Julian Arredondo (Trek) was finally rewarded for his aggressive riding when he won today's big mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia after an exciting Colombian battle with Fabio Duarte (Colombia). Having made it into a 14-rider breakaway, he emerged as the strongest on the final climb while the GC riders batteled it out further behind. Fabio Aru (Astana) gained 3 seconds on his rivals while Cadel Evans (BMC) and Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) both lost time on a day when Nairo Quintana (Movistar) rode defensively and appeared to be at ease.

 

Julian Arredondo has been the most aggressive rider in the Giro d'Italia so far but until today's 18th stage he has seemed to be spending too much energy way too early to finish it off. Today things finally came together when he won stage 18 of the Italian grand tour on the climb to Rifugio Panarotta.

 

In a mission to secure himself the blue mountains jersey, Arredondo attacked already on the first climb of the day, Passo San Pellegrino, and made it into a formidable 14-rider group that contained climbers like Fabio Duarte, Ivan Basso (Cannonale), Dario Cataldo (Sky), Philip Deignan (Sky) and Franco Pellizotti (Androni). He dutifully picked up maximum points on the first two climbs and could allow himself to focus on the stage win on the final climb.

 

In a very exciting finale where the race lead was constantly changing, it ended as a Colombian battle when Arredondo and Duarte passed lone leader Pellizotti 3km from the line. The Trek rider made another of his many accelerations and this time Duarte finally had to surrender.

 

From there, he kept his speed all the way to the line to take his first ever grand tour stage victory and the first win for Trek in the Italian grand tour. Duarte made it a 1-2 for Colombia while Deignan finished 3rd.

 

Behind, the battle for the GC was on and as so often before it was Pierre Rolland (Europcar) who opened the battle. Nairo Quintana showed no interest in chasing the Frenchman down and at one point it seemed that the Europcar rider could be the big winner.

 

However, a resurgent Wout Poels did a fantastic job to reel in the Frenchman for his team leader Rigoberto Uran and instead, the stage ended up producing very few time differences. Being very equally matched, no one was able to get a significant gap until Fabio Aru (Astana) finally got clear, stealing 3 seconds from his podium rivals.

 

The big loser was Cadel Evans (BMC) who was dropped pretty early and dropped from 3rd to 9th in the overall standings. Wilco Kelderman had been on the attack in the finale but ended up as another small loser as he lost time to his key tivals.

 

Quintana seemed to be at ease all the way to the top and finally accelerated near the finish to cross the line in 10th as the best from the maglia rosa group. Hence, he defended his 1.41 lead over Uran.

 

However, he faces a very big test tomorrow when the race continues with the brutal 26.8km mountain time trial up the Monte Grappa. After an opening flat section, the stage goes up the 19km climb whose 8% average gradient should produce some massive time differences.

 

Back into the mountains

After yesterday's short respite, it was back into the mountains in the first of three consecutive stages with summit finishes. Stage 18 brought the riders over 171km from Belluno to Rifugio Panarotta and had a very tough beginning as it went uphill for the first 54.5km until the riders reached the summit of the Passo San Pellegrino. Then an easier section followed before Passo del Redebus served as a warm-up for the long, hard, final climb to the finish.

 

After another day with rain in the finale, the riders were pleased to take off in beautiful sunny conditions. Two riders didn't take the start. Diego Ulissi has been suffering from illness for two days and chose to head home to recover for the Italian championships while Ivan Santaromita had fallen ill overnight, leaving Orica-GreenEDGE with just two riders in the race.

 

A fast start

Many are convinced that this stage was the final opportunity for a breakaway and so it was no surprise that the stage got off to a very fast start. Several attack were launched but for a long time no one was able to get clear.

 

The riders got to the bottom of the San Pellegrino pass before significant gaps started to open up. On the lower slopes a small group with Thomas De Gendt (OPQS), Basso, Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Fracis Mourey (FDJ), Tim Wellens (Lotto Belisol), Simon Geschke (Giant), Alberto Losada (Katusha), Pellizotti and a few more opened a gap. Arredondo soon bridged the gap and Movistar seemed to be content with the situation.

 

Wellens attacks

Wellens launched an attack to quickly get a big gap while behind the attacking continued in the peloton. Alexis Vuillermoz (Ag2r), Jarlinson (Pantano) both gave it a try but when Robert Kiserlovski (Trek) joined them, Movistar shut it down.

 

Kiserlovski tried again and this time he bridged the gap to the chase group. However, Movistar could not allow the Croatian to get clear and so they brought the group back while behind the peloton was exploding.

 

Wellens is caught

De Gendt, Pellizotti, Cataldo, Arredondo and Ivan Rovny (Tinkoff-Saxo) attacked again and they quickly caught Wellebs. Arredondo was riding do fast that only Cataldo and Pellizotti could keep up with hm and so those three riders got clear.

 

Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani) bridged the gap and a little later Emanuele Sella (Androni) also made the junction. Meanwhile, the peloton slowed down as Movistar was now content with the situation.

 

A front group is formed

Several riders were in between the front group and the peloton. Wellens, De Gendt, Rovny and Deignan were the first to join the leaders and Duarte and Martijn Keizer (Belkin) followed a littl later.  Losada did a good job to close a pretty big gap while finally Basso and Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini) made it across.

 

In the peloton, Francisco Ventoso and Adriano Malori were setting a steady pace for Movistar that allowed a lot of riders to rejoin the bunch. Up ahead, Arredondo and Deignan attacked near the top, allowing the Colombian to take maximum points while Cataldo beat De Gendt in the sprint for third.

 

The peloton takes it easy

The group came back together on the descent while the peloton crested the summit with a 4-minute deficit. The break briefly split on the descent but as they got back on flat roads, they started to work together to extend their advantage.

 

The peloton showed no interest in the chase and while Ventoso and Malori set their steady pace, the gap constantly went up. In the front group, Sella attacked before the intermediate sprint but was caught and beaten by Wellens in the battle for the points. De Gendt won the sprint for third while the peloton was now 7.42 back.

 

The gap grows

The gap reached 8.20 but as the peloton again hit some climbs, Ventoso and Malori started to ride a bit harder. With 46km to go, they were 6,25 behind.

 

Near the top of the second climb, Arredondo again attacked and this time he was onlu joined by Cataldo. He easily beat the Italian in the sprint while Wellens beat De Gendt in the sprint for third.

 

Attacking on the descent

The duo were caught on the descent and instead Basso, Duarte and De Gendt took off. Wellens and Sella joined them but before they had hit the bottom, it was back together.

 

Eros Capecchi had set the pace on the upper slopes of the climb but on the descent Ventoso and Malori again took over. They rode very carefully and allowed the gap to grow back up to 7.40 with 25km to go.

 

Ag2r start to chase

That's when Ag2r started to worry about the teams classification and Axel Domont and Julien Berard started to swap turns with Malori and Ventoso. As the escapees prepared themselves for the final climb, the gap started to melt away.

 

De Gendt made a solo attack on a short, steep climb that preceded the final ascent and he quickly got a big gap. In the peloton, Europcar had now upped the pace and they led the peloton onto the climb with a 5.10 deficit.

 

De Gendt the lone leader

Up ahead, Wellens and Rabottini took off in pursuit of De Gendt but were quickly Broguht back. Rabottini tried again but Sella kept everything under control.

 

Keizer attacked and soon got a nice gap but now Basso wnt to the front to set a brutal pace. Zardini and Sella got dropped while behind Movistar and Europcar led the peloton on the lower slopes.

 

Constant attacks

Deignan, Arredondo and Rovny attacked and joined Keizer as the nearest chasers of De Gendt. Pellizotti, Cataldo, Losada, Duarte and Basso also made the junction and the Basso again hit the front.

 

Pellizotti, Keizer, Losada and Rovny all fell off and finally Basso got a gap. In the peloton, Nathan Haas set the pace for Garmin until Movistar again took over,

 

Cataldo makes an attack

Cataldo, Deginan, Duarte and Arredondo caught Basso and Cataldo launched an immediate counterattack. He stayed clear for a little while until he was joined by Arredondo and Deignan.

 

While Eros Capecchi and later Igor Anton were doing a lot of damage in the peloton, Duarte rejoined the chasers and a little later Pellizotti also got back into contention.

 

A Colombian battle

Just as Basso was about to get back, Duarte, Arredondo and Deignan attacked and Arredondo made another acceleration to fly past De Gendt. Duarte joined him but after a bit of attacking they again slowed down.

 

Deignan, Pellizotti and De Gendt rejoined the leaders while behind Romain Sicard hit the front of the maglia rosa group for Europcar. He even got a small gap and Rolland had to make a small acceleration to get onto the wheel of his teammate. That was too much for Evans who was one of many riders to get dropped.

 

Pellizotti takes off

Up ahead, De Gendt and Pellizotti attacked and the Italian soon got clear on his own. Meanwhile, Rolland launched his first attack but he failed to get clear.

 

Arredondo and Duarte caught Pellizotti but as the Trek rider upped the pace again he got clear on hiw pen. Meanwhile, only Hesjedal, Castroviejo, Poels, Uram, Kelderman, Quintana, Rolland, Aru, Kiserlovski, Pozzovivo and Majka were still in the maglia rosa group.

 

Rolland attacks

Castroviejo set a brutal pace for his leader Quintana until Rolland launched his next attack. Only Quintana, Uran and Kelderman could keep up with him and when he attacked again, he finally got clear.

 

Kelderman used a moment of hesitation to take off in pursuit while most of the maglia rosa group came back together. They caught Rovny who took a turn for Majka before Poels hit the front.

 

Poels does a good job

The Dutchman did an amazing work and brought Kelderman back. As he had almost caught Rolland, Uran accelerated to bring the rival back into the fold.

 

Kelderman, Hesjedal and Kiserlovski now fell off the pace, leaving just Uran, Majka, Aru, Pozzovivo, Quintana and Rolland in the maglia rosa group. Aru made a counterattack but was soon brought back by Uran.

 

Majka in difficulty

Majka struggled but rejoined the group while up ahead Arredondo crossed the line to take a big solow in. Duarte took 2nd while Deignan had to settle for third.

 

Just before the flamme rouge, Aru attacked again and this time he opened a gap. He seemed to get a nice advantage but when they hit the finishing straight, Quintana accelerated to reduce the time gain to just 3 seconds.