Gallery: Amazing images from the Giro stage we never saw
It was set to be the toughest stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia. More than 5,500 metres of climbing over 212 km, with four monster climbs and the highest point in the race. While stage 16 was ultimately shortened due to bad weather, we still got an epic day’s racing.
The Passo Fedaia and Passo Pordoi were lopped out of the route, but the Passo Giau still provided plenty of drama. Not that we got to see it on TV. With helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft unable to fly, the host broadcasters were relying on 4G coverage to beam pictures of the race to the world.
As expected, coverage proved patchy at best on the Passo Giau. For roughly the last hour of the race, as riders climbed the Passo Giau then descended to the finish, TV viewers were left watching fixed camera feeds at the finish line. Thankfully for us, the Grubers – Ashley and Jered – and Kristof Ramon were all atop the Passo Giau. As you’ll see below, they captured some remarkable images from a stage in which Egan Bernal won in the maglia rosa, further extending his overall lead.
With the Passo Pordoi removed from the stage, the Passo Giau (2,236 metres) became the Giro’s ‘Cima Coppi’ – the highest point in the race. Egan Bernal was first to emerge at the top having attacked from the peloton and passed the remnants of an earlier breakaway. Damiano Caruso has been a revelation of this year’s Giro. He finished third on the stage and holds second overall with five stages remaining. Romain Bardet took second on the day … … and now sits seventh overall. Hugh Carthy continues to impress. The Briton is now up to third overall. Tobias Foss has been impressive for Jumbo-Visma and now sits inside the top 10 overall. Simon Yates had a bad day and dropped time. He’s now fifth overall. Vincenzo Nibali was in the early breakaway but was caught when the GC contenders started to make their move. Chris Juul-Jensen stopped at the summit to prepare himself properly for the descent. It was another off-day for Grand Tour debutant Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian dropped more than 24 minutes to Bernal and now sits in 19th overall.
