Christian Scaroni won an action-packed stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday as Isaac Del Toro's rivals cut into his overall lead and favourite Primoz Roglic abandoned the race.
A 203-km ride from Piazzola sul Brenta to San Valentino featured four brutal climbs, totalling up to 4,900 metres of elevation, with heavy rainfall leading to several crashes.
Scaroni and teammate Lorenzo Fortunato broke away on the final climb, a punishing 12.6km stretch at an average gradient of 8.3 per cent, and built a sizeable lead to ensure a one-two finish for the XDS Astana Team.
"I'm really happy to win a stage of the Giro d’Italia. Lorenzo Fortunato and I fought very hard and very well," Scaroni said. "He let me win the stage. I was at the limit in the last kilometre. It was very steep there."
Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) was third, completing an all-Italian podium.
In the overall standings, Mexican Del Toro is now just 26 seconds ahead of Simon Yates (Visma–Lease a Bike) after running out of steam with three km to go and failing to keep up with the Briton and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).
Carapaz, winner of the 2019 Giro and a gold medallist at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, started the day over two minutes behind Del Toro but now trails by 31 seconds after an explosive effort on the final climb.
"At the end we knew it was a real key stage here. I think I went well and I demonstrated what I've worked (on), everything it's cost me to get here and be here once again," Carapaz told TNT Sports.
"I think in the last few years I haven't had the aptitude, the shape to be here in this moment but that was the motivation to get myself up and go ahead and be here and try it once more.
"And good, I think we're good to give a big
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