Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang 9th in Stage 15 of the Giro d'Italia 2020

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - A tough day in the saddle ended with Jakob Fuglsang taking 9th place on the summit finish Piancavallo. Manuele Boaro went into the breakaway of the day, as the group got caught, Fabio Felline did a stellar job in helping his teammate to close the gap to the first chasing group. The Danish rider still ranks 12th on the overall ranking, Kazinform cites Astana Pro Team.

After yesterday`s time trial, the race traveled to the Rivoloto air base, the home of the Frecce Tricolori to start today`s key stage for the general classification. The peloton faced 185 brutal kilometers with three category two climbs, the Sella Chianzutan, Forcella di Monte Rest and Forcella di Pala Barzana, before climbing up to Piancavallo, a category one summit finish. The final 15km ran entirely uphill with slopes topping out at 14% made it more than 4000meters of climbing today.

A day for the GC contenders to show their ambitions for the final overall ranking at the Corsa Rosa, therefore Jakob Fuglsang gave it his all to take the best possible result.

The daily breakaway of the day went up the road after some kilometers of racing. One of the 12 riders was the experienced rider, Manuele Boaro. The escapees had more than three minutes gap before the group fell apart on the penultimate ascent of the day.

Jakob Fuglsang remained in the reduced bunch, among the GC contenders and waited for the decisive moment of the day, the last ascent up to Piancavallo.

While climbing up the category one ascent up to Piancavallo, Fabio Felline did a stellar job in protecting Jakob Fuglsang. On the final kilometers up to the finish Jakob Fuglsang first lost for a moment the contact to the leading group but was able to bridge across to the second chasing group, with Nibali and Bilbao in. Meanwhile at the front three riders were fighting for the stage win with the Maglia Rosa chasing.

On a cold steep way up to the finish, Jakob Fuglsang finished the 15th stage in 9th position, 1:36 down on the stage winner. On the overall ranking, the Danish rider still ranks in 12th place but 5 minutes behind the Maglia Rosa.

«It was a hard day in the saddle, Fabio Felline did a great job and stayed with me until the final part of the last ascent. Huge thanks to him and also to the rest of the team. On the final ascent I found myself then with the other GC contenders and tried to stay with them. It was a cold way up to the finish. I finished inside the Top 10 but no changes on the overall for me. Now I am looking forward to the rest day,» said Jakob Fuglsang

Tomorrow will be the second rest day of the Giro d`Italia, before the race heads into its final six stages. Stage 16 will take the riders from Udine over 229km to San Daniele del Friuli on an undulating course, featuring six climbs, one already right after the start.