Giro d’Italia 2019: Stage 16 – Ciccone wins tricky stage, Carapaz maintains race lead

Stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia. No Passo Gavia because of the threat of an avalanche, but there was an uphill start, the Mortirolo (dedicated to Marco Pantani), and over 5,000m of climbing. This should have all the elements for a lively queen stage, particularly right after the rest day. Shouldn’t it? It should and it did! A very cold and wet KOM Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) was one of two men left from an early 21-strong break, and through chattering teeth and possible hypothermia, he gathered everything left to outsprint Astana’s Jan Hirt for an emotional stage win. We expected Vicenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) to attack and we weren’t disappointed as his offensive shook up the GC and allowed him to leap over Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) but the Shark of Messina couldn’t dent his 1:47 deficit to maglia rosa wearer Richard Carapaz (Movistar).

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Giro Tweets of the Week: Unsung heroes and yet more trash talk

We’re looking back at the second week of the 2019 Giro d’Italia and the Twitterstream was bountiful! We have unsung heroes who make good, an Ecuadorian who is guarded by a furious turkey, and a furious Shark … plus so much more, of course. We’re TWEETS OF THE WEEK, Giro-style!

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