The second mountain top finish of this Giro d’Italia was another day for the climbers. Mikel Landa was the strongest on the Madonna di Campiglio as all riders of Team Giant-Alpecin spend the second half of the stage in the grupetto.

It was the first high mountain stage in the Dolomites, which covered three registered climbs and 165km. After a fast start with many attacks, the break of 10 riders got loose with 55km behind the wheels.

Towards the final ascent, Astana Pro Team thinned out the bunch as only 4 riders were left to enter the final kilometer.

With a well-timed attack Mikel Landa (Astana Pro Team) got away and won the stage, followed by Maglia Rosa Alberto Contador (Tinkoff – Saxo) in third. All riders of Team Giant-Alpecin were part of the grupetto to finish 31’38” after today’s winner, it was Tobias Ludvigsson who came in first at 112th.

“It was a fast start today. Our plan was to join the breakaway, ideally with Simon to grab GPM points. Ten strong riders got away and we could not follow. The good thing is that our guys came in on time and without problems.

“We will have a complete team to start the final Giro week, in which we keep on aiming at stage results. We expect to have two sprinting opportunities left and we will try it in the breakaways as well. But first we will use tomorrow’s rest day for recovery”, explained coach Marc Reef to the Giant-Alpecin website.