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Van Garderen (BMC) claims the Dolomites' Queen stage

Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) won the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2017 (Moena-Ortisei, 137km), the Dolomites’ Queen stage. After he spent the whole day in the breakaway, he beat Landa (Sky), another member of the early breakaway, who is once again so close from the victory (2nd of the 16th stage behind Nibali).Behind, Dumoulin controlled the favourites and even if he let Pinot, Pozzovivo, Zakarin, Mollema and Kruijswijk take a few seconds on him, the pink jersey did not lose any time on his main opponents, Quintana and Nibali.

On the GC, Pinot gains some time on Nibali and Yates is now in front of Jungels. As a consequence, the Brit takes the white jersey after this stage.

Van Garderen wins in front of Landa! The Spaniard did not learn his lesson and does the same mistake as when Nibali beat him in the 16th stage. He was in the first position and Van Garderen easily overtook him to claim the stage victory!

0.8km Zakarin, Mollema and Kruisjwijk are chasing Pinot and Pozzovivo, as Landa and Van Garderen are going to battle for the win.

1.3km It seems like Nibali and Quintana are afraid of Dumoulin. They do not attack him even if the pace set by the Dutchman is really slow.

2.4km Nobody wants to relay Dumoulin behind, and the riders nearly stop… They are letting the Dutchman do the job. They know he is stronger than them today.

3km Landa and Van Garderen have 34″ on Pinot and Pozzovivo. They will probably sprint for the win.

4.3km Dumoulin attacks Quintana! He creates a gap but stops and Pozzovivo counter attacks, followed by Pinot.

4.7km Nibali attacks! But all the riders are back in his wheel… and Dumoulin fakes an attack.

5km Quintana stopped his effort and comes back ni the peloton! The Colombian just can not distance the other riders. The little climber is not superior in this third week.

5.9km Quintana pushes hard to create a gap with the pink jersey group but the FDJ rider Reichenbach maintains the gap. Dumoulin does not seem impressed. He is not panicking.

6.6km Attack of Quintana! Reichenbach sets the pace of the pink jersey behind, fro his leader Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).

7km The pink jersey group includes Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), Kanstansin Siutsou et Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Mérida), Sébastien Reichenbach et Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Nairo Quintana, Andrey Amador et Winner Anacona (Movistar) Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale), Adam Yates (Orica-Scott), Ilnur Zakarin et Alberto Losada (Katusha-Alpecin), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Dario Cataldo (Astana).

8km Landa and Van Garderen are gaining time on the Maglia Rosa group, another indicator of the slow pace of the peloton. The two men have 39″ on the chasing group, which is the remaining riders of the breakaway, and 1’09″on the peloton.

9km Sioutsou (Bahrain Merida), who was dropped in the previous climb, is still in the pink jersey group, alongside 15 other riders. It is a clear sign that the pace is too slow to put Dumoulin in difficulty. To win this Giro 2017, the riders will need more than an attack at 1km of the finish line to bring back the pink jersey in Milan.

10km It is now or never for Quintana and Nibali

10.5km Van Garderen and Landa have 25″ on the chasing group and 54″ on the pink jersey group. The victory may be for them if in the peloton, nobody makes a move in the next kilometre.

11.5km Landa and Van Garderen escaped from the breakaway! The two men are pushing to resist to the peloton.

12km Amador and Anacona (Movistar) are still setting the pace in the peloton.

15km Landa and his fellow breakaway mates Van Garderen, Behrane, Dombrowski, Hirt are going to start the last climb. They have an advantage of 48″ on the Maglia Rosa group. Will Landa finally win a stage? It would be well-deserved for the Basque rider.

20km Plaza from Orica-Scott still has the energy to push on this downhill/valley. It is clear that Adam Yates targets the stage and eventually the white jersey. The Brit is finishing well this Giro, it’s a shame that he crashed in the Blockhaus stage.

22km It will be hard for Nibali and Quintana to drop Dumoulin today…

24km No news of Bob Jungels, the leader of the young classification. The Luxemburger will probably lose his white jersey during this stage, and Yates is the rider that may have it on his shoulders tonight.

26km The breakaway and the pink jersey group (about 10 riders) are descending the Passo Pinei. There is one climb left in this stage, the final climb to Ortisei.

28km Behrane just popped of the front group as Landa strengthens his blue jersey by crossing the top of the Passo Pinei in first . The peloton, containing all the favourites except Jungels, is 54″ behind the breakaway.

29km The pace is not fast enough to drop Tom Dumoulin. In fact, the breakaway gained time on the Maglia Rosa group. 31″ of advance for the five men in front: Van Garderen, Landa, Behrane, Dombrowski, Hirt.

29.5km Dumoulin seems to be easy. The pink jersey looks around him and nobody seems to be able to attack the Dutchman.

30km The peloton is led by Anacona and Amador. The pace is moderated so far, the riders probably fear the 15% gradients coming.

30.5km Cannondale Drapac is definitely finishing strong in this 100th Giro…

31.8km The breakaway is entering really steep portions of the climb. The tifosi are all along the Pinei, supporting the riders.

33km Landa, Rosa, Dombrowski, Villella, Van Garderen, Berhane have 28″ of advantage on the peloton right before attacking the Passo Pinei.

36km The pink jersey group is a bit disorganised in the valley. Adam Yates (Orica-Scott) just attacked as Dumoulin was asking for his team car.

40km to go on this stage and two ascensions left!

40km With its steep slopes, the Passo Pinei may be the key of this stage…

41km At the bottom of the downhill of the Passo Gardena, the gap between the front group and the Maglia Rosa group is 20″.

46km Orica-Scott is leading the peloton in the downhill, as the riders are going to start the Passo Pinei, a shorter climb but with higher gradients than the three previous ascensions.

50km Dumoulin joins the Quintana and Nibali group! The Dutchman came back, slowly but surely, by setting a steady pace. All the riders are now in the Passo Gardena’s downhill.

51km Quintana can count on the help of two teammates, Amador and Anacona. A few other riders are with him and Nibali, as the riders crested the summit of the Passo Gardena, 50″ behind the rest of the breakaway.

52km Nibali is helped by Cataldo and joins Quintana.

52.5km Nibali attacks as well! The shark is escaping from the pink jersey group. The Sicilian is trying to rejoin Quintana, who is now helped by one of his teammate, Amador, present in the breakaway.

53km So the big battle is finally launched by the little climber from Movistar. Behind in the bunch, Dumoulin is chasing.

53.5km Quintana attacks! The Colombian sparkles an attack and takes a few seconds on the bunch!

54km Yates (Orica-Scott) is only 2’25” behind Jungels on the Young classification. As Jungels is already far behind the Maglia Rosa group, Yates may be in white tonight.

55km Izagirre just popped! He was the last teammate of Quintana in the bunch so as soon as he stopped his effort, the bunch slowed down as nobody wanted to lead the way. Visconti (Bahrain Merida) is now setting the pace for Nibali.

56km Movistar’s pace is really high! Jungels ( Quick-Step Floors), the white jersey, popped and will struggle to conserve his white jersey. Only 15 riders left in the pink jersey group.

56.4km Dombrowski, Behrane and Plaza are rejoined. Rosa is leading the breakaway for Sky.

57.5km It is now the Movistar team leading the Maglia Rosa group, as the last Dumoulin’s teammate, Laurens Ten Dam, just dropped of the bunch!

58km Dombrowski attacks in the breakaway! The American rider is joined by Plaza and Berhane. The trio has a few seconds of advantage on the rest of the breakaway.

59km The other teams have to take advantage of the fact that the pink jersey is isolated if they want to gain some time on him today. An attack in the last climb may not be enough to put the Dutchman far back in the GC, when we know that the Giro is ending by a 30km time trial, that will benefit Dumoulin.

60km Orica-Scott is everywhere today.

Tom Dumoulin is holding on to the pink jersey so far.

63km The gap has been maintained by the breakaway in the descent, 1’54” for the breakaway on the Maglia Rosa group, which is still led by three Orica-Scott riders.

65km Only 165 riders left in the peloton of the Giro 2017, as Jasper De Buyst (Lotto-Soudal) just withdrew from the race.

66km The breakaway is done with the Passo Valparolo’s downhill. They are starting now the Passo Gardena, the second 2nd category climb of the day.

70km As the peloton of the 100th Giro d’Italia is heading to the third climb of the day, the main question is when do the GC contenders are going to attack? Quintana, Nibali, Zakarin, Pinot, Yates, Jungels or Mollema, who will be the first one to launch the big battle?

73km Mikel Landa (Sky) still leads the KOM classification with 132 points. Luis Leon Sanchez is second with 108 points and Omar Fraile (DDD) third with 104 points.

76km The riders are now descending the Passo Valparola. As soon as they will be at the bottom of the downhill, they will face the third difficulty of the day, the Passo Gardena.

78.2km The peloton, still under the Orica-Scott impulsion, crests the summit 2’08” after Fraile.

