Giro d'Italia stage 15 - Live coverage
Ciccone solos to a breakaway win as Ineos Grenadiers control GC group behind
Race notes
Richard Carapaz defends the maglia rosa
Ineos in control of the peloton for much of the day
Breakaway riders battled for the win after early 80km battle to make the break
Ciccone soloed from 18km to go, Martin reclaimed 1:42 on GC
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How to watch the 2022 Giro d'Italia – Live streaming
'Switch off your brain and just go flat out' – Turin stage blows doors off the Giro d'Italia
Giro d'Italia rider of the day: Kelderman helps Bora-Hansgrohe blow stage 14 apart
Giro d'Italia: Simon Yates captures solo win on stage 14 in Turin
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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia as the race heads into the Alps. Have you recovered from the non-stop action of yesterday's race to Turin yet?
45 minutes to the start in Rivarolo Canavese and the remaining 159 riders are signing in for stage 15 this morning.
If you needed a reminder of what went on yesterday, here's our stage 14 report...
Giro d'Italia: Simon Yates captures solo win on stage 14 in Turin
The action was non-stop yesterday, with a 50km battle for a breakaway which lasted around 30km before Bora-Hansgrohe blew the race apart, then a long GC fight over hilly circuit on the final 70km.
Today the riders have to head to the Alps and take on three mountains, including two hard first-category climbs. Depending on how teams approach today it could be carnage once again...
Here's a look at the climbs on the menu today. Click here for a zoomed-in view
The riders will take on 90km of mostly flat roads (though heading slightly uphill all the time) before they hit any of the big mountains though.
We should see a big fight for the breakaway with plenty of riders hoping to battle it out for the maglia azzurra KOM jersey during that long run to the first climb of Pila.
Diego Rosa (Eolo-Kometa) remains in blue after taking nine points yesterday. He's on 92 points to Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma) on 69.
GC men Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) are next on 62 and 56 points, while the Bora-Hansgrohe duo of Lennard Kämna and Wilco Kelderman, and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) are next on 43, 36, and 30 points.
Who will make it out front to battle for the massive number of points on offer today?
The first-category climbs of Pila and Verrogne offer up 40-18-12-9-6-4-2-1 points while the second-category summit finish at Cogne offers 18-8-6-4-2-1 points.
A maximum of 98 KOM points on offer today, then.
"On the day when anything could happen, almost everything did. For two weeks, the favourites for this Giro had been measured in their approach, carefully meting out their efforts and limiting their exposure. Then, in the space of 147 dizzying kilometres in the hills around Turin, the previous logic of the Giro seemed to collapse upon itself."
Those were Barry Ryan's words on yesterday's tumultuous stage 14. He spoke to Domenico Pozzovivo, Pello Bilbao, Simon Yates, and Guillaume Martin about the stage and today's mountain test.
Here's what they're all fighting for (well, not all of them at this point)...
Before we begin stage 15 – there's around 15 minutes to go before the riders roll out – why not check out our rider of the day from stage 14?
Wilco Kelderman took the title for his long stint on the front of the GC group, and as a representative of Bora-Hansgrohe's work in shaping the stage.
Giro d'Italia rider of the day: Kelderman helps Bora-Hansgrohe blow stage 14 apart
Under 10 minutes to the start of the roll out now. The riders will roll through a 4.6km neutral zone before the flag drops and the stage gets underway.
Of course, we have a new race leader today in Richard Carapaz. "The last week will be very competitive and pretty complicated," he said after stage 14.
Carapaz in leader's maglia rosa starts a new Giro d'Italia for Ineos Grenadiers
A good reception for Carapaz as he leaves the bus and heads to the start of the stage this morning.
Ready to race 👊We’ve got a Maglia Rosa to defend 💗@RichardCarapazM #Giro pic.twitter.com/tE9GQz8JK9May 22, 2022
Moments away from the start now...
And here we go! The riders have rolled out to start the neutral zone.
We're just waiting for the riders to get through to km0 and then see the battle for today's breakaway.
177km to go
The flag drops and the attacks start! Matt Holmes (Lotto Soudal) on the move straight away.
