Landa Snatches Stage out of Stalemate

Contador's Saxo-Tinkoff teammates lit things up on the penultimate climb, the Passo Daone. The acceleration dropped one time favorite Rigoberto Uran for good but also left Contador isolated on the final slopes of the final climb when second place Fabio Aru had several teammates remaining. However, Contador handled the situation with aplomb, even gapping Aru slightly in the final meters of the stage and taking a four second bonus for finishing third on the stage.

The battle between Aru and contador stalemated on the final climb, in part because the first half of the climb has steady and moderate gradients averaging just under 7%. The real culprit, though, was a long stretch of 2-3% gradients in the last five kilometers that put a damper on serious attacks lower down on the climb and led to tactical racing for a stage win instead. As the road kicked up again at 2,500 meters to go, it was Landa who opened hostilities, taking Contador with him. Though Aru responded, he was slow and was gapped at first, prompting Contador to attack over the top of Landa. The trio of Landa, Contador, and Aru came back together with 1,500 meters to go as the road briefly tipped downwards. Here, Yuri Trofimov, who was gapped with Contador's attack, returned to the group and immediately attacked in the drops, opening up a small gap that he held as the road began to tilt upwards for the final time. It initially looked like Trofimov might get the stage win as the trio behind looked at each other to chase, but once Landa attacked, it was clear the Russian's legs would not be strong enough to bring him a stage win.

Results:

General Classification: