2016 Giro d'Italia Stage 10 Results & Recap
Stage 10 of the 2016 Giro d'Italia is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Italian neo-pro Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani-CSF) took victory on stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia – his debut Grand Tour – on a day that saw Mikel Landa (Team Sky) abandon and the maglia rosa pass from Gianluca Brambilla to his Etixx-QuickStep teammate Bob Jungels.
Ciccone, 21, joined the breakaway after the two early third-category climbs and formed part of a leading trio on the late first-category Pian del Falco, before going clear on the technical descent and holding his lead up the final third-category climb to the line in Sestola.
Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff) came home second, 42 seconds down, followed by Darwin Atapuma (BMC) a further 40 seconds later, both having been part of the day’s break.
Crossing the line, Bardiani-CSF's director stuck his head out of the team car and waved his arms in the air in delight at the team’s first win of this Giro, with Ciccone soaking up the magnitude of his achievement.
“Today is the best day of my life,” he said. “The emotions are massive. It’s a feeling I can’t describe – I don’t have the words. I would like to thank everyone in my team on what is a really huge day.
“Why not? he replied when asked if he’d hunt for another victory. “We will all try again. We are here for stage wins and we won’t be happy with just one win. We won’t rest on our laurels; we’ll continue to fight.”
Amador attacks, Brambilla sacrifices
Brambilla may have lost his pink jersey, but this was a tale of sacrifice. With Andrey Amador (Movistar) going on the rampage, the Italian gave his all to make sure the race lead stayed in-house.
Brambilla was dropped as Astana set a searing pace on the Pian del Falco but he hurtled down the technical descent to regain contact with the vastly reduced group of favourites ahead of the final climb. Amador – third on GC at 26 seconds at the start of the day – had punched clear over the top of the climb and opened up a surprisingly big gap on the descent.
Onto the 7.5km drag to the line, Brambilla immediately hit the front and it became clear that he wasn’t going to simply try to hang on to his lead, but rather work for Jungels, who was second overall and just a second behind.
The final climb became a battle between Brambilla and Amador, who caught many of the remnants of the day’s break, including a helpful ally in teammate Giovanni Visconti. The gap, however, was diminishing all the time and there was just a second in it as Jungels crossed the line with the group of favourites.
“It’s unbelievable,” Jungels said of his teammate's sacrifice. “Cycling hasn’t seen this many times – this was very special.
“It shows the spirit of this team. We are a great group of friends. Two days ago I was happy for him that he kept the jersey in the time trial and now he worked for me and he’s happy I’ve got it. It’s an amazing team.”
The 23-year-old now leads the race by 26 seconds from Amador, with fellow Movistar rider Alejandro Valverde moving up to third after a slight split in the closing metres saw him gain four seconds on Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo), who had both started the day ahead of the Spaniard.
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