Nibali victory gives Italy first stage win at this year's Giro

The Shark Vincenzo Nibali wins the Queen stage of the Giro d’Italia 2017. The Sicilian built his win in the last kilometers of the Umbrailpass and after the summit when he escaped in the descent. He joined Landa, who was the only survivor of the early breakaway, only a few kilometers from the finish. Nibali then beat the Spaniard in a close sprint.

The Barhain-Merida rider was the strongest with Quintana, Pozzovivo, and Zakarin in the Umbrailpass, while Landa, alone in front, was trying to resist to them. Pinot, Yates, Jungels, Mollema and Formolo were inferior in the last ascension and they crossed the finish line more than 1’26” behind Nibali. The hopes of a podium in Milan are disappearing for these riders. Tom Dumoulin, the pink jersey, was apparently victim of digestive problems and had to stop before starting the Umbrailpass to relieve himself.

The peloton did not wait for him, so the Maglia Rosa had to chase the peloton all along the climb and in the downhill leading to the finish line, to limit his losses. He arrived in Bormio 2’17” after Nibali and 2’05” after Quintana, what means that he remains the leader of the Giro, with an advantage of 31″ on Nairo Quintana and 1’12” on Vincenzo Nibali.

With Nibali apparently being in a better shape in this third week, the last stages will be thrilling and the GC is more undecided than ever. Tomorrow’s stage will be of a medium difficulty, between Tirano and Canazei (219km).

Tom Dumoulin crosses the line 2’17” and will still wear the pink jersey tonight!

The Mollema, Pinot, Jungels, Yates group arrives 1’35” behind Nibali. Quintana comes in third and Pozzovivo in fourth.

Nibali wins the final sprint!! First Italian victory in this Giro!

1km Landa and Nibali are going to sprint for the stage win!

5km Landa and Nibali are flying through the descent and they are probably going to fight for the stage win. Will Landa honor his ex-teammate Michele Scarponi in Bormio? Or will Nibali bring the first talian in the Queen stage of this Giro 2017?

6.5km Quintana is chasing Nibali and Landa. The Colombian is 10″ away and alone behind the two men in front. Zakarin is a few seconds behind Quintana and Pinot’s group is 1’31” behind the leaders of the race. Dumoulin is 2’24” behind.

9.5km Dumoulin is 2’13” behind Nibali and Landa, the Dutchman is superbly defending his jersey. He is even making up time on Quintana.

12km Nibali escaped from the chasing group and he is now closing on Landa! The shark is taking all the risks to distance Quintana!

15km Landa desperately tries to hold on. He has 8″ of advance on the chasing group. The second chasing group, including Pinot, Formolo, Jungels, Yates, is 1’13” behind. Dumoulin is still in pink,2’18” behind Landa.

19.4km Landa crosses the line in first on top of the Umbrailpass only 10″ in front of Quintana and Nibali who have been rejoined by Zakarin and Pozzovivo. Dumoulin is 2’22” behind Landa. His pink jersey is endangered.

20km Landa only has 32″ of advantage on Nibali and Quintana. 500m until the Basque crests the top of Umbrailpass. Dumoulin is 2′ behind Nibali and Quintana. The Dutchman is fighting to keep the pink jersey.

20.5km Nibali looks better than during the first two weeks. The Shark attacks again and only Quintana can follow!

21.5km Nibali attacks and the gap suddenly extends to 1’41 between Quintana and Dumoulin! Landa has 54″ of advantage on the Quintana group. Pinot is 1’23” behind Landa.

22.4km Dumoulin lost a little bit of time. The Maglia Rosa is now 1’30” behind the Quintana group. His objective today is clearly to limit the loss of time and to conserve his pink jersey, which would be the case if the gaps are maintained.

23km The gap between Landa and the Quintana group is 1’08”, Dumoulin is 2’28” behind. Landa is holding on so far, the stage victory is possible for the Spaniard.

23.6km Dumoulin is protecting his advantage on the GC really well. He is still 1’15” behind the Quintana group. He would probably be with them if he did not have to stop.

24.5km New attack from the Colombian! Pozzovivo and Nibali follow and Zakarin joins them a few seconds after. Dumoulin is limiting the loss, he is 1’15” behind the Quintana group. Pinot cannot follow Zakarin, Quintana, Nibali and Pozzovivo. The Frenchman is struggling.

24.8km Attack of Quintana! The favourites follow.

25km Landa attacks in front of the race, Hirt and Kruijswijk cannot follow. Dumoulin is reducing the gap with the peloton. Only 1 minute between the Dutchman and the favourites.