79.6km On top of the Passo Valparola, Fraile is first and takes maximum points. Landa, the current KOM leader, is second.

80.5km 1km to go to the Passo Valparola top.

81km There is only 30 riders left in the pink jersey group, the riders are climbing fast.

82.5km The Sky riders Deignan and Rosa are doing the work for Landa in the breakaway, but they are losing time on the peloton, still led by the Orica’s riders. 1’45” of advance for the breakaway, the gap is melting.

83km The acceleration of Orica-Scott is doing a lot of damage in the peloton. A lot of riders have popped since the Australian team took in charge the chase.

84km The Dutchman is pretty much on his own once again…


85km The Orica-Scott formation is helping Barhain-Merida in front of the bunch. Adam Yates is probably in the good day.

86km The pace is way faster under the Bahrain-Merida’s tempo. A lot of riders are being dropped off the Maglia Rosa group and the gap keeps going down. 2’19” of advantage for the breakaway.

87km Is the Shark going to make a move in this ascension?

88km The Barhain-Merida team puts three riders in front of the peloton to set the pace, probably because the gap was getting bigger and bigger with the breakaway. The Team-Sunweb is definitely not able to control the race as soon as the road is uphill, Dumoulin’s teammates are overwhelmed.

91km The front of the race and the peloton are done with the Passo Pordoi’s downhill and they are now on the first slopes of the Passo Valparola, a second category climb. The 19 escapees have a 2’05” lead on the peloton.

92km The breakaway is composed of: Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bahrain Mérida), Dario Cataldo (Astana), Joey Rosskopf and Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Pierre Rolland, Joe Dombrowski and Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi), Andrey Amador and Winner Anacona (Movistar), Alexandre Foliforov (Gazprom-RusVelo), Natnael Berhane and Omar Fraile (Dimension Data), Diego Rosa, Mikel Landa and Phil Deignan (Sky), Ruben Plaza (Orica-Scott), Mads Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo).

93km The 19 riders in front are approaching the second difficulty of the day, the Valparola. The gap between them and the peloton is raising. 1’56” between these two groups.

100km The chasing group joined the six men, so there is now only one breakaway, of about 19 riders, who have an advantage of 45″ on the bunch. The Maglia Rosa group is led by a few Team Sunweb riders. They have rejoined the peloton in the descent of the Pordoi.

104km Van Garderen, Dombrowski and Deignan joined the three riders in front of the race.

106km Landa (Sky), Fraile (DDD), Rolland (Cannondale Drapac) and Amador (Movistar) are in a second chasing group, 35″ behind the leading group.

108km The riders did not have the time to enjoy the view in this forst climb.The pace is really high in the peloton.

110.5km The chasing group is 15″ behind and the peloton 48″.

111km The first group crests the summit of the Passo Pordoi, and it is Diego Rosa (Sky) that crosses the line first on the top!

113km Rosa, Berhane and Rosskopf, the three leaders, are going to be joined by the chasing group, which is only 10 seconds behind.

114km The chasing group that formed three kilometres away is composed of Kanstantsin Siutsou (Bahrain Mérida), Joe Dombrowski et Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi), Winner Anacona (Movistar), Alexandre Foliforov (Gazprom-RusVelo), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Ruben Plaza (Orica-Scott), Phil Deignan (Sky).

114.5km Little correction, Dumoulin (Team-Sunweb) still has a teammate in the peloton, Laurens Ten Dam, and he is taking the chase in charge.

115km As Boaro is dropped from the breakaway, a chase group is coming back on the front riders, who are only a few seconds away.The gaps are small.

116.5km This counter attack has been rejoined by the bunch and a new attack is already sparking! It doesn’t stop in the peloton, and Dumoulin is already alone in the peloton. All his teammates have dropped.

118km The four rider sin front have 25″ of advance on the peloton, as a counter attack formed behind! Anacona (Movistar), Foliforov (Gazprom), Dombrowski, Formolo (Cannondale Drapac), and the blue jersey of the King of Mountain Landa (Sky) are composing this chasing group.

118.5km A second group formed behind the breakaway, but they have been rejoined by the peloton, led by Movistar and Winner Anacona. The pace is really high in the bunch, the riders are in line and there is already a lot of riders that dropped from it!

119km Four riders have attacked at the very beginning of the stage, these cyclists are Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Joey Rosskopf (BMC), Diego Rosa (Team Sky) and Manuale Boaro (Bahrain Merida).

120km Three riders already started the first climb of the day, the Passo Pordoi.