Giro d'Italia 2022 stage 15

Giulio Ciccone claimed a third career Giro d'Italia stage victory at the summit finish of Cogne.

With two category one climbs, and the final relatively benign looking ascent up to Cogne there is sure to be some action in the mountains classification. It was Yates, though, who was able to deliver the final, decisive, blow to win the stage at the end of what had been a tough week for the Briton. Here are the highlights. If that's the case then this stage appears ideal terrain for Carapaz to put the pressure on Hindley ahead of Monday's rest day. The Ecuadorian appeared to touch wheels with another rider, causing a rippling effect through the bunch that resulted in a huge pile-up. Salvatore Puccio continues to pull on the front of the Ineos Grenadiers mountain train as it steams its way up the category one Pila-Les Fleurs climb. I'm guessing he is just really determined to take maximum points atop this climb, because it seems awfully audacious to go for a long-range solo attack with over 75km off the stage and two more mountains to follow. More of a concern for the breakaway, though, is the fact that they have lost almost a minute to the Jumbo-Visma rider following his surge up the road. Only Giulio Ciccone is able to respond. There is barely a breeze in the air and the mercury has been rising throughout the afternoon, touching in to the early 30s. He is looking to be back to his best here today and is putting in repeated little accelerations in an attempt to drop any passengers. But the gap to Giulio Ciccone just keeps growing. Giulio Ciccone is absolutely flying and has gained 40sec on Hugh Carthy and Santiago Buitrago. What a result this would be for Ciccone, but it is not a given that he can hold this all the way to the line.

Italian rider Giulio Ciccone got into an early breakaway then launched a solo attack on the finishing climb to win the 15th stage on Sunday. Advertisement.

For his third career Giro victory after also winning stages in 2016 and 2019, Ciccone was cheered on by large crowds lining the cobblestoned streets in the finale. “This is my most beautiful win. The final climb to Cogne was a lengthy 22.2 kilometers (14 miles) but was steep only at the start and had an average gradient of just 4.3%. Requiring about an hour of climbing, it was still a challenge and when Ciccone attacked with 18.8 kilometers (12 miles) to go, his breakaway companions had no answer. Then we had it under control.” “Then it went smoothly. “I just had to change bikes,” he said.

Rivarolo Canavese - Cogne 177 km We move into the Aosta valley for a classic style mountain stage before the final rest day....

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) soloed to stage 15 victory in Cogne after a day on the attack. The GC riders took a day off, for the most-part, ...

Ciccone had looked particularly sprightly, even irritable on the penultimate climb, and made a bit of a nuisance of himself on the descent, his abundance of energy ready to explode. Clearly the strongest, Ciccone attacked again with 18.8 km to go and this time, Carthy was unable to follow. At 22.1 km, the climb to the finish in Cogne was the longest of the day, and its 4.3% average gradient is deceptive, with ramps exceeding 10% on the lower slopes and a leisurely upper half that rarely goes over 3%. As the second and more challenging climb began, Merhawi Kudus (EF Education-EasyPost) was chiefly responsibly for shredding the remaining breakaway a little over a minute behind the leaders, as Bouwman was dropped from the front of the race. Their cohesion was short-lived, and on the first of three long climbs, Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) went clear to hunt down enough KOM points to put him back into the maglia azzurra. Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) soloed to stage 15 victory in Cogne after a day on the attack.

GC stalemate on Cogne summit finish as Ineos control the peloton.

Ciccone led the group up and over Verrogne to take the 40 points in the KOM competition. Ciccone attacked the front group several times, distancing van der Poel, and later Tusveld, with six kilometres of climbing left up Verrogne. Ciccone then kept the pace high and pushed away with Buitrago on his wheel. Not wanting to leave the KOM points to chance, Bouwman struck out solo with 3km to the top of Pila-Les Fleurs, gained a minute on his chasers and easily collected the 40 points on offer at the summit. However, motivated stage hunters like Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) and Mathieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) were present, adding an extra impetus to the group. The bunch didn’t give in on this group easily and held the five riders at just 20 seconds for about 15km before shutting it down with 115km to go. However, it didn’t take long for Ineos to escort their race leader back into the bunch. Despite crashing earlier in the stage, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) finished the stage to retain the pink jersey ahead of the second rest day. It was the best choice that I made. The emotional Trek-Segafredo rider had time to celebrate his third win at the Giro d’Italia after a frustrating three years of personal disappointment. I tried here today because my legs were really good. Image 37 of 37

Giulio Ciccone courageously left the 'break of the day' with 18 kilometres to go to the finish in Cogne for a solo win.

Since moving to Spain and finding out how to use a computer, he has gone from contributor of Daily Distractions at the 2002 Vuelta a España to editor at PezCyclingNews. The scenario of the race was pretty good. Ciccone used the steep opening section of the final climb to split the leading group. The pink jersey remains on the shoulders of Richard Carapaz. The final climb to Cogne (22.4km at 4.3%) had steep sections especially in the first 8 kilometres. The big battles of the day came in the first 80 kilometres of the stage. At the front Ciccone extended his lead. The Frenchman ended up in a group with the dropped Arensman. Carapaz’s team kept the gap small; Arensman was closest on the overall at 11:47. Bouwman was not happy with the speed in the leading group and went solo in the hunt for KOM points. Giulio Ciccone was the winner of Sunday’s mountain stage in the Giro d’Italia finishing in Cogne. The Trek-Segafredo climber, who rode the last 18 kilometres solo, was the best of a leading group of 25 riders in stage 15. This is Ciccone third stage win in the Giro. There was no problems for Richard Carapaz’s pink jersey. Behind him the peloton were happy to stay together as INEOS Grenadiers piloted the pink jersey of Richard Carapaz into the final week.

Our highlights from a stage where the GC contenders rolled in eight minutes behind the day's winner.

Although the prospect of two big category one climbs during the final half of the race sounded promising, the third and final climb was always likely to neutralise proceedings. So it turned out, as the GC riders all held their powder dry. If he decides to target the blue jersey, then we can expect to see him in many more breaks to come during the mountainous final week. The Brit’s results since registering an unexpected and remarkable podium finish at the 2020 Vuelta a España had been getting steadily worse. Any hope of him finishing high on GC at this Giro were ended when he was dropped on Blockhaus. Last season he tried to rebrand as a GC rider at Grand Tours, but was struck by bad luck at both the Giro and the Vuelta, abandoning out of both.

Ciccone keeps the Italian celebrations rolling with Alpine victory as Carapaz and the GC contenders recover from red-hot Turin stage.

18 But Carthy was not able to respond when the Italian launched yet another vicious acceleration 18.8km from the finish, and dropped back to Buitrago. They caught and passed the leading trio about 8km from the top, and despite a few more accelerations from Ciccone initially causing some consternation, this new leading trio eventually started working harmoniously together. Bouwman attacked from out the group on that climb, and took maximum points at the top, by which point he had a lead of almost one minute over the rest of the break. “I tried everything today because my legs were really good. After an explosive race Saturday, the battle for pink went on pause Sunday with no significant changes to the top-five overall.

After the fireworks on Saturday, it was a far more relaxed outing on Stage 15 as the breakaway was allowed to stay clear. Giulio Ciccone ended his ...

After the fireworks on Saturday, it was a far more relaxed outing on Stage 15 as the breakaway was allowed to stay clear. Giulio Ciccone ended his ...

Italian rider Giulio Ciccone won a third career stage on his home tour, while Richard Carapaz stayed in pink despite an early crash on stage 15.

The eventual stage winner worked with Buitrago and Pedrero to cover an early break and the pressed up the Verrogne climb. It is what it is.” Carapaz did not see the incident, but did not ultimately gain any time on Almeida. Buitrago and Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) completed the podium, finishing 1m 31s and 2m 19s behind Ciccone. Then we had it under control.” “This is my most beautiful win,” he said afterwards. The scenario of the race was pretty good.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) took stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia, with the Italian attacking the day's breakaway to finish alone on the Cogne summit ...

2022 Giro d'Italia - STAGE 15 preview. The here-after. A day after one of the most exciting and brilliant race we have seen in years, we have one if not the ...

Jai Hindley Jai Hindley Richard Carapaz Richard Carapaz Joao Almeida Richard Carapaz – Dared to attack the GC Grp with 28 km left and also took the Maglia Rosa. This shows confidence.