“Rambo” Rabottini wins epic stage at Giro d’Italia

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Stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia has been one of those epic stages in which an unknown rider went away early and got rewarded for his courage. Matteo Rabottini rode away from the bunch under the rain after only eighteen kilometres into stage 15 – initially with Frenchman Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r-La Mondiale) who didn’t persist. Rabottini crashed on the downhill preceding the final ascent to Piani dei Resinelli and was caught by Joaquim Rodriguez in the last 200 meters. The Spaniard who already won a stage win at Assisi and rode back into the overall lead, nicely gave him the way to cross the finishing line in first position, as it appeared like a well deserved victory for the 24-year-old from Pescara.

“But I’m a rider who never gives up. This victory has been built since the last off-season. Scinto has made me arrive at the Giro with the best condition I could hope for. Today he gave me the right advice from the team car. He instructed me to pay attention to not spend too much energy all the way long. When I crashed, I thought that I had ruined everything but Scinto motivated me to keep going.”