2016 Giro d'Italia Stage 18 Results & Recap
Stage 18 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
Trentin wins in Pinerolo
Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) capped an excellent day of racing at the Giro d’Italia with a thrilling stage win in Pinerolo. The Italian fought his way back in the closing stages after being dropped on the Pramartino to catch teammate Gianluca Brambilla and Moreno Moser (Cannondale) in the final few hundred metres before unleashing an unstoppable sprint.
The win marked Etixx-QuickStep’s fourth stage win in this year’s race while Trentin added his name to an illustrious list of stage winners in Pinerolo that includes Fausto Coppi.
Trentin’s chances of victory looked dead and buried when Moser and Brambilla – a winner on stage 8 and previous maglia rosa – skipped clear of a 24-man group on the second category climb of the Pramartino. The pair worked well together and built up a lead of around 30 seconds as they crested the top of the climb, as Trentin, Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff), Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin) mounted a counter attack on the descent.
There was a short, brutish climb before the line and despite Moser and Brambilla attacking each other they were unable to gain an advantage.
As they dove into the final kilometre Moser was forced to work as Trentin narrowed the gap to just a few seconds on his own.
With 500 metres to go, the writing was on the wall and Trentin blew passed his teammate and a forlorn Moser to take the stage win in dramatic fashion.
In the race for the overall, maglia rosa Steven Kruijswijk (Team LottoNl-Jumbo) enjoyed a relatively calm day before Friday's and Saturday’s mountain double header.
The Dutchman was marshalled expertly by his team with Bram Tankink and Enrico Battaglin both prominent on the climbs. When Kruijswijk was eventually isolated, he marked a late but short move from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) on the final ascent, and a final acceleration from Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) on the descent, to retain his lead.
With three stages remaining in the race, Kruijswijk leads Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge) by three minutes, with Valverde a further 23 seconds in arrears. Nibali remains fourth, 4:43 of the maglia rosa.
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