He went over his limits again. When it seemed like the Passo del Mortirolo would be too much for the abilities of Andrey Amador (Movistar Team), the 'tico' surprised everyone one more time by using his strongest weapons: consistent descending skills, power to drill over gentle slopes and, above all, courage and determination to never surrender.
The Costa Rican finished 5th in Aprica after a day to remember in the Giro d'Italia, over five big mountains in the 177km trek from Pinzolo which brought lots of struggle, unexpected setbacks, comebacks and GC changes. Amador now sits in fourth place, with Mikel Landa (AST) becoming Alberto Contador (TCS)'s biggest threat after another stage victory, as Fabio Aru (AST) drops back to third.
Rubén Fernández got into the day's only real breakaway, an 11-rider move always under two minutes' distance from the bunch, caught at the foot of the Mortirolo ascent as some splits in the descent after the first climb of Aprica (Cat-3) forced Contador (TCS) to overtake many rivals after a puncture, a hectic pursuit which the Spaniard completed with a massive, solo effort.
Ahead of Contador, Amador struggled in the steepest part of the Mortirolo to follow Landa, Aru (AST) and Kruijswijk (TLJ), but was able to keep his usual, steady pace and limit losses in his least favourable terrain - even leaving behing GC rivals like Damiano Caruso (BMC) and Leopold König (SKY) - to reach the summit in sixth place, 1'50" behind the leaders and a few seconds in front of a struggling Aru.
The descent witnessed the start of a magnificent pursuit by the Costa Rican, with risky, efficient maneuvers to reduce the gap and strong pace on the 'false flat' of Aprica, where he overtook Ryder Hesjedal (TCG) and chased down Yuri Trofimov (KAT), ultimately conceding only 1'25" to the 'Maglia Rosa' across the finishing line - 2'03" to Landa, who passed him for third place. Amador also put 48 seconds into Aru, the Italian now just 56" ahead of him in the overall standings.
In the mountains competition, Beñat Intxausti fought to keep his jersey into the first climbs - he was 3rd on the Campo Carlo Magno (Cat-2)-, yet eventually lost it to Kruijswijk, by only one point - 92 to 91 - as the Dutchman scored points on both Mortirolo and Aprica.
"It was a tremendously demanding stage, probably one of those I was worried about the most due to the Mortirolo climb. Still, I had no fear, and kept my own pace all the way to the summit to try to lose as little time as possible. With all the bad weather from the start, things got even more complicated, but we had to be courageous and not surrender. I tried to defend myself with everything I could to keep the third spot, but I didn't succeed. Still, we must not stop our fight - I was clearly strong today and I must keep fighting until the end. I will give my absolute everything for the podium in Milan, but if I can't make it, taking a top-5 will be still great," he wrote on his website.
03.05: La Classique Morbihan |
01.05 - 04.05: La Coupe du President de la Vi... |
04.05: GP du Morbihan |
04.05: GP Eco-Struct |
04.05: Liège-Bastogne-Liège Junior |
04.05: Sundvolden GP |
04.05: GP du Morbihan Femmes |
04.05: Ronde van Overijssel |
28.04 - 05.05: Vuelta España Femenina |
30.04 - 05.05: Tour du Bénin |
Kevin PUTSEYS 43 years | today |
Kensyo SAWADA 35 years | today |
Jeovanni LESLIE 39 years | today |
Kyosuke KASAHARA 36 years | today |
Hans TIMMERMANS 40 years | today |
© CyclingQuotes.com