Giro d'Italia 2023 Stage 16 LIVE: Geraint Thomas, Primoz Roglic and Joao Almeida to do battle on Monte Bondone

Giro d'Italia
Stage 16 | Mountain | men | 23.05.2023
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Sabbio ChieseMonte Bondone
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Felix Lowe
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Felix Lowe
Updated 23/05/2023 at 10:35 GMT

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11:32
137KM TO GO: DALLA VALLE AND THEN PRONSKIY TRY THEIR LUCK
Early movement in this breakaway as Nicolas Dalla Valle opens up an early gap. Once pegged back, it's Vadim Pronskiy who tests his legs with an acceleration. All a bit pointless and he's brought back pretty quickly. If there are 26 riders in this move now then we can expect a huge shake out on this climb because many of the escapees are not what you could call competant climbers - that man Jonathan Milan, for instance, the maglia ciclamino. Milan will be gutted that the first intermediate sprint comes after the first two climbs, and not before, after that long flat section.
11:28
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138KM TO GO: CAT 1 PASSO SANTA BARBARA
The breakaway is onto the first of five climbs of the day, the Cat.1 Passo Santa Barbara, which is 12.8km long at an average gradient of 8.3%. Ben Healy has a puncture and needs a wheel change, which isn't the ideal start for the EF Education-EasyPost rider. He's the best placed rider in this break in the maglia azzurra KOM standings after his exploits on Sunday. The Irishman is in fourth place on 108pts with Italy's Davide Bais currently leading on 144pts. With 135pts up for grabs today we could well see Healy in blue today.
11:25

'The GOAT' - Blythe on Cavendish retirement announcement

11:22
142KM TO GO: ALMOST FOUR MINUTES FOR THE 26-MAN MOVE
Finally we have a time check - and it's a whopping 3'50" for the leaders, which is perhaps larger than most of us expected. Indeed, it puts Aurelien Paret-Peintre just 40 seconds away from the virtual maglia rosa.
Meanwhile, off the back of the peloton is Joao Almeida after a puncture. The UAE rider doesn't seem too distressed and he's taking his time to return to the fold in what is the stage with the most amount of climbing in the entire Giro.
11:16
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145KM TO GO: TWO GROUPS COME TOGETHER AHEAD OF THE CLIMBING
The chase group catches the first group so we now have a breakaway of 26 riders that has come together in the town of Nago. Almost instantly the road goes uphill - not on the first categorised climb, but a short and sharp little taster which precedes the Cat.1 Passo di Santa Barbara.
We should add that the Eolo-Kometa rider here is not Davide Bais, the blue jersey, but his brother, Mattia.
11:14
146KM TO GO: JUMBO VISMA PUT MAN ON THE FRONT TO LEAD CHASE
It's Eduardo Affini, the powerhouse Italian TT specialist, which makes sense because he won't be around once the road heads uphill. Jumbo have been forced to lead the chase because they don't have any riders in the breaks up the road whereas their rivals at Ineos and Bahrain and Bora do. The likes of Paret-Peintre, Konrad and Haig aren't genuine GC threats - but they can still cause some issues and have their say in the fight for pink. We're still waiting for a time check.
11:07
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152KM TO GO: PELOTON SEEMS TO SIT UP
Some riders are taking a nature break and the pink jersey is on the back and in discussion with a Jumbo-Visma rider. Armirail seems to be telling his colleague that he and Groupama-FDJ have no desire to lead the chase - and this uncertainty will play into the hands of the riders up the road. We still don't have a time gap back to the peloton but the second group is 1'10" down on the first.
11:02
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156KM TO GO: KONRAD AND BAIS AMONG NINE CHASERS
Austria's Patrick Konrad, who is nine minutes down on GC, is in a chase group that also includes the blue jersey of Davide Bais. The chasers are:
Vadim Pronskiy (Astana-Qazaqstan)
Cesare Benedetti and Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Thomas Champion (Cofidis)
Davide Bais (Eolo-Kometa)
Davide Gabburo and Filippo Magli (Green Project-Bardiani)
Nicolas Dalla Valle and Veljko Stojnic (Team Corretec-Selle Italia)
10:59
HAIG, MILAN, GEE AND PARET-PEINTRE IN DANGEROUS 17-MAN MOVE OFF THE FRONT
10:58
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162KM TO GO: PARET-PEINTRE BROTHERS AND HAIG AMONG ESCAPEES
With all the communication problems stemming from those tunnels it seems that some biggish names have managed to get into the day's break - including Aurelien Paret-Peintre, who is just 4:30 down on GC, and Jack Haig, who is seven minutes down but a very strong climber. The 17 escapees are:
Aurelien and Valentin Paret-Peintre (Ag2R Citroen)
Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan)
Jack Haig and Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious)
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)
Martin Marcellusi and Alessando Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani)
Salvatore Puccio and Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers)
Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech)
Carlos Verona (Movistar)
Michael Hepburn and Filippo Zana (Jayco-AlUla)
Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo)
Diego Ulissi (Trek-Segafredo)
10:55
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MCEWEN DISCUSSES MARK CAVENDISH'S RETIREMENT DURING THE BREAKAWAY

