Zakarin wins Giro’s first summit finish, bad day for Yates, Lopez

CTT

Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) soloed to a snow-capped summit finish victory on a chaotic 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Friday that shook up the overall picture.

“I came to the Giro d’Italia to make the top five and I hope it’s still possible,” Zakarin said after spraying champagne on the podium.

Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) kept hold of the overall lead as favourites Primoz Roglic and Vincenzo Nibali crossed the line together 2min 57sec adrift, with Simon Yates and Miguel Angel Lopez another two minutes back.

“It was a very hard stage, I tried to pace myself on the climb and I’m happy to have managed to defend the maglia rosa,” said Polanc.

On this first summit reckoning in a mountain-packed second section of the Giro, the peloton climbed to 2,237m altitude, with Zakarin dropping Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) in the final section and beating him by 35sec at the panoramic finishing post in the Gran Paradiso national park.

Movistar pair Mikel Landa and Richard Carapaz came third and fourth on a great day for the Spanish team as Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) climbed to fourth in overall with his fifth place on the day.

Roglic and Nibali kept close tabs on each other all day with both men taking frequent turns to test each other.

Miguel Angel Lopez, who was third on last year’s Giro, had been leading that pair until he suffered yet another mechanical cost him precious initiative.

The day’s biggest loser, over five minutes behind Zakarin, was Simon Yates whose pre-race bravado will haunt him after declaring himself the man to beat.

Team Ineos had a mixed day, losing 24-year-old climber Tao Geoghegan Hart to an early crash, but seeing their 21-year-old Russian climber Pavel Sivakov finish ninth to climb into the overall top 10 and shoot to the top of the young rider white jersey standings.

Saturday’s stage looks even tougher with five climbs and 4,000m elevation on the menu. The penultimate climb, the Colle San Marco is 10.5km with an average gradient of 9.8 percent.

Giro d’Italia 2019 – stage 13 results (Pinerolo – Ceresole Reale):

1	Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin)	5:34:40
2	Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott)	+35”
3	Mikel Landa (Movistar)	+01’20”
4	Richard Carapaz (Movistar)	+01’38”
5	Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)	+01’45”
6	Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)	+02’07”
7	Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)	+02’57”
8	Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)	,,
9	Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos)	+03’34”
10	Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe)	+03’50”
11	Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)	+04’19”
12	Tanel Kangert (EF Education First)	+04’23”
13	Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First)	+04’25”
14	Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ)	+04’37”
15	Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates)	+04’39”
16	Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo)	+04’54”
17	Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)	+05’00”
18	Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida)	+06’40”
19	Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec)	+07’59”
20	Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale)	+09’30”

Giro d’Italia 2019 – general classification after stage 13:

1	Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates)	54:28:59
2	Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)	+02’25”
3	Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin)	+02’56”
4	Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)	+03’06”
5	Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)	+04’09”
6	Richard Carapaz (Movistar)	+04’22”
7	Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)	+04’28”
8	Mikel Landa (Movistar)	+05’08”
9	Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos)	+07’13”
10	Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)	+07’48”
11	Tanel Kangert (EF Education First)	+07’52”
12	Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)	+08’14”
13	Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe)	+08’44”
14	Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott)	+08’52”
15	Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ)	+11’24”
16	Hugh Carthy (EF Education First)	+13’10”
17	Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First)	+15’14”
18	Andrey Amador (Movistar)	+15’43”
19	Tony Gallopin (AG2R La Mondiale)	+16’03”
20	Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates)	+17’20”