26km It is not the first time that the Movistar strategy is controversial. Back in the Giro 2014, Quintana attacked on the descent when the organization of the race did not want the riders to attack as the downhill was dangerously wet. He won the stage and the Giro after this episode.

27.5km The breakaway still includes Hirt, Landa and Kruijswijk. They have an advantage of 1’17” on the peloton and 2’40” on Dumoulin. Izaguirre is in the wheel of Dumoulin for a while now. Strange strategy from the Movistar…

28.3km Pellizotti is still setting the pace in the peloton.Dumoulin is still limiting the loss of time but he seems unhappy and angry as he keeps shaking his head. Maybe not happy that the favourites did not wait for him…

29km Dumoulin is maintaining the gap with the favourites. He is not losing time but nobody moved yet in the peloton.

30km Landa, Hirt and Kruijswijk are still in front of the race, 1’33” in front of the peloton and 2’58” in front of Dumoulin, who is chasing alone.

30.5km Dumoulin trails 1’20” behind the peloton. The team Bahrain Merida is now leading the peloton for Nibali.

31.5km Dumoulin stops on the side of the road! The Dutchman apparently needs to relieve himself.He lost about 1 minute because of that and he is now chasing the favourites group. It is unbelievable.

32.5km The gap is down to 1’40” as Hirt joined the two men in front.

34km Kruijswijk attacks and escapes from the breakaway! Landa joined him. Hirt is pushing to come back on the two riders.

35km Short stay in Switzerland for the peloton of the 100th Giro d’Italia.

36km 1’55” of advantage for the first group. The six men in front (Anacona, Kruijswijk, Anton, Hirt, Landa and Amador) keep losing time.They start to feel the weight of the 190 kilometers spent in front today.

39km It seems like the Maglia Rosa group is accelerating as they are now in the Umbrailpass. The gap separating the breakaway and the favourites is 2’09”. The surprising Jan Hirt (CCC) is still part of the first group.

40km Wise words of Michael Rasmussen

41km The road is now going to be steeper and steeper until the top of the Umbrailpass. The riders are 41km away from the finish line and the first slopes of the last climb of the day are close.

42km Just when we were admiring the amazing ride of Deignan, he is dropped from the breakaway. The Sky rider gave it all before the Umbrailpass climb, to put his leader Landa in the best conditions to win the stage.

45km The breakaway is increasing the gap with the pack, mainly thanks to the two Sky riders Deignan and Landa. Deignan is doing a fantastic stage so far.

46.8km The pink jersey Tom Dumoulin had a pretty calm day so far, and his main opponents such as Quintana or Pinot will have to make a move in the Umbrailpass if they want to reduce the gap with the Dutchman on the GC.

50km The second chasing group has been reabsorbed by the Maglia Rosa group and the leaders Landa and Amador have been rejoined by the first chasing group. The configuration of the race is now the following: The breakaway (Anacona, Kruijswijk, Deignan, Anton, Hirt, Landa and Amador) have an advantage of 2’44” on the Maglia Rosa group. Sanchez and Izagirre are back in the Maglia Rosa group to help their respective leaders, Cataldo and Quintana.

56km Amador and Landa have reached the bottom of the descent. They are now riding through a flat portion while approaching the Umbrailpass, which will apparently be the decider of this stage.

58km The riders in the first chasing group are Anacona, Kruijswijk, Deignan, Anton and Hirt. They are 21″ behind Landa and Amador.

62km Landa and Amador have a 2’20” advantage on the second chasing group including Rolland, Ten Dam and Foliforov. The Maglia Rosa group is 2’37” behind. The gap between the leaders and the first chasing group has not been communicated yet.

66km

67km The pack is 2’26” behind the two leaders, and only 30″ behind Rolland, Foliforov and Ten Dam.

70km Andrey Amador (Movistar) escaped in the downhill and he is taking risks to create a gap with the riders behind.The Costa Rican has been joined by Landa in front of the race. 1’54” behind Amador and Landa is the second chasing group, composed of Foliforov, Rolland and Ten Dam.

74.9km The riders are starting the long descent of the Stelvio.

76.8km The Maglia Rosa Group crests the summit 2’36” behind Landa.

78.8km Landa attacks in the first group, he is first on the top of the Stelvio (Cima Coppi, the highest climb of this year’s Giro). Anton comes in second and Sanchez in third.

79km The riders leading the stage just took their rain jacket, to protect them from the cold in the downhill.