Cavendish 'once in a generation' – McEwen after British legend reveals retirement plans

10:52
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167KM TO GO: FAST AVERAGE PACE IN THE OPENING HALF HOUR
The race is motoring along at an average speed of 51.7kmph which goes to show how competitive it has been since the gun. We can expect this tempo to continue until the foot of the first climb, which comes in about 25km.
10:45
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170KM TO GO: 17 GO CLEAR WITH GEE AND MILAN
So frequent are the tunnels cutting through the cliffs on the stunning shore of Lake Garda that we're not getting any images from the road - just some beautiful aerial shots that make us ache for a holiday in Italy (something you wouldn't have said much last week with all that rain). But that initial acceleration by Israel-PremierTech's Gee resulted in a move of 17 riders opening up a gap. Also present is Jonathan Milan of Bahrain-Victorious, the maglia ciclamino, and two Ineos Grenadiers riders - perhaps Swift and Puccio.
10:40
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175KM TO GO: CAVENDISH GROUP CAUGHT, GEE UPS THE TEMPO
Shortly after the second part of the peloton bridged back over after a frantic chase, the leaders are reeled in after that brief cameo from Cav, Formolo, Tonelli, Serry and Konrad. But there's no let up along this beautiful lake-side road as Derek Gee - the Canadian debutant who has finished second three times in this race - throws down the hammer and sparks a response on the front of the pack.
10:36
178KM TO GO: RAFT OF JUMBO-VISMA RIDERS ALSO IN SECOND PELOTON
Primoz Roglic is present and correct in the main peloton but many of his Jumbo team-mates have been caught out by the split, which occurred after Roglic's mountain lieutenant Sepp Kuss hit the deck on a roundabout.
10:33
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180KM TO GO: FIVE RIDERS OPEN UP A GAP ON THE FRONT - INCLUDING CAVENDISH
Well, well, well... Mark Cavendish getting into a breakaway on a mountain stage. The British veteran announced his retirement on the rest day and so perhaps he feels like he's got nothing to lose. He's in a stellar quintet that also includes Davide Formolo (UAE Team Emirates), Pieter Serry (Soudal Quick-Step), Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Alessandro Tonelli (Green Project-Bardiani).
If you missed it on the rest day, here's that news on Cavendish's impending retirement...
Cavendish to retire at end of season as Tour de France record bid looms large
10:33
ARMIRAIL, LEKNESSUND, KAMNA AND CARTHY ALL CAUGHT OUT BY SPLIT IN PELOTON
10:30
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184KM TO GO: LEKNESSUND AND KAMNA ALSO CAUGHT OUT BY SPLIT
The Norwegian Andreas Leknessund - who enjoyed a stint in pink in the opening week and is currently fifth in the standings - has also been caught out by this split in the peloton. He has some Team DSM team-mates to help drive the pace alongside Bora and Groupama-FDJ - that's because Armirail, the pink jersey, is here, as is Lennard Kamna and Hugh Carthy. So some big names.
10:26
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186KM TO GO: BIG SPLIT IN PELOTON AS TRIO IS CAUGHT
The carrots are cooked for Scaroni, Gabburo and Sbaragli, who sit up and let themselves get reabsorbed. But more importantly, there's a big split in the peloton following that earlier crash and caught out is the pink jersey of Bruno Armirail - as if his day wasn't going to be hard enough as it is. The gap is around 30 seconds.
10:19
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193KM TO GO: CRASH! KUSS AND DE PLUS AMONG FALLERS
There's been a spill on a roundabout as three riders go down after a touch of wheels. It's Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Laurens De Plus (Ineos Grenadiers) - two riders who will be playing a big role today for their leaders Roglic and Thomas. The third rider to go down is the conqueror of the Zoncolan from two years ago - Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa).