 9’17 with 103km to go.

Ineos will not mind if a break takes the stage today so it’s really on teams like Bora to chase but given how many riders are up the road they won’t want to chase on their own. 

Here’s our updated story on Buchmann.

The break are on an unclassified climb and the peloton are at 8’08. The situation is a lot calmer than it was about an hour ago, that’s for certain. 

That’s brought Ineos to the front to line out the front of the peloton with Bernal neatly tucked in. Up ahead and it’s 15 not 18 riders, we have Dries De Bondt, Oscar Riesebeek, Simone Consonni, Lars Van den Berg, Quinten Hermans, Stefano Oldani, Harm Vanhoucke, Dario Cataldo, Albert Torres, Nikias Arndt, Victor Campenaerts, Maximilian Walscheid, Lukasz Wisniowski, Bauke Mollema, Juan Sebastian Molano. 

The four chasers haven’t made contact. 

Up to seven minutes for the 18 rider break. 112km to go.

Everyone is committed to the break, there are no passengers at this point, while back in the bunch Sagan and his team are content to just tap out a gentle pace. 

Almost five minutes now for the 18 leaders up the road. 

Ruben Guerreiro has abandoned the Giro d’Italia.

122km to go

Dries De Bondt, Oscar Riesebeek, Simone Consonni, Lars Van den Berg, Quinten Hermans, Stefano Oldani, Harm Vanhoucke, Dario Cataldo, Albert Torres, Nikias Arndt, Victor Campenaerts, Maximilian Walscheid, Lukasz Wisniowski, Bauke Mollema, Juan Sebastian Molano, Alexis Gougeard, Filippo Tagliani, Andrea Pasqualon and Matteo Jorgenson are the riders up the road. They have 3’09 over the peloton with 122km to go.

We have 14 riders in the break and then a group of four chasing. 

Sebastien Reichenbach is back with the medical car for some treatment as the break move out to 1’45 ahead.

There are cross-winds now. The peloton could splinter very soon.

Ineos Grenadiers move to the front of the main field as they look to keep Bernal well placed. There are enough committed riders in the break to make this work but the gap is still 1’29.

Ruben Guerreiro who fell earlier is off the back of the peloton.

The gap is holding at 1’26 but the peloton haven’t sat up yet.

131km to go

1’15 for the Mollema group with a few chasers at 43 seconds with 131km to go.

More action from the bunch so this isn’t the break of the day. Not yet anyway. 

Catald, Mollema and Campenaerts are among the riders up the road with 131km to go.

15, maybe 20 riders up the road now but there are few more trying to bridge across. 

A lot of riders in the bunch want to sit up almost immediately but we have two groups clear for now.

We have 138km to go on stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia.

Racing has been restarted.

And we’re racing and Peter Sagan is one of the riders who tries to sprint clear.

Sagan near the front right now and taking to several of his colleagues. The stretch of road where the fall took place was similar to the Passage du Gois fall from the 99 Tour. 

Totally the right call for the organisers to stop the stage. The location of the fall, and the numbers involved meant that they had little choice. Still, the right call was made. 

The race has been stopped for about 15-20 minutes but we are finally rolling again. Slowly of course. 

Van Emden and Berhane have also abandoned the race. 

Lots of bike changes right now and still riders being checked out by medical staff. 

Here’s our developing story on the crash and this morning’s neutralization of the stage.

Confirmed that Buchmann has abandoned the Giro d’Italia. That’s brutal news for him and his team. He was sitting 6th overall coming into the stage and looked like a really good shout for the podium in Milan. 

Ruben Guerreiro is standing. They’ve brought the stretcher for him it seems but now he’s getting back on his bike. 

Gallopin has blood all over his left leg and now a stretcher has been wheeled out for another rider.

There was clearly concerns from RCS over safety so this was the right call. We’re seeing more and more riders with torn jerseys and medical teams on the scene. Riders in the break will not have seen the fall but they can’t be blamed for their frustration either. 

No, no. Riders are just making way for medical cars to leave the scene.

It looks like we’re rolling again, albeit slowly. 

Still no confirmation or news on Buchmann. 

Just on the conditions, there’s a lot of wind around and that crash took place on a tight stretch of road. Right now the bunch are stood on the road and waiting. 

The break and the peloton are back together but still stood by the side of the road as several riders receive medical treatment. 

It looked lie the crash was right near the front of the peloton when it happened.  Jos van Emden were among those that also fell. The peloton have been told to stop now. The race has stopped. 

Emanuel Buchmann was 6th overall at 2’36 but his race is in the balance after that fall. 

He’s on his feet and he’s being checked over by the medical team but this isn’t great news at all for the German or his team. 

Buchmann is down. 

There were over a dozen riders up the road but they’re being ordered to wait. 

There are maybe 4-5 riders still on the deck but this is chaotic scenes. 

They’re telling the riders in the break to sit up, and they’re not happy. 

They’re neutralizing the race!

A massive pile up in the middle of the field.

145km to go and there’s a huge group up the road but there’s a huge crash. 

Attacks right away and it’s Qhubeka Assos who are attacking from the gun. 

Here’s what yesterday’s surprise stage winner Lorenzo Fortunato had to say after his victory.

“Ivan took me to one side this morning in the team bus, told me to go in the break, get onto the Zoncolan and win, and that’s what I did,” Fortunato said. “I think he believed in me more than I did.

“I watched Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) the closest in the break, but then after Tratnik went for it, I tried to bridge across.”

“After I dropped him, though, it was so hard it felt like the finish line was never going to appear.”

The full story is here.

Away from the Giro, this was the best bit of action in the sport yesterday:

Uttrup Ludwig: ‘Finally!’ secures first WorldTour victory at Vuelta a Burgos

This might be the coolest thing that happened yesterday. Having ‘favourites’ in pro cycling, when you’re a journalist is a very dangerous game but this sort of behaviour is admirable through and through. 

We’re about 15 minutes from the official roll out.

While over at Procycling magazine, dep ed Sophie Hurcom has written this excellent piece on the strength in depth at Ineos Grenadiers. 

We saw some significant gaps on the Zoncolan yesterday, especially after Yates and then Bernal attacked. For a GC analysis piece, click here.

It’s a short stage, especially by Giro standards – just 147km between Grado and Gorizia but it’s going to be frantic. There have been some days when it’s taken around 100km for a break to form. My guess is that Bora want a break to go early but they want it to be small and they want to keep them at 2-3 minutes for most of the stage. Not every team is going to want to play by Bora’s rules, however. Should be fascinating opening hour or action. 

Peter is right, this does look perfect for Sagan. And one of his main rivals has gone home this morning with Nizzolo leaving the race. Today looked perfect for him but perhaps he’s cooked. Here’s the news on the Italian road champion – who also won a stage earlier in the race.

Here’s what journalist Peter Cossins had to say about today’s stage:

This intriguing-looking stage is squeezed in between two days in the high mountains, which should mean a breakaway will go the distance, although it’s not as clear cut as that. It takes place in the Collio region between Friuli and Slovenia. Apart from one small hill, the opening 60 kilometres are pan flat, but as the race approaches Slovenia it enters a 31km circuit covered twice that will suit punchy climbers, but doesn’t completely count out the chances of sprinters like Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) who can easily cope with short ascents like these.

The circuit begins with a fourth-category climb to Gornje Cerovo (2.5km long and averaging 7 per cent), the road continuing to roll beyond it for another 15km, when the riders will return to Italian soil for a dozen or so kilometres that are flat. These lead into the second ascent into Gornje Cerovo and another full lap of the circuit.

Following the third passage up to Gornje Cerovo, the route turns eastwards, briefly entering the finish town on Gorizia, which sits right on the border between the two nations, then jumps across to Slovenia one last time for the second intermediate sprint at Novi Gorica. There’s a final climb, short but steep, which tops out about 3km from the finish line, which is sure to be used by punchy riders who are in the break or, if it’s all come back together, the bunch as a springboard for an attack.

Here’s how the overall standings look heading into today’s action.

This is down as one of those ‘intermediate’ stages but honestly it could go in so many different directions. The smart money is on another breakaway and a relatively easy day for the GC riders given what happened yesterday and what’s to come in the mountains tomorrow. But this is the Giro, and anything can happen. We’re about 30 mins from the start of today’s stage. 

Hello and welcome to our live race coverage from stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia.