The queen stage of this year's edition of Tirreno-Adriatico had it all. With a length of almost 200 kilometers and the difficult climb up to Passo Lanciano, the drivers had a tough program ahead of them that was to find its showdown on the final climb, which was up to 30 percent steep. And the Muro di Guardiagrele more than lived up to its reputation.
Yesterday, climbers Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) put the overall leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) under pressure. When both of them attacked the Pole today on the almost twenty-kilometre climb to the Lanciano pass, he had nothing to say. In the end, he lost more than four minutes to Contador, who later won the day.
The Spaniard had attacked his other competitors with almost thirty kilometers to go and as a soloist he caught up with the leading group. Because while the overall ranking favorites were fighting, the American Ben King (Garmin Sharp), the Spaniard David de la Cruz (NetApp-Endura) and Berlin's Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano) were fighting for the day's victory. At the top of the climb, it was first King who tried to escape and thus blew up the group. Geschke, on the other hand, stayed on Contador's rear wheel and for a long time it looked as if he could hold it to the end. Together with the Spaniard he provided King and only had to admit defeat a few hundred meters before the finish line. In the end, Geschke got a very strong second place on the day.
Meanwhile, Contador celebrated his second stage win in two days. In the overall standings, the Spaniard is now more than two minutes ahead of Quintana and his teammate Roman Kreuziger.
Result
1. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) 4:54:42
2. Simon Geschke (Giant Shimano) 0:00:06
3. Benjamin King (Garmin Sharp) 0:00:46
4. Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) 0:01:01
5. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2R-La Mondiale) 0:01:26
Total
1. Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) 21:01:30
2. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 0:02:08
3. Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff saxo) 0:02:15
4. Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Trek Factory Racing) 0:02:39
5. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2R-La Mondiale) 0:02:40