Nairo Quintana (Movistar) snatched the overall lead in the Tirreno-Adriatico by claiming a textbook win in the queen stage ending up the Terminillo pass.
Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) finished second, 18 seconds behind, with his compatriot Adam Yates (Orica Scott) taking third place 24 seconds off the pace.
On the final climb of the stage several attacks were attempted in the main group but it wasn’t until Quintana made a move that things really got too tough for many of his rivals. The Colombian was followed by Adam Yates (Orica-Scott), Geraint Thomas and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac).
The Movistar rider went into the lead with a few kilometers to go, shortly after launching a final attack to drop his companions in the chase group. Quintana went on to take the victory with a 17-second advantage over Thomas. Yates took third place ahead of Uran.
“It went all as we planned it, I’m really happy. I wasn’t really confident about my condition since I had got a bit sick during the last few days and I don’t feel superb yet, but the team was really great all week supporting me, and Castroviejo did his job well when it was needed”, said Quintana.
“Our strategy was having both him and Andrey taking care of those attacks, before the moves from the big favourites. When the latter came, I stayed on their wheels until I found the momento to attack and overtake them. It’s a nice gap in the overall standings for us, one that we can manage well through both tomorrow and the ITT, so we can bring this jersey home on Tuesday.”
