Giro d'Italia (st. 11)

Movistar Team leader gains 17 seconds against all race favourites in final climb of Vajont - winning breakaway as Cobo takes 11th

(Brief) Brave yesterday on his way to Altopiano del Montasio, Beñat Intxausti showed today on stage eleven in the 2013 Giro d’Italia he’s one of the most offensive riders in this year’s ‘Corsa Rosa’. The Movistar Team leader was the only one of the main GC favourites to attack in the Cat-2 Vajont climb (7.6km, 5% average), finish for a 182-kilometer stage from Tarvisio. Intxausti, helped by a move from Eros Capecchi, jumped from the elite group with just over two kilometers from the finish and earned 17 seconds to jump into 9th overall. No big changes should happen in the next two days, as the race crosses from east to west heading into the two next big mountain stages in the weekend.

Unaware of the GC fight, a 20-man breakaway -formed after a hectic, opening 1.5h of racing, with average speeds of 50kph- gambled for the stage win. The group featured Juanjo Cobo, looking recovered after a blow in his knee during the warmup of stage two team time trial in Ischia that conditioned his performance in the first week. The Spaniard, eventually 11th, couldn’t fight for victory as an attack by Navardauskas (GRS) and Oss (BMC) before the decisive climb saw the former going solo with 5k remaining to claim the day’s honours.

Stage twelve will be one of the shortest in the race: just 134k between Longarone and Treviso, with two minor, Cat-4 climbs across the route.