With a powerful attack just before the 1 km to go banner, Russian Iurii Trofimov saw the opportunity to go for the win in Stage 15 of the 98th Giro d’Italia and launched a brave move that looked good for the top step of the podium.

It was only a late surge at 450 m by Mikel Landa that denied the win for Trofimov, who earned a strong second place at 2-seconds back and moved into sixth place on the general classification. It was a solid day of riding from Iurii Trofimov.

“Yesterday was a really hard time trial, but I managed to recover from that effort and today I felt quite good. And the team supported me in the first part of the distance. The last two climbs were very hard, the leader's group had a fast pace, but I was able to stay in front in every part of the race. In the last few kms of the climb Astana by their work reduced the group, while with 2 km to go they attacked and I managed to respond. It was a hard moment with more or less 1 km to go, after another attack, so I preferred to go at my own pace and it worked. I came back and immediately attacked for myself. I wanted to surprise them. I was close to a victory, but in the end I did not have the power to respond to Landa. Anyway I am happy with my race today, with my feelings and my progress. Let's see what will happen in the third week,” said Iurii Trofimov.

“Normally, we knew the third week would be the crucial for the general classification and we expected some progress from Iurii, because we have seen that his form is coming better and better every day. We are still far from Milan and a lot of really hard and decisive stages are still to come. So we will go step by step. A lot of things could happen in the third week. Today Iurii did a very strong and smart race, and what a pity he missed just a little to win this nice stage. Anyway he is 6th now in GC and we are looking forward for the stages after the rest day,” said team director Dmitry Konyshev.

Race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) rounded out the podium at 5-seconds and retained the maglia rosa by 2.35 to Fabio Aru and 4.19 to Andrey Amador. Trofimov jumped from 13th place all the way up to sixth, courtesy of his hard work and smart riding on Sunday’s stage.

At 165 km, stage 15 began in Marostica, crossed a category 2 climb early on, followed by the cat 1 Passo Daone and then the finish on the category 1 Madonna di Campiglio. All day Trofimov rode with the pink jersey group, keeping himself in good position for later strategies. Once Trofimov made his move, Contador, Aru and Landa all eyed each other, unwilling to chase, until Landa finally went after Iurii and surged ahead to take his second stage win in the 2015 Giro d’Italia.

Earlier in the stage Ilnur Zakarin rode himself again in the picture, preparing the way for teammate Iurii Trofimov. Zakarin broke clear with two Movistar riders. Later seven other riders joined the three, but they were all reeled in before the final climb.

Monday brings the second and final rest day, but Tuesday it is back to the mountains to start the third week of the tour of Italy. Only six stages remain before the peloton closes the race in Milan next Sunday.