79.6km The snow is now surrounding the riders as they are in the two last kilometers of the climb. Eros Capecchi (Quick-Step Floors) is leading the peloton with his leader Bob Jungels in his wheel.

80.5km Anacona (Movistar) escaped from the chasing group and he is closing on the eight riders in front. He is 16″ behind them, and the Maglia Rosa 2’17”.

81.3km Attack from Tejay Van Garderen! Not performing as he wanted the two first weeks, the BMC rider seems to feel better in this third week.

81.7km The eight riders in front of the race are Amador, Izaguirre, Kruijswijk, Landa, Deignan, Sanchez, Anton and Hirt. They are 3km away from the top of the Stelvio.

82.7km The peloton is now entering in the last kilometers of the Stelvio, and there has not been a single attack so far… But the Maglia Rosa group keeps losing units and only about 20 riders are following the pace of the Trek-Segafredo riders.

84km Thanks to the acceleration of Deignan, the front group has now 2’23” of advance on the Maglia Rosa group. The chasing group, including the riders that have been dropped form the breakaway, are trailing 44″ behind the first group.

86km Logic.

87km Deignan (Sky) picks up the pace in front of the race and the breakaway explodes! There is only a few riders following him, all the others are dropped. Sanchez, Anton, Amador, Kruiswijk, Landa, Izagirre are with the Irish rider.

89.3km Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) is really effective in front of the Maglia Rosa group. The Frenchman reduced the gap to 1’50”.

89.6km KIryienka stopped his effort in the breakaway and just been dropped from the leading group. The Belarusian did an amazing job for Landa.

90.4km Only two teammates left for Tom Dumoulin. Priedler just popped and the FDJ riders Reichenbach and Pinot are now in front of the peloton, maybe preparing a move.

90.9km Movistar still has three riders in front, Jose Herrada, Andrey Amador and Gorka Izaguirre. The Team Sunweb only has one: Laurens Ten Dam.

92.2km The Team Sunweb is closing the gap slowly but surely as the Maglia Rosa group keeps losing units. The breakaway’s advantage went under 2’30”.

93.3km The climb is going to get harder and harder as the riders will go further up. They will have to produce a steady effort through the 40 hairpins, to not collapse in the last difficulty of the day, the Umbrailpass.

94km Vasil Kiryienka is still working for Landa by leading the breakaway. However, the gap is stabilized around 2’30” thanks to the Priedler, the Maglia Rosa’s teammate.

95km Beautiful shot from the Italian giant.

96km The Team Sunweb tempo is moderated. It should change soon as we already are on the second ascent of the day. Movistar and FDJ will either attack or come in front of the peloton to set a faster pace.

98km The profile of the Stelvio (21.7km, 7.3% average, 12% maximum), that the front riders just started. This legendary climb is one of the hardest and longest.

99km On the finish line, the Maglia Rosa group, including all the favourites, passed 2’36” later than the breakaway.

101km The breakaway, still led by Kiryienka, who extended the gap to 2’48”, just crossed the finished line for the first time.

105km The temperature up the Stelvio will only be 5 degrees celsius and the snow is covering the end of the climb. The Cima Coppi of this Giro 2017 has an altitude of 2758m.

107km The gap between the breakaway and the peloton just went over 2 minutes as Trek-Segafredo is chasing the escapees with the Team Sunweb. Vasil Kiryienka is working hard in front of the race. The Belarusian is pushing on this flat part of the stage to create the gap with the peloton and give a chance to his leader Landa to win the stage. 115km Mikel Landa won the 16th stage of the 2015 Giro d’Italia, arriving in Aprica and passing by the Mortirolo. At this point, the Spaniard was Scarponi teammate in the Astana team.

116km Many riders from the breakaway are good climbers: Sanchez, Rolland, Fraile, Foliforov, Anton… but Amador and Kruijswijk are the most dangerous as they are respectively 9th (at 6’03” of Dumoulin) and 10th (at 7’03”) of the GC. 117km The gap is still under 2 minutes between the 26 riders in front and the Maglia Rosa group, as the rider from Lotto Soudal Sean de Bie is the third withdrewal of the day.

