Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) soloed to a third victory within a week on the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday to extend his overall race lead.
Chris Froome, who won on Saturday’s Monte Zoncolan summit finish, lost more time on the 176km Dolomites stage from Tolmezzo to Sappada.
Yates launched his attack 17km from the finish line and held on to add to his previous victories on the ninth stage at Gran Sasso and 11th at Osimo.
He crossed the line 41 seconds ahead of a group led by Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana), with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) in third.
“My attack was a little bit on instinct,” explained Yates. “I saw a little gap. I gave everything the second time to get away. It’s fantastic.”
Dumoulin is second overall but drops to 2min 11sec behind Yates going into the final week. Monday’s final rest day will be followed by a time-trial at Rovereto on Tuesday where Dumoulin is expected to gain time.
“I feel emotional after today. I’ve been fighting since Israel to build a good lead,” said Yates. “I’m happy with the gap I have now but it’s far from over. It could vanish in 35 kilometres.”
Froome struggled on the fourth and final climb in the Dolomites losing a minute and a half on the day of his 33rd birthday. The Briton dropped from fifth to seventh overall and is now almost five minutes behind Yates.
Giro d’Italia 2018 – stage 15 results (Tolmezzo – Sappada):
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 4:37:56 |
| 2 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +41” |
| 3 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 4 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 5 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | ,, |
| 6 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 7 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | +01’20” |
| 8 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 9 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | ,, |
| 10 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 11 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 12 | Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 13 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 14 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 15 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 16 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | ,, |
| 17 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +01’32” |
| 18 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 19 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +02’11” |
| 20 | Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) | +03’33” |
General classification after stage 15:
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 65:57:37 |
| 2 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +02’11” |
| 3 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +02’28” |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +02’37” |
| 5 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +04’27” |
| 6 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +04’47” |
| 7 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +04’52” |
| 8 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +05’34” |
| 9 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +05’59” |
| 10 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +06’13” |
| 11 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +06’41” |
| 12 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | +07’12” |
| 13 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +07’27” |
| 14 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +08’00” |
| 15 | Alexandre Geniez (AG2R La Mondiale) | +09’00” |
| 16 | Wout Poels (Team Sky) | +09’38” |
| 17 | Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) | +09’49” |
| 18 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +09’56” |
| 19 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +13’15” |
| 20 | Jose Goncalves (Katusha-Alpecin) | +15’20” |
