Giro d'Italia (st. 18)

Movistar Team leader stays in 9th overall after Polsa mountain time trial - Nibali dominates, strengthens his leadership in the eve of two 'tapponi' in the final weekend

After three straight victories, Movistar Team lived a quieter day on stage eighteen of this year’s Giro d’Italia, a 20.6-kilometer mountain time trial from Mori to Polsa, a 19k climb at an average close to 6%. Race leader Vincenzo Nibali (AST) confirmed his leadership with the stage win as the telephone squad’s GC rider Beñat Intxausti defended himself to keep his 9th place in the overall.

The Basque rider improved his performance from the Saltara ITT to stay within the best ten, as team-mates Herrada, Capecchi, Karpets and Visconti completed a fine effort from Unzué’s group in the fight for the teams’ classification, always led by the Sky team while Blanco (5:49), Movistar Team (7.01), Astana (7.55) and Lampre (9.59) stay close and up for the contest. 

The race is now entering its decisive duo of mountain stages, although the weather forecast has played a major role on tomorrow’s route. Friday will bring a 160-kilometer trek between Ponte di Legno and Val Martello (Cat-1), with the Passo Tonale (15km) and the inedit Castrin (79km) also on the day’s route.  

INTXAUSTI / TOP-TEN GAPS

1st at 8:36 Nibali
2nd at 4:34 Evans 
3rd at 4:24 Urán 
4th at 4:22 Scarponi
5th at 2:27 Niemiec
6th at 1:51 Majka
7th at 1:49 Betancur
8th at 1:06 Santambrogio
9th INTXAUSTI
10th 0.58 ahead of Sánchez
11th 1.09 ahead of Pozzovivo
12th 1.39 ahead of Gesink
13th 1.51 ahead of Pelizzotti
14th 2.26 ahead of Tangert
15th 2.48 ahead of Trofimov 
16th 3.29 ahead of Kiserlovski