119km The team Sunweb is still leading the peloton, even if their teammate Laurens Ten Dam is part of the breakaway. 121km Besides Movistar, the team Sky is the other strong team of the breakaway. With Mikel Landa, Philip Deignan, Sebastian Henao and Vasil Kiryienka, the English team is well represented. 123km Here is the updated composition of the front group: Jose Herrada, Andrey Amador and Gorka Izaguirre (Movistar), Laurens ten Dam (Team Sunweb), Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), Mikel Landa, Sebastian Henao, Vasil Kiryienka and Philip Deignan (Team Sky), Luis Leon Sanchez and Pello Bilbao (Astana), Omar Fraile, Natnael Berhane and Igor Anton (Dimension Data), Pierre Rolland, Joe Dombrowski and Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac), Rui Costa and Edward Ravisi (UAE Team Emirates), Laurens de Plus (Quick-Step Floors), Jose Mendes (Bora-Hansgrohe), Manuel Senni (BMC), Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Jan Hirt and Felix Grosschartner (CCC Sprandi Polkowice). 125km The breakaway has an advantage of 1’37” on the Maglia Rosa group. Chad Haga (Team Sunweb) is leading the peloton in the Mortirolo’s downhill.

133km Luis Leon Sanchez intentions are clear, the Astana rider wants the stage win. After a third place in the 8th stage and a fourth place in the 10th stage time-trial, the Spanish rider and the Astana team wants a victory and dedicate it to Michele Scarponi. Winning this stage would be so meaningful, as the last Scarponi’ stage win in the Giro was in 2010, in Aprica. Back then, the Italian climber attacked in… the Mortirolo to claim the stage win. 136km The gap on the top of the Mortirolo was 1’50” between the first group and the peloton, led by the Tam Sunweb. 137km Fraile took the second place of the mountain sprint, behind Sanchez. As a consequence, the Basque rider from Astana takes the lead of the KOM classification, three points in front of Fraile. 137.1km Luis Leon Sanchez passed first on the top of the Mortirolo, renamed Cima Scarponi. Fraile did not fight for the first place and let the Astana rider crossing the top in front, as a tribute (Sanchez and Scarponi were teammates in the Astana team). 138.5km Sanchez (Astana), Fraile (DDD), the King of Mountain classification leader, and Landa (Sky) are setting the pace of the breakaway. We already have seen the three Spaniards in front earlier in the Giro. Fraile and Landa were escaped during the 11th stage (Fraile won the stage), and Sanchez during the 8th stage. 139km An offensive strategy is probably engaged by the Movistar as they have three good climbers in front. Maybe a relay for their leader Nairo Quintana. 140km A few other riders including Pierre Rolland, Luis Leon Sanchez, Mikel Landa, Igor Anton, Gorka Izagirre and Steven Kruijswijk joined the front group, while Bennati (Movistar) came back in the peloton after the intermediate sprint. 140.7km Update on the members of the first group: Amador (Movistar) apparently joined the breakaway. 141km Today’s stage will not be as relaxing for Tom Dumoulin and the Team Sunweb. The Dutchman’s teammates are already chasing the front group.

142km

143km Kenny Elissonde (Sky), still hurting form his crash, and Ben Hermans (BMC) withdrew of the race. 145km The riders are currently climbing the first difficulty of the day, il Passo del Mortirolo, the Scarponi climb, renamed in the Italian’s rider honor. The rider from Astana died on the road while he was training, in late April.

146km There are 22 riders in front of the race, with a 22″seconds gap on the Maglia Rosa group. The escaped are: Quentin Jauregui (AG2R La Mondiale), Pello Bilbao, Zhandos Bizhigitov (Astana), Manuel Senni (BMC), Joseph Dombrowski, Davide Villella (Cannondale-Drapac), Felix Grossscharttner, Branislau Samoilau (CCC Sprandi Polkowice), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal), Winner Anacona, Daniele Bennati (Movistar), Laurens De Plus, Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors), Natnael Berhane (Dimension Data), Maxim Belkov, Alberto Losada (Katusha-Alpecin), Jurgen Van den Broeck (LottoNL-Jumbo), Vasil Kiryienka (Sky), Phil Bauhaus, Chad Haga (Sunweb), Mads Pedersen, Jasper Stuyven (Trek), Marco Marcato, Matej Mohoric, Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates), Julen Amezqueta (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia), Omar Fraile (DDD). 170km The Queen stage of this 100th Giro will be decisive for the GC. Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) and his team will have to defend the pink jersey as the favourites will attack today. Three climbs will be on the route of this 16th stage. The Mortirolo (12.6km at 7.6%) will be the first one, followed by the Stelvio (21.7km at 7%) and the Umbrailpass (13.4km at 8.6%).

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the 16th stage, Rovetta-Bormio (222km), on Yahoo Sport UK.