Giro D'Italia 2015: Stage 13 Results, Overall Standings and Highlights
Alberto Contador lost the leader's jersey for the first time in his career during a Grand Tour after crashing at the end of Stage 13 in the Giro d'Italia. The win was taken by Sacha Modolo, who took the victory in a sprint finish after three hours of racing.
Fabio Aru claimed the maglia rosa as Contador was felled by a huge pile-up—just over three kilometres from the finish.
The Giro's official Twitter account confirmed the win for Modolo:
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Here are the Stage 13 results:
| 1 | Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) | 3:03:08 |
| 2 | Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) | |
| 3 | Elia Viviani (Team Sky) | |
| 4 | Alexander Porsev (Team Katusha) | |
| 5 | Eduard Michael Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini) | |
| 6 | Axel Maximiliano Richeze (Ceramica) | |
| 7 | Moreno Hofland (Team LottoNL-Jumbo) | |
| 8 | Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) | |
| 9 | Luka Mezgec (Team Giant-Alpecin) | |
| 10 | Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) |
Here are the overall standings after Stage 13, per Sky Sports Cycling:
The rain that plagued the end of Stage 12 continued Friday—during the 147-kilometre Montecchio Maggiore-to-Jesolo leg of the Giro. The stage is one of the shortest of the whole race, giving the sprinters an increased chance of a win.
Unlike Thursday, the peloton started off slowly, with Jerome Pineau of IAM Cycling leading from the top of the pack with a short breakaway.
Rick Zabel, Marco Frapporti, Bert De Backer and Arnaud Courteille all attempted to stay with Pineau but allowed the Frenchman to lead as they dropped back in.
However, Zabel and Frapporti stayed closest to the early race leader, building up a 15-second lead over the chasing numbers.
With a third of the race completed, proceedings remained flat—with the peloton refusing to catch the few riders who had moved ahead, coasting toward the second half of the race.
The breakaway slowly managed to obtain themselves a one-minute lead over Contador and Co., but with the rain falling, no one was enthused to increase the overall pace.
At the intermediate sprint stage, Frapporti earned full points, with Zabel trailing close behind.
Aru kept himself well placed in the peloton after losing time to Contador on the climb in Stage 12, which proved to be a wise move from the Italian at the end of proceedings.
With 40 kilometres to go—and a frantic sprint expected—many of the cyclists chose to lose their rain jackets, despite the inclement racing conditions. Typically, the rain began to fall harder and would prove to have a significant impact on the finish.
As the riders approached the final 20 kilometres, Contador was in cruise control, clearly thinking about tomorrow's time trial and consolidating the maglia rosa.
But disaster was to strike for the legendary Spaniard and Tinkoff-Saxo, as a huge crash wiped out a number of cyclists in the peloton in the closing stages.
Contador ordered one of his teammates to give him his bike as he got to his feet, and the cyclist set off quickly to pursue Aru.
Team Sky's Richie Porte also crashed, effectively ending his Giro title hopes this time around.
Movistar Team's official Twitter account captured the moment when the pack crashed:
And with the peloton fragmented and broken, it was left to Modolo to hit the front and sprint to the finish for the win. Contador's recovery means he is still within touching distance of Aru—some 19 seconds off the pace.
After the race, Contador explained the events leading up to his fall, but claimed he feels fine as he heads to the next stage, per Sky Sports:
"There is no calm day whatsoever. We were really well placed in the stage but you could see the crash coming, and from 3 kilometres you can have time neutralised, but we were just outside that. First of all I tried to see if I was OK, and then I thought about getting a bike. I don't think the loss has been too much, although seconds cost a lot to get back, but the thing that most worries me is my injury, but I think I am OK.
When you crash you automatically put yourself in a rigid position as defence mechanism. Of course, the shoulder hurts, but I want to think positively and getting better and that I am OK for tomorrow.
"
It was a magnificent day for Aru as he claimed the maglia rosa on home soil. But with Stage 14's time trial next, Contador will be motivated to eat into the Italian's lead—with only seven stages to go.
Contador is still in great form, and a fall was always going to be the only barrier that could stop him from cruising to the Giro title.
Now the Spaniard will have to show his legendary pace to catch the new leader; otherwise, an unexpected champion will be crowned in Milan on May 31.
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