Giro d'Italia (st. 16)

Ecuadorian climber from Movistar Team now 9th overall after demanding time trial; battle still really tight -only 30"- against López (AST) for white jersey.

Rohan Dennis (BMC) took the win at the longest ITT of the 2018 Giro d’Italia, held on Tuesday over 34km from Trento to Rovereto. The route, full of long straights and flat roads until the last section slightly uphill, saw tailwinds making for significant margins, yet didn’t change the overall leadership by Simon Yates (MTS).

Richard Carapaz had to face a really difficult test against big specialists, a hurdle the Ecuadorian rider from the Movistar Team got through with strength. His 42’57” was three minutes slower than Dennis’ and made him concede his place overall against Chris Froome (SKY), yet the Carchí native did not lost much terrain against all other climbers, limiting his margin to 10″ against Maglia Bianca rival Miguel Ángel López (AST), now 30″ ahead of ‘Richie’ in the standings (7th and 9th in the GC, respectively). In turn, Carlos Betancur remained in the 14th place he held overnight, now nine minutes behind Yates.

The Giro will seek for a final day for attackers or even a chance for the sprinters in Iseo (155km) before the brutal trio of decisive mountain stages from Thursday: Pratonevoso opening the block; Finestre and Jafferau (Friday) as main course; and Saint-Pantaléon, Tsecore and Cervinia (Saturday) to define the GC outcome.