Nairo Quintana has turned the Giro d'Italia in his favor with a commanding performance on the mountain despite adverse conditions. He is now at the top of the general classification and is the new holder of the pink jersey.
by Bruno Fleckenstein
Sleet on the Silferjoch, wet roads and cold temperatures in a very demanding mountain stage were the conditions of the day. Ryder Hesjedal, winner of the Giro 2012, Nairo Quintana, Pierre Rolland, Romain Sicard and Gorka Izagirre distanced their competitors on the descent from the Silferjoch into the valley. There was the fear of crashes that rode along, which made this possible.
With 4.5 kilometers to go, Hesjedal was in the lead with Quintana in the area around the Zuffrittsee and had already taken 2:52 off the overall leader Uran Rigoberto. At this point Uran , who with a group of six, led by Domenico Pozzovivo, tried to make pace on a 14 percent climb, was already beaten by Quintana for the overall lead.
Cadel Evans tried to keep up with Robert Kiserlovski and Jarlinson Pantano but had already fallen further behind. Fabio Aru, Wilco Keldermann, Rafal Majka, Rigoberto Uran, who all belong to the overall leader group, and Sebastian Henao continued to challenge each other to get closer to Quintana and Hesjedal. But the opposite was the case. With 1.4 kilometers to go, the gap was already3:25 minutes. Arriving at the last kilometer, Quintana got out of the saddle and irresistibly overtook Hesjedal on the last climb of the day and won this stage ahead of Hesjedal. Pierre Rolland was third, just over a minute behind. Then followed the group of six for the pink jersey. Wilco Keldermann was first, 3:32 minutes behind. Last of this group was Uran, who lost over 4 minutes to Quintana. Since Cadel Evans arrived just over 30 seconds behind Uran, he was able to retain a hopeful third place overall.
Overall standings after the 16th stage
1st Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 68h11:44
2nd Rigoberto Uran (Omega-Quick Step) +1:41min.
3rd Cadel Evans (BMC) +3:21min.
4th Pierre Rolland (Europcar) +3:26min.
5th Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) +3:28min.
6th Fabio Aru (Astana) +3:34min.
7th Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) +3:49min.
8th Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) +4:06min.
9th Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) +4:16min.
10th Robert Kiserlovski (Trek) +8:02min.
Nairo Quintana(3rd from left)with his helpers in the sleet.
Rigoberto Uran (4th from left)had to fight with the adversities of the day like all the others.
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