More riders try to make it out front. Arnaud Démare is up there!
Maglia azzurra Diego Rosa is also among those fighting up front, unsurprisingly.
174km to go
Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) on the attack now. Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) with him.
Vanhoucke and Covi are joined by Groupama-FDJ man Clement Davy.
They're around 10 seconds up on the peloton as riders still try to get away behind.
A crash in the peloton! Maglia rosa Carapaz is involved.
Carapaz falls onto the grass at the side of the road. Maybe 7 or 8 more went down and more were held up. Guillaume Martin, Simon Yates, and Fernando Gaviria were also involved.
It doesn't look like anybody is seriously hurt after that. Riders all back up and running pretty quickly.
170km to go
Vanhoucke, Covi, and Davy are still pushing out front.
20 seconds from them to the peloton. Another 40 seconds back to the small group with Carapaz who were held up in the crash.
Trek-Segafredo lead more attacks from the peloton.
It shouldn't be any problem for Carapaz and the rest to get back on. Just a bit of energy wasted early on, though.
David de la Cruz and Diego Rosa among those attacking now.
Three Ineos men dropped back to help Carapaz. The group is just about to rejoin the peloton.
166km to go
23 seconds up to the attackers as Carapaz and co get back in.
A large mix of riders from different teams now trying to push on from the peloton.
Now it's just 12 seconds to Covi, Davy, and Vanhoucke.
Trek, QuickStep, Eolo, Alpecin, Jumbo all sending men up front to attack.
161km to go
The lead trio are almost caught back.
Now it's over for the leading trio.
Davide Ballerini up front in the peloton along with a couple of Jumbo riders.
Still no separation between the riders trying to attack and the peloton.
KOM leader Diego Rosa still up there trying to make the break.
EF and Israel also active up front.
Trek and Bora are also trying.
A few riders have clipped off the front now, just a few seconds up ahead.
57kph speeds as the riders keep attacking at the front. It's a hard start to the day after yesterday's stage.
Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) among the attackers.
152km to go
Ballerini, Magnus Cort, Dario Cataldo, Alessandro De Marchi also up front. More riders coming across, too.
Now it's all back together again...
150km to go
And we try again. More attacks still coming at the front...
A shot of the crash earlier on, with Carapaz involved.
Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè making a move now. Jumbo, QuickStep, Bahrain behind.
Alpecin, Movistar, Astana... An endless list of teams attempting to get involved at the front.
145km to go
Covi up front once again now.
Hugh Carthy on the move now but still nobody is getting any separation from the peloton.
Natnael Tesfatsion up there, too.
Cofidis, Bardiani, AG2R trying now. Almost 40km done and we haven't really been close to a break going...
A couple of riders have a few seconds.
Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto), Andrea Vendrame (AG2R), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani) have a few seconds.
Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) has made it across now.
137km to go
Five up front but not a big gap back to the peloton. Maybe 10 seconds.
Diego Camargo (EF) leading more riders on the attack.
15 seconds for the leading quintet.
Yesterday the breakaway didn't go until the 50km mark, and then Bora-Hansgrohe ended up bringing it back 30km later anyway. We've already passed the 40km mark today.
Oier Lazkano (Movistar) stops with some paper/plastic lodged in his rear derailleur.
The pace is still very high so not a great time to have to stop.
133km to go
Still just 15 seconds for the men out front.
It's a long way to the foot of the first climb, still around 50km to go.
Drone Hopper, Astana, Jumbo, EF all have riders at the front of the peloton still trying to attack.
The five up front are losing some time now. It's down to 10 seconds as more attacks fly behind.
128km to go
It seems like the break will be brought back soon.
They have 10 seconds now as another group goes. De Marchi, Covi, Ballerini are on the move. Another 10 seconds back to the peloton.
Is this going to be the end of the moves? Covi, De Marchi and Ballerini making it across would make it eight up front and eight teams represented...
124km to go
12 seconds between the groups, another 16 back to the peloton now.
Now the pace ups again in the peloton and the gap goes down again...
Démare is at the front of the peloton currently.
19 seconds between the leaders and the chasers. 10 seconds back to the peloton from the chasers.
A few riders get across to the chase group but they're all back in the peloton now.
Nope, a few more riders move away from the peloton to join the Covi, De Marchi, Ballerini group.
119km to go
Two Jumbo riders were in there.
Almost 60km of fighting for the breakaway now.
12 seconds between the lead group and the peloton.
The chase group is just a few seconds up on the peloton and it now has around 10 riders in it. Edoardo Affini and Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma) are in there, as is Ignatas Konovalovas (Groupama-FDJ).
Still 13 seconds to the breakaway riders.
The average speed of the first hour: 51.9kph
Now the lead quintet have been brought back. All together once again...
Astana, DSM, Lotto make moves.
More and more riders make the jump off the front. It's barely worth working out all the names because nothing seems to be sticking.
KOM competitors Koen Bouwman and Diego Rosa are up there, though.
Carthy, Yates, Rosa, Bouwman, Van der Poel, Ciccone all in this latest attack group.
Ciccone pushing on at the front. A few small hills here for riders to jump away on.
The front group looks to be around 15 or so riders here. Not far ahead of the peloton, though.
Ciccone, Vansevenant going off the front of the attack group.
111km to go
Well, the group they attacked from is just part of the peloton again and they're just a few seconds ahead along with a Bardiani rider.
All back together again.
A downhill run and still more riders are trying to jump away. But now there's something of a stand-off at the front as everybody looks around.
Holmes, Tejada, Mollema, Kudus all towards the front as riders continue to try and break away.
Kudus solo out front, just a few seconds ahead of the peloton.
Thymen Arensman also making a move at the front.
103km to go
Joe Dombrowski attacks from the peloton, too.
Diego Rosa is out the back of the peloton, meanwhile. A mechanical issue?
Not sure what the issue is with Rosa there.
Up front, five men have a small gap. Arensman, Kudus, Craddock are in there.
Seven or eight men try to go from the peloton in response.
Kudus, Craddock and Arensman are joined in the move by Fetter and Rochas.
Rosa is still out the back of the peloton. He's riding behind his team car.
Now around 15 men off the front of the peloton behind that lead quintet.
Almost 80km of fighting for the breakaway now...
100km to go
We're around 15km to go until the base of the first climb. The first intermediate sprint is coming up before then, though.
Only 11 seconds between the five leaders and the peloton. Diego Rosa is 1:30 down...
Ah that timing is way off. He's at the back of the peloton now.
At the moment the situation is: group of five out front, a larger group of maybe 20-25 riders, then the peloton.
10 seconds between the first groups, then no set timing back to the peloton.
1:15 from the leaders to the peloton.
97km to go
We have a break! After 80km of racing.
Five out front and then around 20-25 just making the catch.
Van der Poel is in there but we don't have a full list of riders yet.
Bike changes for Nibali and Carapaz in the peloton. It's calmed down in the peloton as riders take natural breaks and take on food and drink.
2:35 between the large breakaway and peloton now.
Ok, just noting down the full list of breakaway riders...
87km to go
The breakaway is:
Mikaël Cherel, Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroën)
Mathieu van der Poel, Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix)
David de la Cruz, Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan)
Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious)
Luca Covili (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè)
Remy Rochas (Cofidis)
Natnael Tesfatsion (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli)
Hugh Carthy, Merhawi Kudus, Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost)
Erik Fetter (Eolo-Kometa)
Koen Bouwman, Gijs Leemreize, Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma)
Antonio Pedrero, JJ Rojas, Ivàn Sosa (Movistar)
Lawson Craddock (BikeExchange-Jayco)
Thymen Arensman, Nico Denz, Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM)
Giulio Ciccone, Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)
Rui Costa, Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates)
4:10 back to the peloton.
De Bondt leads the way through the intermediate sprint. Not far to the bottom of the climb to Pila now.
Ineos Grenadiers lead the peloton.
The break begins the climb now, 4:30 up on the peloton.
82km to go
Bouwman is in a great position here in the break. 40 KOM points for him at the top of this climb and he'll be in the maglia azzurra later.
Already riders are dropping out the rear of the peloton. Démare is back there with his teammate Konovalovas.
More sprinters, including Mark Cavendish, also drop out the back.
81km to go
4:10 between peloton and break now.
Eight Dutchmen in the break, by far the most dominant nationality in the move.
There are three riders apiece from France, Spain, Colombia, and Italy by my count.
Two Eritreans, then one rider apiece from Belgium, Britain, Hungary, USA, Germany, and Portugal.
Here's the profile of this climb, by the way. 12.3km at 6.9%.
The break are around 7km from the top.
Van der Poel is now pushing on at the front of the break up this mountain!
78km to go
All back together now. The Dutchman wanted to keep the pace high, seemingly.
Pedrero, Craddock, De la Cruz out the rear of the group as a result of that. Van den Berg was also struggling out the back.
I think they're all making it back on, though. It looks like things are back together.
I think Van den Berg is gone for good.
3:40 back to the peloton now.
De Bondt is hanging at the rear of the breakaway group.
77km to go
All quiet in the peloton at the moment as Ineos control the pace.
Thymen Arensman is the best-placed man in GC out in the breakaway. He's at 11:47 down, actually in 15th place so a decent position after yesterday's carnage.
Bouwman pushes on at the front now. He has a gap on the rest of the break.
75km to go
Now the pace ups in the break. Bouwman is 30 seconds up the road already.
40 seconds for Bouwman now. 2km to the top of the climb and 40 points for him.
A shot of the breakaway before Bouwman (right) took off. Rochas and Carthy to his right.
52 seconds for Bouwman now. He's set to ride into blue here.
He heads into the final metres of the climb.
40 points for Bouwman over the first-cat climb of Pila.
He's now in virtual blue with 109 points, 17 clear of Rosa.
It looks like Van den Berg and Craddock are the only men to drop from the break so far. There are so many riders there that it's hard to tell exactly...
Tesfatsion and Denz were second and third over the top of the climb.
18 and 12 points for them.
70km to go
Valerio Conti (Astana Qazaqstan) is reportedly out of the race. 158 riders left in the Giro d'Italia.
So, Bouwman has 109 points now. Rosa is on 92.
Tesfatsion's 18 points brings his total to 44. He could be one to watch in the final week.
50 seconds between Bouwman and the rest. Five minutes back to the peloton.
The rest of the break are closing in on the descent. Bouwman's advantage is down to 42 seconds now.
Still, he's a good bet to last over the next climb of Verrogne, too.
Van der Poel leads the breakaway group down the descent. He and a DSM rider are off the front.
62km to go
38 seconds for Bouwman now.
Tusveld is the DSM rider with Van der Poel.
Van der Poel and Tusveld have made it across to Bouwman at the bottom of the descent!
Three Dutchmen out front.
The riders head through the regional capital of Aosta before heading back uphill now.
48 seconds between the three leaders and the rest. 5:10 back to the peloton.
57km to go
A look at the upcoming climb as the leaders pass through Aosta.
The gap to the rest of the break has gone up to 1:20 on this flat stretch now.
The gap is only growing to the rest of the break as the leaders start the climb to Verrogne.
Movistar lead the main breakaway group in the chase.
Rojas leading the work.
The pace has gone up on the climb and the chasing group is cutting into the lead. 1:15 now.
52km to go
Only 10 men left in that group.
Mollema, Tesfatsion, Arensman all surprisingly dropped.
Sosa also dropped.
Kudus, Denz, Carthy, Oomen, De la Cruz, Tejada, Rochas, Buitrago, Pedrero, Costa, Ciccone are left in the group.
Kudus working hard on the front of that group. One minute up to the three leaders now.
Here's the full makeup of the chase group...
Merhawi Kudus, Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Nico Denz (Team DSM), Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma), David de la Cruz, Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Remy Rochas (Cofidis), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Luca Covili (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè)
50km to go
Ben Swift leads the peloton for Ineos Grenadiers.
Ineos certainly aren't going to push the pace today. They seem fully in control, though. Unless someone else, such as Bora-Hansgrohe, take it up, it looks like it'll be a quiet GC day.
Ciccone and Buitrago attack from the chasing break group.
Carthy is trying to get across.
40 seconds between Bouwman-Van der Poel-Tusveld to Ciccone-Buitrago.
Carthy and Pedrero make it across to Ciccone and Buitrago.
49km to go
Ciccone and Buitrago leave Pedrero and Carthy behind again.
Out front it's Tusveld leading as Bouwman hangs back a little.
20 seconds back to Ciccone-Buitrago.
Pedrero is coming across. Carthy nowhere.
Six minutes back to the peloton.
Ciccone, Buitrago, and Pedrero are close to making the bridge to the three leaders.
Bouwman is dropped from the lead trio!
He looked all set to add to his KOM lead here. Now he's back with the three chasers.
Bouwman is totally done. He's dropped by the chase group.
Ciccone and co make the junction and the Italian immediately accelerates.
Tusveld hangs on but Van der Poel drops back.
Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar), Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM) up front now.
Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates) is chasing. He passes Van der Poel.
47km to go
Costa is 15 seconds down on the lead quartet. 5:45 back to the peloton.
The rest of the break is scattered somewhere in between.
Ciccone accelerates again!
Buitrago gets back on quickly. Tusveld and Pedrero follow.
Costa still plugging away behind them.
Now UAE have come to the front of the peloton. Diego Ulissi and João Almeida take it up.
They have Formolo somewhere up the road and Rui Costa too.
Tusveld dropped at the front.
Costa is now 25 seconds down, meanwhile. Is he knocking it off a bit? Or can he just not follow.
Ciccone putting the most moves into this group at the front. It looks like he has the best legs so far.
45km to go
5km to go to the top of the climb.
Carthy is making his way back to Costa. They're 40 seconds behind the leaders.
The leaders are Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Antonio Pedrero (Movistar)
The chasers are Rui Costa (UAE Team Emirates), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Martijn Tusveld (Team DSM)
Formolo is back in the peloton, putting on a high pace and his usual pain face. Ineos still up there alongside UAE.
43km to go
Carthy, Costa, Tusveld at 33 seconds down on the leaders.
Pedrero, Buitrago, and Ciccone still working well together.
Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) jumps from the peloton.
Up front, Buitrago is the only man with any mountain points. He has one in total, so 108 down on Bouwman...
Bradley Wiggins is on the Eurosport moto during the Giro.
He said that Ciccone greeted him as he worked his way up to the lead group and noted that he looks very at ease.
42km to go
Carthy and co slowly making their way across. 20 seconds now.
Martin has 35 seconds on the peloton, which has really been slimmed down in recent kilometres. Maybe 30-35 men left.
Ineos are well in the lead of the peloton now.
Tusveld dropped by the Carthy-Costa group.
Costa also drops back as Carthy heads out alone.
Carthy gets across to make it four out front. Costa is 15 seconds back.
40km to go
Ciccone gets the 40 points over the top of the climb.
The final climb is 22.4km long. Around 13km of descent and then a bit of flat left to go before the riders hit that.
Martin passes Van der Poel on the road. Now he's a minute up on the peloton.
Martin is 12th overall at 9:44. He's almost six minutes down on ninth place though.
All the main GC men are still in the peloton.
Martin is up with Cherel and Arensman as he starts the descent just under a minute up on the peloton.
34km to go
Tusveld is coming back to Costa on the descent. The Portuguese rider is still 19 seconds behind the leaders.
Ciccone has pushed on at the front, meanwhile.
Tusveld leaving Costa behind a little on the descent now. They're reportedly within 10 seconds of the leaders now.
Martin, meanwhile, still hangs a minute on the peloton.
28km to go
The leaders are nearly down in the valley now.
5:50 from the front back to the peloton.
Tusveld and Costa make it across to Ciccone, Carthy, Buitrago, and Pedrero at the bottom of the descent.
Ineos Grenadiers continue their control of the peloton.
Just a few kilometres left until the start of the climb.
25km to go
Six up front now, 5:50 up on the peloton.
The leaders are just a few hundred metres from the start of the climb now.
Here's the final climb. It's not exactly the hardest summit finish we'll ever see.
Riders will be hurting after yesterday, but, as I said earlier, Ineos aren't going to light it up on these shallow slopes. It'll be up to someone else to make it an exciting stage.
Ciccone, Buitrago, Pedrero, Carthy, and Tusveld start the climb.
21km to go
Ciccone attacks!
Buitrago reacts. Carthy comes next.
Ciccone, Buitrago, and Carthy up front. Pedrero, Tusveld, and Costa couldn't respond.
10 seconds between the groups.
Now Carthy pushes on a little more.
The first 9km of the climb are run at around a 7% average, with a kilometre of descent in the middle.
After that, it's 13km of gentler gradients at around 3%.
Buitrago drops away from Ciccone and Carthy a little.
20km to go
Ciccone pushes on at the front.
Pedrero leaves behind Tusveld and Costa.
Buitrago still chases Ciccone and Carthy, 10 seconds down.
19km to go
Buitrago still lingering behind Ciccone and Carthy as they continue up the toughest portion of the climb.
Ciccone attacks again! Carthy can't respond.
The Italian has looked the strongest man from the break for some time, so this is no surprise.
18km to go
Ciccone has 10 seconds on Carthy, who now has Buitrago with him.
The peloton is six minutes down. Martin still a minute up on the group.
Ciccone only gaining time here. Up to 20 seconds now.
30 seconds for Ciccone now. He's powering on.
17km to go
He's flying here!
The gap now reads 45 seconds!
If he keeps on going like this Ciccone is going to win the stage easily.
Ineos continue to control the peloton. Nothing going on there.
15km to go
50 seconds for Ciccone now.
Martin now has 1:30 on the peloton. He's on track to move up a few places here.
14km to go
1:08 for Ciccone now.
It's looking like he'll take the stage and Ineos will control it all the way to the finish.
Well, it's around a minute from Ciccone to Carthy and Buitrago now. Giro d'Italia timing..
Easy job for me so far on this final climb because there's not really much going on now.
Ciccone is heading onto the softer gradients now.
Meanwhile, Buitrago leaves Carthy behind.
Now Pedrero is closing in on Carthy.
We haven't had any photos from the race for a while, so here's a look at Ciccone in the larger breakaway earlier on.
11km to go
Buitrago is alone in the chase but he isn't making any headway into Ciccone's lead.
Martin is 5:25 down on Ciccone. The peloton is 7:05 down.
1:10 between Ciccone and Buitrago now.
10km to go
Final 10km for Ciccone. It's all gradients of 2-3-4% from here.
Still 1:10 for Ciccone. It would take a disaster for him to lose out now.
Will anything happen in the peloton? It's hard to imagine on these shallower slopes. Maybe someone will have a go, though.
8km to go
No drama yet. Ciccone has 1:18 on Buitrago now. 5:35 to Martin. 7:20 to the peloton.
Martin is set to leapfrog Jan Hirt and Alejandro Valverde from 12th to 10th today.
7km to go
Ciccone keeps eking out a few seconds here and there. It's looking good for a third Italian stage win of the Giro.
Buitrago is almost a kilometre down the road.
1:30 for Ciccone now. No action in the peloton yet.
5km to go
Into the final 5km now for Ciccone. He's still gaining time.
This final climb didn't look particularly exciting on paper and boy has it lived up to that expectation... I don't know if many fans are going to remember the summit finish of Cogne in years to come.
Well, the Italian fans certainly will, at least. Plenty out on the road to cheer on Ciccone to this stage win.
3.5km to go
Ciccone takes three bonus seconds at the final intermediate sprint.
A shot of Ciccone getting cheered on by some of the fans lower down the mountain.
🇮🇹 G I U - L I O 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 G I U - L I O 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 G I U - L I O 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 G I U - L I O 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 G I U - L I O 🇮🇹 #Giro @TrekSegafredo pic.twitter.com/F9fqiwWORNMay 22, 2022
3km to go
1:30 for Ciccone now. Buitrago comes to the sprint to take two seconds.
2km to go
Even more fans lining the roads and cheering Ciccone on as he races towards the finish.
A shot of Ciccone going solo up this final climb.
1km to go
Final kilometre for Ciccone now! All set for the win.
Ciccone rides the final metres.
Just over four-and-a-half hours of racing.
Ciccone celebrates as he approaches the finish.
Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) wins stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia
Ciccone bursts into tears after finishing.
Buitrago takes second place.
And Pedrero takes third at over two minutes back.
Carthy is fourth at over three minutes.
The remains of the breakaway trail home, four, five minutes down..
Guillaume Martin coming home now.
Martin finishes at 6:06 down.
The glasses throw at the finish from Ciccone! A tradition for him after doing it when he won stage 16 in 2019.
7:49 for the peloton as they cross the line. Almost two minutes for Martin! He'll move into 10th.
Fabio Felline (Astana Qazaqstan) and Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) led the peloton home ahead of Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers).
They might have grabbed a second or two there!
Here's what Ciccone had to say after the stage...
"Because the steep part of the climb was at the beginning so in my mind I said, 'OK if I go alone here I can arrive'. Otherwise in a sprint with two or three riders you never know what can happen. So I tried everything because my legs today were really good. I said ok I'd like to go alone and finally it was the best choice I could take.
"All last year I think I was in a good shape but bad luck in the Giro and Vuelta, so many problems, COVID-19. It's difficult when you need to confirm something. Today I think I can start another career.
"I think this has been my most beautiful victory, even better then yellow in the Tour de France or my first stage win at the Giro. It's my third but it has an indescribable value for me. It has been a really difficult period. When you try and try to win and nothing happens, it's always more difficult and it really tries your mental strength. I didn't feel like I was myself for a while and I kept trying and waiting and I found it."
The 26-man peloton all came in at 7:48, no time gaps. No major names lost time today.
Martin did move up to 10th and he now lies at 8:02 behind Carapaz.
Here's a link to our brief report, including results and a gallery of the action today.
Giro d'Italia: Ciccone solos to Alpine breakaway win on stage 15
Ciccone celebrates his third career stage win on the podium
Another day in pink for Richard Carapaz tomorrow. He wasn't put in any trouble today.
Here's Bouwman in blue after he led the way over the first climb of the day.
He has 109 points to Diego Rosa's 92.
2019 KOM winner Ciccone is up to fourth place in that competition with 58.
João Almeida remains in the white young riders jersey.
Finally, Arnaud Démare remains in the points jersey.
Our full report is up along with an even fuller gallery. Check it out here
Here's a look at Ciccone's final kilometre today...
🔻 LAST KM / STAGE 1️⃣5⃣"𝐼𝑡 𝑎𝑖𝑛'𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝐵𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠𝑊ℎ𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒"#Giro powered by @ItaliaNFT_art @TrekSegafredo @giuliocicco1 pic.twitter.com/fxIfU1T5weMay 22, 2022
Carthy: I'm happy things are turning around at the Giro d'Italia
Briton battles to fourth from the break on summit finish at Cogne
Giro d'Italia: GC standings after stage 15
Carapaz remains in the maglia rosa despite early-stage crash
Here's a photo of Carapaz celebrating with a Wolfie cuddly toy as we await more news from the Giro d'Italia today
We'll have news and reaction from Carapaz, Nibali, Ciccone, Almeida, and more...
Almeida angry after Ineos Grenadiers let gaps open in overall contenders' sprint
I was on the wheel and his teammate was breaking, that’s why I took the gap says UAE Team Emirates leader
Nibali: Tailwind meant it was pointless to attack on stage 15 of Giro d'Italia
'I want to try to leave a mark, but I'm high up on GC so that won't be easy' he says ahead of mountainous final week
Carapaz survives early crash to retain seven-second lead at Giro d'Italia
'It's better to defend the jersey than to have to attack to get it' says Carapaz as Ineos Grenadiers control their rivals
A tale of two Sundays as Giulio Ciccone saves his Giro d'Italia in Cogne
Italian claims stage victory a week after home disappointment on Blockhaus
That's all for us today. We'll have more news and reaction coming later and of course more tomorrow from the rest day press conferences.
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