Aprica win a Spaniard Mikel Landa, number of … – Reuters

The stage n ° 16, from Pinzolo Aprica of 177 km, is the first Alpine stage, with five climbs, Charlemagne, Tonale, Aprica, Mortirolo and Aprica arrival. On Mortirolo they have written pages of history of cycling and this time was a key moment and spectacular of the Tour of Italy. Downhill from the first passage dell’Aprica, a mechanical problem with Contador, forced him and his team to stop the chasing pack as they were pulling the escape of the day with Ryder Hesjedal. Then you have unleashed the Katusha and Astana, pulling the whole and Aru with his team took the climb 50 seconds ahead. The frenetic pace dell’Astana, answered the pink jersey Alberto Contador, who began a comeback similar to that of Marco Pantani in 1999. He took the stage to Oropa and jumped all who preceded him to pounce on the leading pair dell’Astana Aru and Landa and Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk, going to win the GMP of the Mortirolo.

Meanwhile Aru breaks down and finds himself pedaling alone, arriving at the finish pedaling over head to legs. In the final climb to Aprica find themselves in three, Contador, Landa and Kruijswijk, with Landa who obviously does not pull up to a meter less 3 km, going to win the stage, recovering 30 seconds to Contador and climbing into second place in standings General. General classification that now sees Contador pink jersey, on the couple dell’Astana Landa and Aru respectively 4’02 “and 4’52″. Change hierarchies in home Astana after this stage? Meanwhile, Contador has four minutes ahead of second and Milan approaches, although the Tappone of Cervinia on Friday and the stage of Sestriere Col windows Saturday could still change everything.

Ranking of stage

1 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team 5:02:53

2 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 00:00:38

3 Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff

4 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:02:03

5 Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar Team

6 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Cannondale Pro Cycling Team 00:02:10

7 Fabio Aru (Ita) Team Astana 00:02:51

8 Damiano Caruso (Ita ) BMC Racing Team 0:03:18

9 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:03:19

10 Carlos Betancur (Col) AG2R La Mondiale

General Classification

1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff 65:04:59

2 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Team Astana 12:04:02

3 Fabio Aru (Ita) Team Astana 00:04:52

4 Andrey Amador (CRC) Movistar Team 0:05:48

5 Yury Trofimov (Rus ) Team Katusha 0:08:27

6 Leopold Konig (Cze) Team Sky 0:09:21

7 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:09:52

8 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo 00:11:40

9 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ.fr 12:12:48

10 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Cannondale Pro Cycling Team 00:12:49