2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool A, Argentina
The following is the Argentinean roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool A, Peru
The following is the Peruvian roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool A, Mexico
The following is the Mexican roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool B, Cuba
The following is the Cuban roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool B, Puerto Rico
The following is the Puerto Rican roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool B, Chile
The following is the Chilean roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup squads, Pool B, Costa Rica
The following is the Costa Rican roster in the 2015 Girls' Youth Pan-American Volleyball Cup.


2015 Giro d'Italia
The 2015 Giro d'Italia (English: Tour of Italy) was a three-week Grand Tour cycling stage race that took place in May 2015. It was the 98th running of the Giro d'Italia and took place principally in Italy, although some stages visited France and Switzerland. The 3,481.8-kilometre (2,163.5 mi) race included 21 stages, beginning in San Lorenzo al Mare on 9 May and concluding in Milan on 31 May. It was the fifteenth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The Giro was won by Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), with Fabio Aru (Astana) second and Aru's teammate Mikel Landa third.


2015 Giro d'Italia
Contador first took the lead after stage 5, the race's first uphill finish. His defence of the pink jersey (given to the leader in the General classification in the Giro d'Italia) was put in doubt when he injured his left shoulder in a crash in the sixth stage. He held his lead through several stages stage but was caught up in another crash in stage 13, which caused him to lose the lead.


2015 Giro d'Italia
He took the lead back the following day in the 59.4-kilometre (36.9 mi) Individual time trial, where he gained a lead of several minutes over all his rivals. Despite aggressive riding from Aru and Landa in the final week, Contador was able to defend his lead to the finish of the race. This was his third Giro d'Italia title, after the 2008 race.


2015 Giro d'Italia
As well as finishing second overall, Aru won the white jersey as the best young rider in the week. Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) won the points competition and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) won the mountains classification. Astana finished first in both the team ranking by time and the team ranking by points. Contador, Visconti and Nizzolo all won their classifications without winning any stage victories.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Teams
As the Giro d'Italia was a UCI World Tour event, all seventeen UCI WorldTeams were automatically invited and obliged to send a squad. Five UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard places in the race by RCS Sport, the race organisers. Four of these were Italian-based teams: Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec, Bardiani–CSF, Nippo–Vini Fantini and Southeast Pro Cycling. Southeast's entry in the race was earned by their victory in the 2014 Coppa Italia, when they competed as Neri Sottoli; they were invited despite three recent doping cases in the team. The final wildcard place was awarded to CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice, a Polish-based team. CCC-Sprandi-Polkowice's invitation immediately received attention because the team's roster included two prominent riders who has previously served bans for doping: Stefan Schumacher and Davide Rebellin. The day after the announcement, Cycling Weekly reported that the team might omit the riders from its squad for the race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Teams
Several prominent teams applied for wildcard places but were unsuccessful. These were UnitedHealthcare, Colombia, Wanty–Groupe Gobert and Caja Rural–Seguros RGA.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Teams
The team presentation took place in San Remo on the evening before the first stage. As each team sent nine riders to the race, the startlist contained 198 riders. George Bennett (LottoNL–Jumbo) was withdrawn from the startlist on the night before the race, however, as a blood test had revealed low cortisol levels. As his team was part of the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC), he was not allowed to start the Giro. LottoNL –Jumbo therefore began the race with eight riders and there were 197 riders in the peloton at the beginning of the race. This included riders from 36 different countries, with the largest numbers coming from Italy (59), France (15), Belgium (12) and the Netherlands (12). The average age of riders in the Giro was 28.95; they ranged from the 21-year-old Rick Zabel (BMC Racing Team) to the 41-year-old Alessandro Petacchi (Southeast).


2015 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
The winner of the 2014 Giro d'Italia, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team), chose not to defend his title in order to focus on the Tour de France. The principal favourite for the race was Alberto Contador (Tinkoff–Saxo), especially as Chris Froome (Team Sky) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), two of the most successful active Grand Tour riders, also chose to focus on the Tour and to skip the Giro. Contador, who had won the 2014 Vuelta a España, was attempting to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same season.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
No rider had achieved this double since Marco Pantani in 1998; Contador described his ambition to do "something that people will remember forever". Contador's last attempt to win both the Giro and the Tour – in the 2011 season – ended in failure. Although he finished first in the Giro, he only managed fifth place in the Tour; both results were subsequently removed because of a ban due to a doping case from 2010.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
The rider considered most likely to challenge Contador for the general classification was Richie Porte (Sky). Porte had already achieved nine race victories in 2015, including the overall victories in Paris–Nice, the Volta a Catalunya and the Giro del Trentino. Porte was expected to be particularly strong in the individual time trial, as well as in the mountains. Porte had not shown consistent form in a Grand Tour in recent years, however, and there were doubts about his ability to maintain his form over a three-week race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
Rigoberto Urán (Etixx–Quick-Step) – who had finished second in 2013 and 2014 – was also among the favourites, with the long individual time trial expected to suit him. Fabio Aru (Astana) – who had finished third in 2014 – was also expected to perform well; VeloNews described him as "perhaps the best pure climber in the race".


2015 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
Other riders expected to challenge for the higher places included Ilnur Zakarin (Team Katusha), who had just won the Tour de Romandie, Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto–Soudal), Damiano Caruso (BMC) and Ryder Hesjedal (Cannondale–Garmin), the winner of the 2012 Giro d'Italia. Four former winners of the Giro started the 2015 edition: Contador, Hesjedal, Ivan Basso (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Damiano Cunego (Nippo–Vini Fantini).


2015 Giro d'Italia, Pre-race favourites
Other prominent riders to start the race included a large number of prominent sprinters, including André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) and Michael Matthews (Orica–GreenEDGE). Greipel was expected to perform well in the few flat stages. Matthews had the ability to win hillier stages; his team's strength in the team time trial was expected to put him into the pink jersey as leader of the general classification during the first week; he had also worn the jersey in the first week of the 2014 Giro. Tom Boonen (Etixx–Quick-Step), a former world champion, participated in the Giro for the first time in his career.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The first announcement of the route for the 2015 Giro came in July 2014, when RCS Sport announced that it would begin with a team time trial from San Lorenzo al Mare along the coast to San Remo. The route would use the Riviera dei Fiori cycle path and would start at the foot of the Cipressa climb made famous by its inclusion in the Milan–San Remo classic. The route used neither the climb of the Cipressa nor that of the Poggio di San Remo; it kept to the coastline and was entirely flat.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The stage would end on the Lungomare Italo Calvino in San Remo. The following two stages were announced at the same time. The second stage – the first mass-start stage of the race – would suit the sprinters, while the third stage would take the riders to La Spezia, where the small climb of the Biassa would come towards the end of the stage. A further route announcement was made in mid-September. Mauro Vegni, the race director, announced that the Giro would return to the climb of the Madonna di Campiglio for the first time since 1999.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
In the 1999 Giro, Marco Pantani won the stage that finished on the climb and was in the race lead; he failed a test for EPO use, however, and was expelled from the race. The full route announcement was made in Milan on 6 October at an event attended by many riders expected to participate in the Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
An additional stage in Liguria was included in the route. This was the new third stage, with the stage to La Spezia now stage 4. The additional stage was hilly but had a long flat section towards the finish. The first summit finish of the race came on the second-category climb of the Abetone at the end of stage 5. There was then one flat stage, which was followed by the hilly stage 7, which was the longest stage in any Giro d'Italia since 2000 at 263 kilometres (163 mi).


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
These took the riders south along the Tyrrhenian coast and into Campania and then inland towards the southern Apennines. The race then entered the mountains for stages 8 and 9. Stage 8 had a summit finish on the Campitello Matese; stage 9 included mountains and hills throughout. This was followed by the race's first rest day.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The rest day included a transfer to Civitanova Marche on the Adriatic coast. The subsequent stages took the riders along the coast and then into the Dolomites. Immediately after the rest day, there were four relatively flat stages, although two of them included hills towards the end. These were followed by the race's only individual time trial. This was 59.2 kilometres (36.8 mi) in length and was one of the longest time trials in the Giro in recent years. It began with 30 kilometres (19 mi) of flat roads, which were followed by rolling roads towards the finish line in Valdobbiadene. After the time trial came the stage to Madonna di Campiglio, which included several other difficult climbs. This was followed by the second rest day.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The final week of the race began with a stage that crossed the very difficult Passo di Mortirolo on the way to a finish on a third-category climb in Aprica. Cycling Weekly described this as "this year's blockbuster stage". This was followed by one of the flattest stages of the race, which took the Giro out of Italy for the first time in 2015 as it crossed into Switzerland for a finish in Lugano. There were then three consecutive days with high mountains.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The eighteenth stage of the race started in Melide, Switzerland in Switzerland and took the riders across the difficult Monte Ologno before a difficult descent to the finish. There were then two consecutive summit finishes on the Cervinia and on Sestriere. The final stage was a largely ceremonial flat stage towards a finish in Milan.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Route and stages
The highest climb of the 2015 Giro – known as the Cima Coppi – was the Colle delle Finestre on the penultimate stage. This was 2,178 metres (7,146 ft) above sea level. In general, the climbs were lower than in previous years, following controversy in the 2014 Giro over the crossing of the Passo dello Stelvio. The race organisers also tried to make the transfers between stages shorter.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Stage 1, the team time trial, was won by Orica–GreenEDGE. Simon Gerrans was the first rider to cross the line, so he became the first leader of the race. Tinkoff-Saxo were second, seven seconds slower, which made Contador the best-placed rider among the general classification favourites. He gained six seconds on Aru and twenty seconds on Porte. Elia Viviani won the sprint on stage 2; he therefore took the lead in the points classification. Michael Matthews finished seventh on the stage and moved into the pink jersey.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Matthews extended his lead by winning stage 3 in a sprint from a reduced group. There was particular concern during the stage after Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale) crashed on a descent; he abandoned the race and was taken to hospital. The fourth stage was won by Davide Formolo (Cannondale–Garmin) from an early breakaway. Astana raced aggressively in the second part of the stage and put significant pressure on the other general classification riders; Rigoberto Urán lost more than 40 seconds, while Tinkoff-Saxo appeared weak in support of Contador. Matthews lost around 20 minutes; Simon Clarke took over the lead of the race. Clarke was the third Australian rider for the Orica–GreenEDGE team to lead the 2015 Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Stage 5, with its summit finish at Abetone, was also won by a rider from a breakaway, this time Jan Polanc (Lampre–Merida), who attacked on the final climb and won by more than a minute. The general classification favourites attacked on the final climb; Contador was the first to attack and was followed by Aru and Porte. They were then joined by Mikel Landa, Aru's teammate, and gained time over all the other riders.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Clarke lost over two minutes to Contador, Aru and Porte; he therefore lost the lead in the general classification and Contador became the new leader of the race, two seconds ahead of Aru and twenty ahead of Porte. Contador's lead came under threat the following day. The stage was won by Greipel in a sprint finish, but there was a large crash in the final metres. This was caused by a spectator who was leaning over the crash barriers with a camera; Daniele Colli (Nippo–Vini Fantini) collided with him and caused a large number of riders to crash behind him.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Contador was among the riders to crash; although he finished the stage on the same time as Greipel, he was treated for a shoulder injury by his team doctor and was unable to put on the leader's jersey on the podium. Despite suffering from the injury, Contador started and finished the following day's stage. This was won in a sprint finish by Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Mérida), while Contador retained the race lead.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Contador continued to be troubled by his injury during stage 8, which finished on the climb of the Campitello Matese. The stage was won by Beñat Intxausti (Movistar), who was in the day's early breakaway and attacked on the final climb. Astana again rode hard to put pressure on the other riders; eventually a group formed of Contador, Aru, Porte and Landa. Landa then attacked and finished second on the stage, 15 seconds ahead of the other three riders.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
He therefore moved up into fifth place overall, while Contador increased his lead over Aru by winning bonus seconds at an intermediate sprint. Stage 9 was also won by a rider from a breakaway: Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) took a solo victory. Aru, Contador, Porte and Landa were again alone in a group towards the end of the stage; although they came to the finish together, Aru took a second out of the others in the sprint. This moved him to three seconds behind Contador. The following day was the first rest day of the race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
After the rest day, stage 10 was once again won by a rider from a breakaway: Nicola Boem (Bardiani–CSF) sprinted to the victory from a small group. A large group – including Contador, Aru and Landa – finished together. Porte, however, suffered a mechanical problem in the final 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and he was unable to regain contact with the main group, despite assistance from his teammates and from Michael Matthews, Porte's fellow Australian. Porte lost over 40 seconds to the other general classification favourites.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
After the stage, it was revealed that Porte had been given assistance by another Australian Orica–GreenEDGE rider, Simon Clarke. Clarke had seen Porte waiting for assistance and had given him one of his own wheels. This was illegal under UCI rules that prohibit "non-regulation assistance to a rider from another team"; Porte was therefore given a two-minute time penalty and dropped to twelfth place, over three minutes behind Contador, with Landa moving up to third place.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Stage 11 was won by Ilnur Zakarin, who attacked from an all-day breakaway 23 kilometres (14 mi) from the finish line and rode solo to the finish. The general classification favourites all finished together. Stage 12 finished with a short, steep climb. It was won by Philippe Gilbert (BMC). Contador finished second to win six bonus seconds; his lead was further extended as Aru and Landa both lost several seconds on the climb. Contador lost the lead the following day, however.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
The stage was won in a bunch sprint by Sacha Modolo (Lampre–Merida); just over 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) before the finish line, however, there was a large crash that delayed a large number of riders. Contador was one of the riders delayed in the crash; he lost 36 seconds to Aru, who therefore took over the race lead. Porte was also caught up in the crash and lost another two minutes.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Stage 14 was the individual time trial, which was won by Vasil Kiryienka (Sky). Contador finished third on the stage, nearly three minutes ahead of Aru. Contador therefore moved back into the race lead. Contador passed Landa on the road, despite starting three minutes after him; Landa lost over four minutes and fell to seventh place overall. Movistar's Andrey Amador moved up into third. Stage 15 was the final stage of the second week and was the climb to Madonna di Campiglio.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Landa won the stage after Astana rode hard on the final climb; he finished five seconds ahead of Contador and moved back up to fourth place. Contador finished a second ahead of Aru and extended his lead further due to bonus seconds for his third-place finish. Porte, who had lost over 30 minutes during the weekend following the crash in stage 13, withdrew from the race after the stage.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
After the rest day, Landa won a second consecutive stage. Contador had suffered a puncture at the foot of the penultimate climb – the Mortirolo – and at one point was nearly a minute behind Landa and Aru. Contador caught Landa and Aru, however, then attacked them. Although Landa was able to follow Contador's attack, Aru was not. On the final climb to Aprica, Landa attacked and won the stage, 38 seconds ahead of Contador. Aru, meanwhile, lost nearly three minutes to Landa.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Landa moved up into second place, although he was still over four minutes behind Contador, with Aru now third. Sacha Modolo won his second stage the following day, in a sprint finish, with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) moving into the lead of the points classification. Philippe Gilbert also won a second stage of the 2015 Giro on stage 18, escaping in a breakaway early in the day and attacking 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the finish to take a solo victory.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Contador again increased his lead, however: after Aru and Landa were caught behind a crash, Contador ordered his team to attack. Cyclingnews.com suggested this was revenge for Astana's attack on stage 16. Contador then attacked alone and, after cooperation with Ryder Hesjedal, gained more than a minute on his rivals. Landa was second, over five minutes behind, with Aru a further 50 seconds back.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
Stage 19 was the first of two consecutive summit finishes. The stage was won by Aru, who attacked early in the final climb. Contador was content to let the other riders dictate the pace in the chasing group, which finished over a minute behind Aru. Landa finished in the same group; Aru therefore moved back ahead of him into second place overall. Aru won again on stage 20, the final difficult stage of the Giro. Contador was isolated from his teammates early in the first of the day's two climbs.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
The roads towards the top of the climb – the Colle delle Finestre – were gravel. Landa attacked around this point and Contador was unable to follow. With Contador struggling, the other riders in the group attacked. Contador was a minute behind them at the summit, with Landa further ahead. At the foot of the final climb, Landa was ordered by his team to wait for Aru with the hope that, by working together, the two riders could put enough time into Contador to win the Giro. Aru attacked in the final kilometres of the final climb to Sestriere and won the stage. Landa was 24 seconds behind. Despite losing over two minutes, Contador retained his race lead.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Race overview
The final stage of the Giro was a flat stage ending with several laps of a circuit in Milan. It was not expected to affect the general classification, with a bunch sprint the likely conclusion. There was an attack on the finishing circuit, however, by Iljo Keisse (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Luke Durbridge (Orica–GreenEDGE). Although they never had more than a minute's lead, they were able to stay away from the peloton to the finish. Keisse won the sprint between the pair for the stage victory. Contador finished in the leading group to secure the overall victory, just under two minutes ahead of Aru. Contador thus won the overall 2015 Giro d'Italia without winning any stage victories.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
In the 2015 Giro d'Italia, four different jerseys were awarded. The first and most important is the general classification, calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. Riders received time bonuses for finishing in the first three places on each stage (excluding the team time trial and individual time trial). The rider with the lowest cumulative time was awarded the pink jersey (the maglia rosa) and was considered the winner of the Giro d'Italia.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
Additionally, there was a points classification. Riders won points for finishing in the top 15 on each stage. Flat stages award more points that mountainous stages, meaning that this classification tends to favour sprinters. In addition, points can be won in intermediate sprints. The winner of the points classification won the red jersey.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
There was also a mountains classification. Points were awarded for reaching the top of a climb towards the front of the race. Each climb will be categorized as either first, second, third, or fourth-category, with more points available for the higher-categorized climbs. The Cima Coppi, the race's highest point of elevation, awards more points than the other first-category climbs. At 2,178 metres (7,146 ft), the Cima Coppi for the 2015 Giro d'Italia was the unpaved Colle delle Finestre.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born after 1 January 1990 were eligible. The winner of the classification was awarded a white jersey.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Classification leadership
There were also two classifications for teams. In the Trofeo Fast Team classification, the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added up; the leading team was the team with the lowest total time. The Trofeo Super Team was a team points classification, with the top 20 placed riders on each stage earning points (20 for first place, 19 for second place and so on, down to a single point for 20th) for their team.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, Minor classifications
Several other minor classifications were awarded. The first of these was the intermediate sprint classification (Italian: Traguardi Volanti). Each road stage had two sprints during the stage. The first five riders across the intermediate sprint line were awarded points; the rider with the most points at the end of the race won the classification. This classification was won by Marco Bandiera (Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec). A similar classification, the Azzuri d'Italia prize, was decided by points awarded to the top three riders on each stage. It was similar to the points classification, but with fewer riders awarded points. The classification was won by Mikel Landa. Another classification – the combativity prize (Italian: Premio Combattivita) – involved points awarded to the first riders at the stage finishes, at intermediate sprints and at the summits of categorised climbs. It was won by Philippe Gilbert.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, Minor classifications
There was also a breakaway award (Italian: Premio della Fuga). For this, points were awarded to each rider in any breakaway smaller than 10 riders that escaped for at least 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). Each rider was awarded a point for each kilometre that he was away from the peloton. The rider with the most points at the end of the Giro won the award. The classification was also won by Bandiera. The final individual classification was the "energy classification" (Italian: Premio Energy). In each stage, the fastest three riders in the final 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of the stage were awarded points. The rider with the most points at the end of the Giro won the classification. The award was won by Fabio Aru.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Final standings, Minor classifications
The final classification was a "fair play" ranking for each team. Teams were given penalty points for infringing various rules. These ranged from a half-point penalty for offences that merited a warning from the race officials to a 2000-point penalty for a positive doping test. The team that had the lowest points total at the end of the Giro won the classification. It was won by Nippo–Vini Fantini, who did not receive any penalty points during the Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia Femminile
The 2015 Giro d'Italia Femminile, or 2015 Giro Rosa, was the 26th running of the Giro d'Italia Femminile, the only remaining women's Grand Tour and the most prestigious stage race on the 2015 women's road cycling calendar.


2015 Giro d'Italia Femminile
The 2015 running of the race contained the customary high mountain stages as well as a time trial during the final week. On July 11, the riders tackled the 21.7 km individual time trial starting in the region of Vergante, Piedmont. The route was described as containing technical and rolling terrain, concluding in a 4 km climb to Comnago.


2015 Giro d'Italia Femminile, Stages, Stage 5
Stage 5 marks the first summit finish of the race, with the 15 kilometre climb up to the ski resort at Aprica. The average gradient of the climb is 3% with some sections over 10%.


2015 Giro d'Italia Femminile, Stages, Stage 7
The seventh and Queen stage of the race took the riders up through the climbs of Naso di Gatto and Melogno.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11
The 2015 Giro d'Italia began on 9 May, and stage 11 occurred on 20 May. The race began with a team time trial from San Lorenzo al Mare to Sanremo.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
The 2015 Giro started with a team time trial in Liguria, a feature included every year since the 2006 Giro. The course was flat, but almost entirely along the Riviera del Flori cycle path. It concluded on the Lungomare Italo Calvino in Sanremo, finish to the Milan–San Remo race between 2008 and 2014.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Team Sky were believed to be the favourites, having won the 2015 Tour de Romandie team time trial a week before the race started, along with Orica–GreenEDGE, the winners of last year's team time trial in Belfast who desired a win in the TTT by including multiple time-trial specialists in their lineup.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Lampre–Merida were the first team to start, with teams starting after every five minutes. They recorded a time of 20' 25" but their time was only good enough for the second slowest time on the stage. Their time was shortly bettered by AG2R La Mondiale, who were 11 seconds faster. The first competitive time was set by Astana. The Kazach team set a time of 19' 39" which was good enough to hold the lead for an hour.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
Some of the favourites for the stage like Team Sky, Etixx–Quick-Step and BMC Racing Team set competitive times but they couldn't knock Astana off the hot seat. Eventually, only two teams were able to beat Astana's time. The first team to beat their time was Orica–GreenEDGE. They stopped the clock in 19' 26", a time which was good enough for the stage-winning time. The only team to go closer to Orica's time was Tinkoff–Saxo, who were the fastest at the 9.9 km (6.2 mi) checkpoint. However they faded in the second half of the course, handing Orica the win. Simon Gerrans was first over the line, making him the first leader, although he claimed later that he wouldn't keep it for long, and that Michael Matthews would probably take it in the sprint the next day.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 1
As for the GC contenders, Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo was the best-placed rider as he was only 7 seconds off the lead. His advantage over Fabio Aru of Astana was 6 seconds and his advantage over Rigoberto Urán of Etixx-Quick Step was 12 seconds. Richie Porte of Team Sky suffered the most as he lost 20 seconds to Contador and he lost significant time to other GC contenders.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The first road stage was also held along the Ligurian coast. On the parcours of 177 km, there were two intermediate sprints, in Savona and Varazze, along with a fourth category climb of the Pratozanino, but other than that, there were only one other ascent that ended still with more than 120 km to go. As a result, it was still expected to result in a sprint in Genoa, where two laps of a 9.5 km (5.9 mi) circuit were completed, to complete the day's running.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
The day's breakaway was formed by five riders, consisting of Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Marco Frapporti, CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice's Łukasz Owsian, Eugert Zhupa of Southeast Pro Cycling, Giacomo Berlato of Nippo–Vini Fantini and Bert-Jan Lindeman representing LottoNL–Jumbo. They managed to obtain a lead over the peloton of nine minutes, however, it was then that the peloton, led by Orica–GreenEDGE started pursuit to ensure that their riders would keep the pink jersey. En route, Frapporti took maximum points at both sprints ahead of the mountain sprint.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
Owsian soon attacked for the mountain sprint, however, Lindeman countered from his wheel and took maximum points, granting him the blue jersey. At this point, the five were about three minutes ahead of the peloton. Tinkoff–Saxo soon worked hard to bring the field back together and the breakaway was finally concluded when Owsian, the last surviving breakaway rider, was caught with 11 km (6.8 mi) to go. Several crashes took down some sprinters and domestiques but the biggest time loss was suffered by Domenico Pozzovivo as he was caught behind the crashes. Pozzovivo lost 1' 09" in the process.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 2
André Greipel was the first to sprint for the win but he was overtaken by Moreno Hofland, who in turn was overtaken by Elia Viviani of Team Sky. The Italian rider ultimately beat Hofland to the sprint by about a wheel, granting him the red jersey. Finishing 7th on the stage as the highest placed Orica–GreenEDGE rider, Michael Matthews took the maglia rosa although he didn't pick up any time bonuses and was still tied on time with Simon Gerrans, Simon Clarke and Esteban Chaves. He also took the white jersey as the best young rider.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The first medium-mountain stage was held in the Cinque Terre area. The course was relatively short, but included two climbs - the third-category Colle Caprille and the second category Barbagelata, the summit of which came with 52 km (32.3 mi) to go. It had a long descent, which concluded 25 km (15.5 mi) ahead of the finish in Sestri Levante. There were also two intermediate sprints, in Torriglia and in Montebruno. Pre -race analysis suggested that the stage would either be won by a breakaway, or an attack on the second category climb.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
The day's breakaway was formed by 25 riders. The best placed man in the breakaway was Simon Clarke and Esteban Chaves of Orica–GreenEDGE as they were at the same time as maglia rosa wearer Michael Matthews before the beginning of the stage. Tinkoff–Saxo would set a hard tempo in the peloton and the breakaway was only allowed to have a maximum lead of around 3 minutes before the peloton chipped into the lead. During the climbs at the middle of the course, several sprinters fell back off the peloton. During the climb of the second category Barbagelata, the breakaway was reduced to around a dozen riders before Pavel Kochetkov of Team Katusha jumped out of the saddle to take maximum points at the summit of the climb, ensuring he would take the blue jersey.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 3
During the descent, Domenico Pozzovivo crashed out of the race and he was taken to a hospital. Italian television report that Pozzovivo was moving and breathing for himself when he was taken away in the ambulance. He was bleeding from wounds to his face. As the stage wore on, Adam Hansen, on his 34th birthday, attacked out of the breakaway and he was joined by Maciej Paterski and Simon Clarke. They caught Kochetkov with around 10 kilometers left but the peloton caught them with around 3 kilometers to go. In the mass sprint, Fabio Felline sprinted for the win but it was Michael Matthews, the maglia rosa wearer, who passed him with 150 meters to go to take the stage win. As a result of the time bonuses, he extended his general classification lead to 6 seconds over Clarke.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
The second of three consecutive medium mountain stages took the riders on a short and technical course. The stage featured a series of climbs - the third category Colla di Velva, the uncategorized Passo del Bracco, the third category Passo del Termine and the third category ascent of Biassa. After passing through the finish line for the first time, the riders took a lap on a 17.1 km (10.6 mi) circuit where they tackled the ascent of Biassa before taking on the 10 km (6.2 mi) descent and flat ride to the finish. The finish at La Spezia was last featured in 1989 when Laurent Fignon won the stage en route to winning the Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
For the second successive day, the breakaway featured a huge number of riders as 30 riders joined the break. The biggest surprise from the breakaway was Roman Kreuziger of Tinkoff–Saxo, one of Alberto Contador's main lieutenants in the mountains. Despite Kreuziger's presence, the breakaway was allowed to establish a lead of around 10 minutes. Astana soon dictated the pace on the ascent of Passo del Termine and their pace decimated the peloton. Several riders fell off the back of the peloton including the maglia rosa wearer Michael Matthews. Astana's pace was able to reduce the peloton to only around 20 riders and the breakaway's advantage continually decreased as the stage wore on.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
As the final climb to Biassa was approaching, Davide Formolo made his move for Cannondale–Garmin, whose GC hopes was dashed when Ryder Hesjedal was distanced on the climb of Passo del Termine. Giovanni Visconti and Amaël Moinard tried to follow his move but Formolo continued to increase his advantage. On the climb of Biassa itself, the first GC attack was made when Fabio Aru accelerated. He was followed by Contador and Richie Porte while Rigoberto Urán found himself unable to follow their pace.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
The trio of GC contenders were able to catch the remnants of the breakaway while Formolo continued to stay out front. Visconti and Moinard eventually failed in their bid to catch Formolo as the chase group caught them. Formolo eventually soloed to his first professional win by 22 seconds ahead of the remaining breakaway riders plus the trio of GC contenders. Aru tried to sprint for bonus seconds but it was Simon Clarke and Jonathan Monsalve who took the remaining time bonuses.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 4
Clarke celebrated as he crossed the finish line, unaware that Formolo already won the stage, before Visconti pointed out that Formolo was the stage winner. Clarke later clarified that his jubilation was for having continued his team's dominance at the Giro. Clarke, however, took the maglia rosa as the new leader of the general classification.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
After four tough stages, the race headed to its first mountain finish. The stage was expected to be the first showdown between the main contenders as they battled it out for time gaps in the general classification. Before undertaking the final climb, the riders tackled the 10 km (6.2 mi) climb of Foce Carpinelli first 47.5 km (29.5 mi) into the stage. Following the descent, the course gradually went uphill with around 40 km (24.9 mi) left before the climb of Abetone officially starts 17.3 km (10.7 mi) from the finish. The early segment of the climb averaged only 2.8 per cent before the riders undertook the most difficult section of the climb which averaged 7.2 per cent. The finishing kilometers approaching the summit eased up a bit, averaging 4.7 per cent.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
No riders were able to break clear until after 16 km (9.9 mi) when the day's breakaway was finally formed, consisting of AG2R La Mondiale's Axel Domont, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Serghei Țvetcov, BMC Racing Team's Silvan Dillier, IAM Cycling's Sylvain Chavanel and Lampre–Merida's Jan Polanc. The peloton let their advantage go up to around 11 minutes before Orica–GreenEDGE led the chase. As the stage wore on, it became more likely that the breakaway could survive to the end.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
The breakaway continued to work together and by the time they started the climb of Abetone, they had an advantage of 5' 33" over the peloton. Chavanel was the first to attack in the breakaway but he was chased down by his fellow breakaway companions. Tvetcov was eventually gapped by Chavanel's attack.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Chavanel tried to attack again but the strongest from the remaining breakaway riders was Polanc, who gradually built a gap. Chavanel tried to chase him but Polanc increased his advantage. From behind, Diego Rosa was the first to attack and he was chased by Ivan Basso. After both were caught, Stefano Pirazzi and Mikel Landa had a go but neither rider could build a substantial gap and both were eventually caught. At this point, maglia rosa wearer Simon Clarke was dropped.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Just as the peloton rode through the most difficult section of the climb, Alberto Contador attacked and only Fabio Aru and Richie Porte could follow him. Another GC contender, Rigoberto Urán, could not follow the trio as he would lose 28 seconds by the stage's end. Porte and Aru traded attacks but each time, the attacks would be nullified. Landa would join the elite group of riders, forming a quartet of chasers. Back at the front, Polanc gradually built his advantage before soloing to the stage win.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 5
Contador, Porte, Aru and Landa caught every remnant of the breakaway before the trio of contenders tried to sprint for bonus seconds, dropping Landa in the process. Chavanel was caught shortly before the finish but he hung on for second 1' 31" back with Aru outsprinting Contador and Porte to take the 4-second time bonus for third place. The peloton finished the stage scattered behind and as a result, Contador became the new maglia rosa wearer with Aru in second, only 2 seconds behind him and Porte in third, a further 18 seconds back.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
After three successive tough stages, the race headed from Montecatini Terme to Castiglione della Pescaia in a day for the sprinters. The stage was mostly flat except for the middle sector where the short fourth category climb of Pomarance was found. The middle sector was undulating, featuring short climbs, before the riders tackled a long descent and a final flat stretch to the finish.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Two breakaways were formed at different times. The first riders to attack were CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice's Marek Rutkiewicz and Nippo–Vini Fantini's Eduard Grosu, attacking after 2 kilometers had passed before Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Marco Bandiera, Nippo–Vini Fantini's Alessandro Malaguti and Cannondale–Garmin's Alan Marangoni joined them after 20 kilometers. Tinkoff–Saxo had hoped the someone in the break could take Alberto Contador's pink jersey but the sprinters' teams, namely Lotto–Soudal, IAM Cycling, Trek Factory Racing and Team Giant–Alpecin, worked hard to keep the break under control.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
The breakaway's lead maxed at around five minutes before it started to go down to around three minutes at the final intermediate sprint. At this point, news of headwinds and side winds broke out and as a result of the winds, the breakaway's lead quickly went down and with 14 kilometers left in the stage, all riders were together again.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
Soon, the teams of the GC contenders, namely Tinkoff–Saxo, Astana and Team Sky, worked at the front to keep their team leaders out of trouble. As the peloton passed the 3-kilometer banner, the sprinters' teams went at the front to build their lead-out trains. In the finishing sprint, a crash took down several riders, including Contador. The crash was caused by Italy's Daniele Colli colliding with a spectator's camera lens, causing Colli to suffer a broken arm. As the chaos scattered behind, Greg Henderson perfectly led out André Greipel as Greipel took the stage win, his third at the Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 6
With the win, Greipel took the red jersey to lead the points classification. With the crash happening inside the final 3 kilometers, the GC remained unchanged but Contador's challenge for the Giro was put in doubt after X-rays discovered that Contador dislocated his left shoulder in the crash. His injury prevented him from putting on the pink jersey during the podium presentations. Nonetheless, Contador stated that he would try to continue riding the Giro despite the injury.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
At 264 kilometers long, the course features the longest stage of the Giro d'Italia since 2000. The route only features one categorized climb - the fourth category Monterotondo. Despite that, there are other uncategorized climb during the course which will make it difficult for the pure sprinters to survive for a final sprint. The stage is expected to be won by a puncheur or a rouleur.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
Despite suffering a shoulder injury, Alberto Contador was able to start the stage. The day's break was formed by four riders, consisting of Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Marco Bandiera, Bardiani–CSF's Nicola Boem, Nippo–Vini Fantini's Pierpaolo De Negri and CCC–Sprandi–Polkowice's Nikolay Mihaylov. The peloton let them have an advantage of around 10 minutes with Tinkoff–Saxo controlling the chase and protecting Contador. Due to a strong headwind, the peloton's pace averaged only around 35 km/h. Bandiera won took maximum points at the intermediate sprint, after which he pulled out a piece of paper to wish his father a "happy birthday". The break's advantage eventually began to fall quickly after BMC Racing Team hit the front of the peloton.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 7
Bandiera once again took maximum points at the second intermediate sprint but the break was caught with 21 kilometers left. Tinkoff-Saxo, once again, kept station at the front to protect Contador from any danger. Several sprinters fell off the back once the peloton reached the final stretch of the stage. Yesterday's stage winner, André Greipel, tried to stay with the peloton but he also fell off the back. Michael Matthews sacrificed his chances for Simon Gerrans but they were not well-placed for the sprint. Eventually, it was Diego Ulissi who came to the front. No one was able to match his speed as he won his first stage since his nine-month suspension. Contador and the other GC favourites finished safely within the peloton and as a result, Contador kept the maglia rosa.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
The stage featured the second summit finish of the race. The riders did tackle two climbs on the course - the second category Forca d'Acero and the first category Campitello Matese. The climb of Forca d'Acero was around 29 kilometers long and topped at just around 106 kilometers to the finish. The ascent of Campitello Matese was 13.6 kilometers and featured an average gradient of 6.5 per cent. The latter climb was expected to feature another showdown between the main GC contenders. The stage also featured the first main test for Alberto Contador's left shoulder after his crash two days earlier.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
The first kilometers of the stage featured some riders trying to break clear of the peloton but each time, the peloton would catch them. At one point during the stage, the peloton split and maglia rosa wearer, Contador, found himself in a second group at one minute behind the other main GC contenders. However, the second group managed to bridge over the gap and Contador was even able to increase his lead over Aru in the GC to 4 seconds after he took time bonuses in the intermediate sprint.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
At this point, Steven Kruijswijk of LottoNL–Jumbo attacked and he was chased by ten riders as the peloton eased up the pace. Kruijswijk was able to build an advantage but he was chased by AG2R La Mondiale's Carlos Betancur, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Franco Pellizotti and Trek Factory Racing's Kristof Vandewalle. The peloton let the quartet build an advantage of around 9 minutes and soon, Pellizotti was dropped to the chasing group. The peloton slowly decreased their advantage with Astana setting a very fast pace.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
On the lower slopes of the climb, Betancur tried to go solo but Kruijswijk responded with a counter-attack that dropped Betancur. From behind in the chasing group, Sébastien Reichenbach and Beñat Intxausti attacked to catch Kruijswijk. They passed Kruijswijk with around 4 kilometers to go. From behind in the peloton, Fabio Aru attacked. At first, only his teammate, Mikel Landa was able to follow him but Contador, Richie Porte, Rigoberto Urán and others were able to chase them. Landa eventually went in pursuit of the stage win and after some time, Damiano Cunego attacked as well.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 8
Aru and Porte tried to throw in more attacks but Contador and Uran would be able to follow them. Up front, Reichenbach seemed to put Intxausti in difficulty when Intxausti attacked for the win. He would not be caught as he took another Giro stage win. Landa went across the line 20 seconds behind in second while Reichenbach finished in third place, 11 seconds further back. The four main GC favourites, along with Dario Cataldo, finished together as Contador stays in pink.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
After a hard day in the mountains, the riders are set to face around 4,000 meters of vertical climbing during the stage. The route features 3 climbs - the second category Monte Terminio, the first category Colle Molella and the second category Passo Serra. The first ascent to Monte Terminio is expected to possibly take out the non-climbers while the crucial portion of the stage is expected to be the ascent of Passo Serra, which tops at just around 12 kilometers to the finish.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
The whole group of riders stayed together until the 52-kilometer mark when 11 riders broke clear to form the day's breakaway. In terms of the GC, the best-placed men in the breakaway were Amaël Moinard, who was at 4' 45" back in the GC, and Ryder Hesjedal, who was at 6' 49" back of the pink jersey of Alberto Contador. The peloton allowed the gap to reach 5' 53" at the top of the climb of Monte Terminio, at which point Moinard was the virtual maglia rosa.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
On the descent, Sérgio Paulinho attacked from the peloton but he was unable to keep his lead and soon, he dropped back to the peloton. Up front, Simon Geschke took the first two KOM sprints to take the blue jersey and on the descent of Colle Molella, Dario Cataldo of Astana attacked from the peloton but Tinkoff–Saxo brought him back. Soon, Tom-Jelte Slagter attacked the lead group and he was able to build a gap, taking the second intermediate sprint in the process.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
On the descent, a motorcycle crashed on a sharp curve, causing the peloton to slow down in the process. With 50 kilometers to go, the advantage of Slagter over the peloton was increased to nearly 6 minutes. In the chasing group, Paolo Tiralongo and Jesús Herrada attacked but they were brought back. Kenny Elissonde was next to attack and he was chased by Tiralongo but they were brought back as well. Tiralongo attacked again on the ascent of Passo Serra and this time, he was able to pull away.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
Back in the peloton, Tinkoff-Saxo picked up the pace to reduce Slagter's advantage. On the climb of Passo Serra, Fabio Aru attacked and he was quickly chased down by Contador, Richie Porte and Mikel Landa. Rigoberto Urán struggled once again as he was unable to follow the attacks. Back at the front, with 8.1 kilometers left, Tiralongo caught Slagter and after a while, Slagter was dropped and the Italian was soon on his own. From the remnants of the break, Steven Kruijswijk attacked in pursuit of Tiralongo but Tiralongo stayed out front, winning the stage solo.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 9
Kruijswijk was 21 seconds behind when he crossed the finish line in second and the remnants of the break finished 2–6 seconds further back. From the group of the maglia rosa, the four riders worked together to distance Uran further. As the elite group of favourites closed in on the finish, Aru sprinted to take some seconds and he was able to gain one second on Contador and Porte. Uran finished 46 seconds behind Contador and as a result, he fell to 2' 10" behind Contador in the GC. Contador, meanwhile, saw his lead drop to 3 seconds over Aru as Contador stayed in pink ahead of the first rest day.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
The second week of the Giro started with an entirely flat stage that is expected to end in a bunch sprint. The riders are taken across the Adriatica coastal road and located in the middle of the stage is the fourth category climb of Monte di Bartolo which is only 4.8 kilometers long with an average gradient of 3.5 per cent. From there on, the stage is entirely flat until the finish in Forlì. The last time Forlì hosted a Giro stage finish was in 2006 when Robbie McEwen won the sixth stage in a bunch sprint.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
The day's breakaway was formed by an all-Italian group, consisting of Bardiani–CSF's Nicola Boem, Nippo–Vini Fantini's Alessandro Malaguti, Southeast Pro Cycling's Matteo Busato, Cannondale–Garmin's Alan Marangoni and Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Oscar Gatto. The breakaway was able to establish a lead of around 5 minutes before the sprinters' teams began to chip into the lead. Despite the sprinters' teams' desire to catch the break, the five-man breakaway was not ready to give up as their gap hovered at around 2–3 minutes during the flat ride to the finish. Noticing that the peloton is not moving quick enough, BMC Racing Team and AG2R La Mondiale sent riders to attack but the break's lead remained relatively healthy.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Back at the front, the five continued to work together but with around 13 kilometers remaining, Gatto suffered a mechanical, causing him to drop back to the peloton. With around 5 kilometers to go, the gap to the breakaway was only at a minute but with the breakaway helped by a tailwind, it seemed more and more likely that the breakaway would survive. As the break closed in on the finish line, Marangoni attacked for the stage win but he would be caught close to the finish. Eventually, it was Boem who outsprinted Busato for the stage win.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
With the stage win, Boem took the red jersey as leader of the points classification. Giacomo Nizzolo led the peloton across the line 18 seconds later as Alberto Contador kept the maglia rosa. However, one rider notably absent from the group was Richie Porte. Porte suffered a flat tire with around 7 kilometers to go and despite Team Sky’s efforts to bridge the gap to the peloton, Porte lost 47 seconds on the day to drop him to fourth place in the GC.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 10
Later in the day, Porte’s GC chances suffered a major blow when Porte was given a two-minute penalty for an illegal wheel change. Porte received a wheel change, not from his teammates, but from fellow Australian, Orica–GreenEDGE’s Simon Clarke. As a result, Porte dropped out of the top 10 and he was now 3' 09" behind Contador in the GC.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
After an almost entirely flat stage, the riders tackle the hills for a lumpy ride. The route contains three categorized climbs - the third category Passo Del Trebio, the third category Valico Del Prugno and the fourth category Tre Monti, which is passed four times during the stage. However, the route also contains several uncategorized climbs. After passing the Valico Del Prugno, the riders enter the Imola racetrack. The finishing circuit of the stage is 15.4 kilometers long and the riders will tackle it three times. Each circuit contains the climb of Tre Monti but only the third passing of the climb is categorized.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
No rider was able to break away until after the first intermediate sprint, 7.6 kilometers from the start. Giacomo Nizzolo won the intermediate sprint and shortly after the intermediate sprint, 10 riders slowly made their way into the break. GC-wise, the best-placed man in the breakaway is Ryder Hesjedal, who was 6' 16" behind maglia rosa wearer Alberto Contador. The break was only allowed to build a gap of 3' 48" before the peloton started the chase.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Along the way, Luca Paolini and Carlos Betancur fell off their bikes but they did not suffer serious injuries and Betancur made it back into the break. With 45 kilometers to go and as the riders entered the finishing circuit, the break's lead was down to 57 seconds but the break began to build their lead again. With around 30 kilometers to go, Stefan Küng put in a dig from the peloton and though he tried to bridge the gap to the break, he was caught by the peloton shortly afterwards.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Back up front, Ilnur Zakarin attacked with 22 kilometers to go as the break was closing in on the categorized climb of Tre Monti. He was able to continually increase his gap on the six remaining breakaway riders and he slowly built a gap of around 1 minute on his chasers. As the peloton continued to chase the break, Rigoberto Urán suffered a crash and though he was gapped by around 30 seconds, he was able to make it back to the peloton.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 1 to Stage 11, Stage 11
Then, as the peloton closed in on the summit of the final ascent of Tre Monti, Contador surprised everyone with an attack. Fabio Aru tried to respond to his attack but Contador was able to build a short gap before being brought back shortly. On the final run-in, Maciej Paterski and Philippe Gilbert attacked out of the peloton but the duo were not able to catch the break. Meanwhile, Zakarin continued to have a steady advantage over his chasers as he eventually soloed across the finish line, 53 seconds ahead of his fellow breakaway riders. Paterski and Gilbert finished 58 seconds behind Zakarin while the peloton crossed the line 1' 02" behind. All of the main GC riders finished safely within the peloton as Contador stayed in pink heading into the second half of the race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
The 2015 Giro d'Italia began on 9 May, and stage 12 occurred on 21 May.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
The 12th stage of the Giro features another chance for the Classics specialists to take a stage victory. The first 129 kilometers of the stage is entirely flat before the riders tackle three categorized climbs on the route - the fourth category Castelnuovo, the third category Crosara and the fourth category Monte Berico. Along with the three climbs, the uncategorized climb of Perarolo is also located on the route. The ascent of Monte Berico starts at around 1 kilometer from the finish, averaging 7.1 per cent and going all the way to the finish. The short climb could provide a chance for the GC contenders to make some differences in the GC.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
For the first 70 kilometers, no rider could break away from the peloton as the riders' pace was at around 50 km/h during that stretch. Finally, 5 riders, consisting of AG2R La Mondiale's Patrick Gretsch, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Davide Appollonio, Bardiani–CSF's Enrico Barbin, FDJ's Kenny Elissonde and LottoNL–Jumbo's Nick van der Lijke, were able to build a gap on the peloton. However, they were not allowed to build a big lead as the peloton only allowed them to have an advantage of around 2 minutes.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
The peloton began to reel them in one by one with around 50 kilometers still remaining with Gretsch being the last rider reeled in by the peloton. Afterwards, Gianfranco Zilioli of Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec attacked but Louis Vervaeke of Lotto–Soudal joined and dropped him but he was not able to build much of a gap and soon, he was also caught. As the riders approached the summit of Crosara, Beñat Intxausti also attacked but his only focus was maintaining the blue jersey. Maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, also gave in a little dig to put him in the right place on the descent.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
On the descent, several riders crashed including Simon Gerrans, dropping him out of contention for the stage win. At the front, Alexandre Geniez attacked but his descending style got him off-road and he was also caught. The peloton also split on the descent but they eventually regrouped into a smaller peloton. With around 16 kilometers to go, Franco Pellizotti of Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec attacked and although he tried to go solo, Astana's Tanel Kangert chased and joined him. The duo were able to build a gap of nearly 30 seconds as the riders closed in on the ascent of Monte Berico.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 12
On the final kilometer, Kangert was able to distance Pellizotti but Kangert was also caught with around 200 meters left. After a while, Philippe Gilbert attacked and no one was able to catch him as he took his second Giro stage win. From behind, the peloton split into three groups with Contador taking second place and the 6 bonus seconds, 3 seconds behind Gilbert. With Fabio Aru finishing 8 seconds in arrears of Contador and coupled with the time bonuses he gained, Contador stayed in pink and extended his GC lead over Aru to 17 seconds.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
After two stages partially designed for Classics specialists, the riders tackle an entirely flat course designed for pure sprinters. No climbs are included on the route and not even one uphill road is included on the stage. The final 20 kilometers could blow some winds that may spark echelons on the peloton and rain may also be a factor on the stage, especially on the expected bunch sprint in the finale.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Unlike the previous stage when a break was not allowed to go away easily, a break was already established early, consisting of BMC Racing Team's Rick Zabel, IAM Cycling's Jérôme Pineau and Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Marco Frapporti. The break was not allowed to build a large gap, however, as the peloton only allowed them to have an advantage of around two and a half minutes before chasing them. At one point during the stage, the break was stopped by a crossing train and as a result, the peloton also slowed down to allow the break to build a gap again. However, the advantage of the breakaway went down from two minutes to just around one minute. Frapporti won the first intermediate sprint while Zabel won the second intermediate sprint. However, the peloton was quickly closing in on the three breakaway riders.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
With the chase being led by the sprinters' teams, the gap was down to around 30 seconds with around 25 kilometers left and with 20 kilometers left, the lead of the trio was down to 14 seconds. The trio would eventually be caught 17.5 kilometers from the finish. After all riders regrouped, Tinkoff–Saxo led the peloton for around 10 kilometers before Trek Factory Racing took over with 6 kilometers to go, trying to set up their sprinter, Giacomo Nizzolo. However, with just 3.2 kilometers left, a crash took down most of the riders.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Among those caught in the crash were GC contenders, Alberto Contador and Richie Porte. As the crash took place just outside the 3-kilometer banner, time lost would stand as time lost. Meanwhile, up front, Lampre–Merida took over the peloton as the riders were closing in on the finish. Lampre-Mérida perfectly led out their sprinter, Sacha Modolo, as Modolo took the stage win ahead of Nizzolo and Elia Viviani.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 13
Main GC contenders, Fabio Aru and Rigoberto Urán, both of whom were able to escape the crash, finished four seconds behind Modolo while Contador finished 36 seconds behind Aru and Porte lost two minutes on the day. As a result of the crash, Aru took over the maglia rosa as he will go to the crucial time trial with a 19-second advantage over Contador. It was only the first time in his career that Contador lost a leader's jersey in a Grand Tour after wearing the jersey previously during the race. All previous times that Contador wore the leader's jersey during a Grand Tour, he was able to keep hold of it until the end of the race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
Featuring the only individual time trial of this year's Giro, the stage is the longest ITT since 2009 when Denis Menchov won a 60.6 kilometer ITT on his way to overall victory. The riders travel from Treviso to Valdobbiadene, the home of prosecco and tiramisu. The first 30 kilometers of the stage is flat while the rest of the stage is hilly, including the fourth category climb of San Pietro Di Feletto in the middle of the stage. After the climb, a short descent follows before the riders go up a hill again.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
Another short descent follows before a short 400 meter climb to the finish. The stage is considered as the most crucial of the Giro and is expected to build huge time gaps between the riders. Following tradition, the riders set off in reverse order of the general classification, starting from the last-placed rider to the leader of the GC. Thus, Marco Coledan of Trek Factory Racing, who was 3h 15' 15" behind maglia rosa wearer Fabio Aru at the start of the day, was the first rider off the start ramp.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
However, Coledan was not the first rider to cross the finish line as Michael Hepburn, the third rider off the start ramp, set a time of 1h 21' 05" to set the early time to beat. Shortly after, Nikolay Mihaylov beat Hepburn's times at the intermediate time checks before setting the best time at the finish of 1h 20' 32", 33 seconds faster than Hepburn's time. Christopher Juul-Jensen and Alexander Porsev went close to beating Mihaylov's time but they both fell short at the finish.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
After a while, Luke Durbridge took Mihaylov out of the hot seat, setting a time of 1h 19' 28", bettering Mihaylov's time by more than a minute. Time trial specialist, Kristof Vandewalle went close to beating Durbridge's time but Vandewalle came back from a crash and fell short by 5 seconds. However, both Vasil Kiryienka and Patrick Gretsch went faster than Durbridge's time. Gretsch set a time of 1h 18' 15" to knock Durbridge off the hot seat but Kiryienka immediately beat Gretsch with a time of 1h 17' 52", 23 seconds better than the German. Kiryienka's time would not be beaten as he took his third Giro stage win.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
The focus would eventually shift to the GC favourites. Change in weather and wind direction played a factor in the stage result and it made it hard for the late starters to set faster times than the early starters. Riders like Jurgen Van den Broeck, Andrey Amador and Leopold König set good times that were enough to move them up the standings. Soon, the four main GC contenders, Richie Porte, Rigoberto Urán, Alberto Contador and Aru went off the start ramp.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
Porte was the first to set off and although he was expected to set a good time, he struggled as he only finished with a time of 1h 22' 12" in 55th place, 4' 20" behind Kiryienka. Urán, who was a favourite for the stage victory, struggled as well and he could not repeat his performance in the previous year's stage 12 ITT. He could only set a time of 1h 20' 37", 2' 45" behind in 23rd place.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
After some time, Contador went off the start ramp and despite the effects of his injury and his tweaked time trial position, he set the fastest time of all the GC favorites. Despite being 1' 05" off Kiryienka's pace at the first intermediate time check, Contador put on significant time gaps on his main rivals, even catching his three-minute man, Mikel Landa, on the course as he eventually recorded a time of 1h 18' 06 ", the third best time and just 14 seconds behind Kiryienka's time.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 14
Maglia rosa wearer, Aru did his best to limit his losses but he could only finish with a time of 1h 20' 53", 3' 01" behind Kiryienka and more importantly, 2' 47" behind Contador. As a result of the huge time gaps, Urán rose to fourth place in the GC, 4' 14" behind, while Porte suffered as he dropped to 17th place in the GC, 8' 52" in arrears. More importantly, Contador retook the maglia rosa and he now leads the Giro by 2' 28" over Aru in second with Amador in third at 3' 36" behind.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
To end the race's second week, the riders tackle the second high-mountain stage of this year's Giro, the first of two Dolomites stages. There are three categorized climbs on the course - the second category La Fricca, the first category Passo Daone and the final first category ascent to the summit finish at Madonna Di Campiglio. The ascent of the Madonna Di Campiglio was well known for its appearance in 1999 when Marco Pantani won the stage finishing at the climb. Pantani was eventually expelled from the race before the next stage due to a high hematocrit level. This stage is expected to feature another showdown between the race's main GC favorites.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
After four successive stages marred by bad weather, the riders rode the stage under clear blue skies. No rider was able to break away until the middle of the climb to La Fricca when a ten-man group slowly made their way to the front. The best-placed GC man in the breakaway was Giovanni Visconti of Movistar Team, who was 6' 04" behind maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, before the stage. The break was only allowed to build a gap of around 2 minutes before the peloton began the chase.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
As the break began to close in on the climb of Passo Daone, Visconti, Team Sky's Kanstantsin Sivtsov, AG2R La Mondiale's Hubert Dupont and BMC Racing Team's Brent Bookwalter attacked out of the breakaway and managed to build a gap again while the other six breakaway riders chose to wait for the peloton to catch up to them. On the ascent of Passo Daone, GC contenders, Richie Porte and Rigoberto Urán both were dropped by the peloton.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Porte would eventually lose 27 minutes on the day and would quit the race the next day while Urán would lose 8 minutes on the day to drop out of the top 10. Up front, Brookwalter was distanced on the ascent and at the top of the climb, Visconti took the maximum KOM points. In the peloton, Contador found himself isolated with no teammates around him while rival Fabio Aru still had five riders for support.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
On the descent, several riders crashed and chief among them was Contador's teammate Roman Kreuziger, ninth place in the GC. As the four-man break neared the Madonna Di Campiglio, Sivtsov and Visconti dropped out to help their teammates, leaving Dupont as the lone breakaway rider. He was eventually caught after the second intermediate sprint, where Contador sprinted to take two bonus seconds. On the final ascent, Astana continued to set the pace and the group of favorites continued to dwindle down until eight riders remained with 5 kilometers to go.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
When Tanel Kangert finally let go of the pace, Mikel Landa sparked the attacks at the front. He was chased down by Contador while Aru struggled behind. Aru and Yuri Trofimov eventually bridged the gap to Contador and Landa. Contador would also put in an attack but his three companions were able to chase him down. Trofimov would be dropped shortly but as the trio up front neared the final kilometer, Trofimov suddenly had the legs to come back and he attacked on his own, taking advantage of the GC battle between Contador and Aru.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Realizing that the stage could slip away, Landa chased after Trofimov and he succeeded in passing Trofimov with 450 meters to go. Landa stayed up front to take the stage win, 2 seconds ahead of Trofimov. Contador gained one second on Aru at the finish and also took the time bonuses for third place. The riders finished scattered behind, shaking up the GC once more as Contador extended his lead over Aru to 2' 35" while Andrey Amador held on to his third place, 4' 19" behind in arrears.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 15
Contador stayed in pink ahead of the second and final rest day with six stages remaining in the Giro. During the rest day the next day, it was announced that Richie Porte will withdraw from the race, to better prepare for the Tour de France. Team Sky thus turned their hopes on Leopold König, in fifth place in the GC after the stage.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
The queen stage of this year's Giro, the first stage in the third week of the race consisted of five categorized climbs. The first climb, the second-category Campo Carlo Magno, commenced immediately after the start and saw the riders reach an altitude of 1,681 m (5,515 ft). After the descent, and a short false-flat section, the riders climbed the Passo del Tonale, which was also a second category climb, followed by the third-category ascent to Aprica, with the riders crossing the finish of the stage for the first time on its summit.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Although averaging 3.5 per cent, the gradient topped 15 per cent at the start of the ascent. The first intermediate sprint occurred partway through the ascent. After having descended from there and after passing the second intermediate sprint in Tirano, the riders had to tackle the legendary Mortirolo Pass. The climb isn't especially high, at 1,854 m (6,083 ft), but it is absurdly steep, with an average gradient of 10.9 per cent and reaching 18 per cent halfway through the ascent. After a long descent, the riders ascend to Aprica again, with the finish occurring on its summit at an altitude of 1,173 m (3,848 ft).


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
After a sunny day to Madonna Di Campiglio, the rain again played a factor on the stage. On the ascent of Campo Carlo Magno, several riders attempted to build a breakaway until nine riders were able to build a gap on the descent. The best-placed GC man in the breakaway was Cannondale–Garmin's Ryder Hesjedal, who was sitting in 13th place, 11' 17" behind maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador. Two additional riders, Lotto–Soudal's Sander Armée and Orica–GreenEDGE's Simon Clarke, bridged over to the break to make it 11 riders in the breakaway.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Their advantage only reached around two minutes after 80 kilometers of racing, prompting Hesjedal to attack his breakaway companions on the first ascent to Aprica. He was able to quickly build a gap of around one to two minutes on the descent. At this point, Astana's Diego Rosa fell off his bike but the first drama of the day took place when Contador had a mechanical problem. At the same time, Team Katusha and Astana immediately pressed on the pace at the front, sparking a bit of controversy over respect and fair play.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Contador immediately received the wheel of teammate, Ivan Basso, but by the time he was riding again, his group was nearly a minute behind the group containing Fabio Aru. Aru's group immediately caught the breakaway riders, including Hesjedal. With a deficit of 52 seconds at the start of the Mortirolo, Contador attacked out of his group.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
On the ascent of Mortirolo, several riders continued to fall off the back, with Mikel Landa pressing on the pace at the front. Contador quickly caught the dropped riders, working with several riders in order to bridge the gap to Aru. His deficit hovered around 40–50 seconds before he slowly chipped into the gap with the help of riders like fellow Spaniard, Igor Antón.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
With around 40 kilometers to go, Aru's group was within sight of Contador and after a bit more effort, he finally bridged the gap to the leading chasers which consisted of two riders, Aru and Landa with Steven Kruijswijk further up the front. Contador soon attacked on his own, immediately pursued by Kruijswijk while Landa was instructed by Aru to give chase as well. Aru struggled to catch the leading group and he continued to lose time on the ascent. He was passed and dropped by Yuri Trofimov and Hesjedal as they closed in on the summit. At the top, it was Kruijswijk who led the leading trio while Trofimov and Hesjedal were almost a minute behind. Third-placed overall, Andrey Amador, also caught and dropped Aru as they passed the summit over a minute and a half behind the leading trio.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
On the long descent, Contador set a fast pace, quickly followed by Kruijswijk and Landa. Trofimov descended the Mortirolo aggressively, dropping Hesjedal in the process. He actually came to within ten seconds of Contador's group before dropping back. Aru also set an aggressive pace on the descent, catching up to Amador before stopping due to a mechanical problem. When Aru changed his bike, he forgot to pick up a bidon and as he was already within 20 kilometers of the finish, he was not allowed to get a bidon or else, he would be penalized.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
As a result, Aru had to finish the rest of the stage without having a drink. At one point, Aru had Trofimov, Hesjedal and Amador within his sights on the ascent to Aprica but he continued to drop back and he lost more time to Contador. With the leading trio within 5 kilometers of the finish, Kruijswijk gave in a dig but he was quickly chased by Contador and Landa. In turn, Landa attacked in pursuit of another stage win and although Contador tried to give chase, Landa continued to increase his advantage.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Landa would not be caught as he took his second successive stage victory, 38 seconds ahead of Kruijswijk and Contador with Amador's group finishing more than two minutes behind after distancing Hesjedal by a few meters. Landa's stage victory marked the first time that a rider won two stages in this year's Giro as the fifteen previous stages featured fifteen different winners. The riders behind finished within scattered groups but at considerable distances behind as only fifteen riders finished within ten minutes of Landa's time.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 16
Trofimov's strong ride allowed him to enter the top 5 while Kruijswijk's and Hesjedal's ride propelled them inside the top 10. Aru crossed the line nearly three minutes behind his teammate, Landa, and in the process, Landa moved up to second overall, 50" ahead of Aru in third but 4' 02" behind Contador, who retained his maglia rosa with five stages left in the Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
The only route of the Giro to go outside of Italy, the stage will be the last chance for the sprinters to win a stage before the ceremonial flat stage to Milan. Eight kilometers from the start of the stage, the riders tackle the only categorized climb of the route - the third category ascent of Teglio. Following the descent, the course will be mostly flat with only two short and uncategorized climbs near the end of the stage. At around eight kilometers from the end of the stage, the riders will reach Switzerland, where they will finish near the Lake of Lugano.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
Just two kilometers into the stage, Etixx–Quick-Step's Iljo Keisse, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec's Marco Bandiera and Nippo–Vini Fantini's Giacomo Berlato immediately went on the attack. Despite the fact that no one in the breakaway posed a threat in the GC, the trio was only allowed an advantage of around three minutes, with the sprinters' teams controlling the pace. At the first intermediate sprint, the break took the first three places before points classification leader, Elia Viviani, outsprinted Giacomo Nizzolo to increase his lead in the classification.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
At the second intermediate sprint, the break took the first three places again before Nizzolo outsprinted Viviani to decrease Viviani's advantage in the points classification. Up front, the breakaway's advantage began to drop quickly and with 40 kilometers remaining, the advantage was down to less than a minute before the peloton slowed the pace a bit. However, with 30 kilometers left, the break's lead was just around 30 seconds before the break was finally caught with 27 kilometers remaining in the stage.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
With around 25 kilometers remaining, Adam Hansen and Patrick Gretsch attacked off the front on a short uncategorized ascent. Darwin Atapuma tried to give chase and he successfully did so after a few seconds of chasing. Hansen soon took off solo with Gretsch and Atapuma returning to the peloton. Hansen, riding in his 11th consecutive Grand Tour, was able to build a lead of 20 seconds before the Team Giant–Alpecin-led peloton brought the gap down quickly. Shortly before the race reached Switzerland, Hansen was caught and Tinkoff–Saxo took over the pacing in the peloton.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
With 5.5 kilometers left from the finish, Tom-Jelte Slagter attacked in a bid to win the stage. He was quickly chased by Philippe Gilbert but both riders were unable to build a substantial gap. Luca Paolini was next to attack with around 3 kilometers remaining and he was able to build a decent gap. However, the peloton quickly gave chase and with around 1 kilometer remaining, Paolini was caught.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 17
During the finale, Luka Mezgec tried to sprint for his second Giro stage win but Lampre–Merida did a perfect lead-out once again, setting up Sacha Modolo for his second stage win and his team's fourth in this year's Giro. Nizzolo overtook Mezgec to take second on the stage and he assumed the lead in the points classification after Viviani missed out on the top 10. The GC contenders finished safely within the peloton and with no change in the GC,  Alberto Contador kept the maglia rosa.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Probably the last chance for a breakaway to bring home a victory, the stage features the first category climb of Monte Ologno near the end of the stage. The first 124 kilometers of the stage is mostly flat but has several lumps along the way before the riders tackle the climb of Monte Ologno. The climb is expected to test everyone, especially the GC contenders, as it is 10.4 kilometers long and it has an average gradient of 9 per cent.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
After reaching its summit and after a very short descent, the riders will ascend an uncategorized climb before descending again. Another short uncategorized climb is located along the way but the descent goes all the way until the 6-kilometer mark where the riders tackle a flat ride to the finish in Verbania.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
A fast start to the stage prevented any break from forming until 44 kilometers into the stage when a 14-man group attacked out of the peloton. However, shortly after the break was made, Lampre–Merida's Roberto Ferrari and Nippo–Vini Fantini's Damiano Cunego crashed up front. While Ferrari dropped down to a chase group with Trek Factory Racing's Fabio Felline and Movistar Team's Jesús Herrada, Cunego had to retire from the race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
The peloton caught the chase group and allowed the break to have a maximum advantage of around 13 minutes, almost making sure that someone from the break would take the stage win. It was not until the climb of Monte Ologno that the day featured more drama in terms of the GC and the stage win.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
On the ascent of Monte Ologno, the break split into two with some riders from the breakaway dropping back on the climb's steep gradients. The gap between the two breakaway groups hovered at around a minute. From behind, a crash took place, bringing down most of the Team Sky riders but the most notable rider caught behind it was Astana's Mikel Landa, who was sitting in second-place overall. At the front of the peloton, maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, told his team, Tinkoff–Saxo, to up the pace.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
After a while, Contador attacked solo and he immediately built a gap of around two minutes. Contador's attack was presumed by many as payback for what happened on the Mortirolo two days earlier but Contador said after the stage that he told his team to press on the pace even before Landa was caught behind in the crash. A chase group consisting of most of the top 10 riders formed in pursuit of Contador with Landa joining that group after a huge effort.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Further up the climb, Contador dropped his chain but he was quickly helped by his mechanic and he was able to keep his lead. Eventually, the only rider to catch up to Contador was Cannondale–Garmin's Ryder Hesjedal, who caught up to Contador at the summit of the climb at around 7 minutes behind the breakaway with the chase group a further minute behind the duo.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
On the descent, Davide Villella, who was an original part of the breakaway, was caught by Hesjedal and Contador. Villella, who was Hesjedal's teammate, helped the duo build and maintain their advantage over their chasers. Contador's group maintained a minute-and-a-half advantage over their chase group but still at a large deficit behind the breakaway riders. Up front, the first breakaway group led the second breakaway group by nearly a minute before BMC Racing Team's Philippe Gilbert attacked from the second breakaway group and he was able to get to the front group on the descent.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
With 19 kilometers left for the break, Gilbert immediately attacked and he was able to build a substantial gap. Several riders from the remnants of the breakaway tried to chase Gilbert but only Francesco Manuel Bongiorno managed to build a gap over the other riders. Gilbert managed to stay up front to take his second win of this year's Giro with Bongiorno crossing the finish line 47 seconds behind. The remnants of the break finished a further 14 seconds behind Bongiorno while Hesjedal led Contador across the line, 6' 05" behind Gilbert. Aru's and Landa's group crossed the line 7' 18" behind Gilbert and crucially, 1' 13" behind Contador and Hesjedal.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 18
Hesjedal's ride moved him up one spot in the top 10 as he now sits in ninth overall, 8 seconds behind Steven Kruijswijk who sits in eighth place in the GC. As a result of his successful attack, Contador extended his lead over Landa to 5' 15" with two key mountain stages and one flat stage remaining in the Giro.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
The penultimate mountain stage of this year's Giro is expected to feature one of the final showdowns between the main GC contenders. The first 151 kilometers of the stage is a bit hilly, featuring the third category climb of Croce Serra. The final 85 kilometers of the stage will be crucial as it features three first category climbs. The riders will have to tackle the climb of Saint-Barthélemy first. The ascent is almost 20 kilometers long with an average gradient of 6.7 per cent.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Following the descent, the riders will climb the Col De Saint-Pantaléon which is 16.5 kilometers long and has an average gradient of 7.2 per cent. After another descent, the riders will climb to Cervinia with the finish line located at its summit at a height of 2001 meters. The final climb is not very steep, averaging only 5 per cent but it is 19.2 kilometers long. The hardest part of the climb comes at its middle section with an 8-kilometer section having an average gradient of around 7 per cent before the riders tackle three gentle kilometers to the finish in Cervinia. All but nine of the final 44 kilometers of the stage goes uphill.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Another fast start to the stage prevented any breakaway from forming easily. After a while, eight riders broke clear from the peloton. The break was not allowed to build a large gap, however, as they only had a maximum advantage of around four minutes on the peloton. Astana soon took over the chase and the gap began to come down. On the first difficult climb of the day, the climb of Saint-Barthélemy, the break began to dwindle down as some of the breakaway riders dropped on the climb.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
From behind, Steven Kruijswijk and Beñat Intxausti attacked in a battle for the KOM competition. The duo built a short gap before dropping back with Intxausti taking more points at the summit of the climb. As the climb of Col De Saint-Pantaléon went underway, Movistar Team's Giovanni Visconti went off solo with Team Katusha's Pavel Kochetkov and Team Sky's Vasil Kiryienka chasing him. Kiryienka was caught on the climb while Visconti continued to stay up front with Kochetkov chasing him. Kochetkov slowly fell back while Astana-led peloton kept Visconti's advantage hovering around two minutes on the maglia rosa group. At the summit, Visconti took maximum points, taking over the lead in the KOM competition.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
On the short descent of the climb, Kochetkov only had a gap of around 20 seconds over the peloton while Visconti still had a lead of almost two minutes. As the riders reached the lower slopes of the climb to Cervinia, Kochetkov was caught by the Astana-led peloton while Visconti saw his advantage continue to shrink quickly. With around 10 kilometers left in the stage, Visconti was finally caught and several minutes later, Mikel Landa gave in a small dig at the front, followed quickly by maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, and Ryder Hesjedal.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
After the trio were caught by a small number of riders, Hesjedal attacked and he quickly built a substantial advantage. Shortly after, Fabio Aru, who struggled in the previous mountain stages, attacked from a small chase group while Contador chose to mark Landa instead of chasing Aru. Aru quickly bridged over to Hesjedal and he immediately accelerated off the front, dropping Hesjedal in the process. Aru continued to increase his advantage to the line, soloing to a 28-second victory over Hesjedal. Rigoberto Urán, who also struggled in the previous mountain stages, crossed the line in third at 1' 10" down on Aru following a great ride while a chase group containing Contador, Landa, Kruijswijk and Tanel Kangert finished 1' 18" behind.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 19
Another strong ride from Hesjedal saw him rise to seventh in the GC standings while Aru regained his second place from his teammate, Landa, with an advantage of 38 seconds over his teammate but with a 4' 37" deficit to Contador, who continued to stay in pink with one final mountain stage and a flat stage remaining in the race.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
The final mountain stage of the race decided the placings in the overall GC standings. The first 150 kilometers of the stage will serve as warm-up before the riders tackle the climb of Colle delle Finestre. With its summit at a height of 2,178 meters, it is the scheduled Cima Coppi as the highest point reached in the race. The climb has as many as 45 hairpins and it is 18.5 kilometers long with an average gradient of 9.2 per cent.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
The first nine kilometers of the climb are paved while the last nine kilometers will be run on dirt roads. Following a short descent, the riders will ascend the easier third category climb of Sestriere. The climb is 9.2 kilometers long and it only averages 5.4 per cent. The finish line is located at its summit at a height of 2,035 meters.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
Several kilometers into the start of the stage, nine riders broke clear of the peloton. The breakaway group was not allowed to build a large gap, however, as they were only allowed to build a maximum advantage of nearly three minutes. As the riders reached the foot of the climb of Colle delle Finestre, the break's advantage was down to around a minute before Nippo–Vini Fantini's Giacomo Berlato attacked his breakaway companions with Team Katusha's Ilnur Zakarin chasing him solo. The seven other breakaway riders were quickly caught by the peloton.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
Berlato eventually struggled on the climb as he was passed by Zakarin. In the peloton, Bardiani–CSF's Stefano Pirazzi broke clear to pursue Zakarin on the climb. Zakarin's advantage reached nearly two minutes before Tanel Kangert started the moves in the peloton. He quickly brought most of the GC contenders with him before attacking once again. Pirazzi was eventually caught by the maglia rosa group as Zakarin continued to stay up front. With the gap at around a minute to Zakarin, Mikel Landa attacked out of the maglia rosa group.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
Maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, tried to chase him but Landa managed to build a substantial gap on Contador's group. After a while, Ryder Hesjedal accelerated and he was quickly pursued by Steven Kruijswijk, Rigoberto Urán and Fabio Aru but the main surprise of the day was the sight of Contador struggling on the Finestre. Contador only had Kangert with him but Kangert attacked as well to keep Contador isolated. Up front, Landa was able to catch Zakarin with Landa taking the Cima Coppi at summit of Finestre. Aru's group crossed the summit at nearly a minute behind Landa and Zakarin while Contador reached the summit a minute and a half behind.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
On the descent, Contador managed to hold the gap at around a minute and a half. Meanwhile, up front, Zakarin refused to work with Landa, prompting Landa to wait for Aru's group. From behind, Contador managed to catch Kangert and he was able to cut the gap to the leading riders to under a minute. The leading riders eventually began to work together in a final chance to try and take the maglia rosa from Contador but despite the fact that their gap increased over Contador, they were not able to really threaten Contador's lead.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
With around two kilometers left, Aru attacked in pursuit of the stage win. He was immediately chased by Urán but Aru continued to build his gap. Aru eventually won his second successive stage win, his team's fifth of the race as he finished 18 seconds ahead of Hesjedal, who passed Urán on the finish. Urán finished the stage, 24 seconds behind Aru with Landa and Kruijswijk finishing in fourth and fifth, respectively while Contador, pumping his fist, crossed the line 2' 25" behind Aru.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 20
Hesjedal's ride propelled him inside the top 5 of the GC and Kruijswijk's ride allowed him to move up two spots to seventh overall. Although Contador lost two and a half minutes on what he described as an "off-day", he kept the maglia rosa with a lead of 2 min 02" and with just a flat ceremonial stage remaining, he was then on the cusp of winning his second Giro title.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 21
The final stage of the race is expected to feature the traditional parade as the Giro comes to an end and for the first time since 2012, the Giro will end in Milan. There are no categorized climbs on the route so it is expected that the pure sprinters will battle it out for the stage win. The course ends with seven laps of a 5.35-kilometer circuit.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 21
Barring any disasters, it is already expected that Alberto Contador will cross the finish line of the stage as the winner of the Giro and it is also expected that Giovanni Visconti and Fabio Aru will confirm their win in the mountains classification and young riders classification, respectively. However, the points classification is expected to be decided during the stage.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 21
As expected, no riders went into the breakaway for almost the first half of the stage, content to celebrate three weeks of racing in the Giro. 86 kilometers into the stage, the first attacks were made as three BMC Racing Team riders, Philippe Gilbert, Silvan Dillier and Marcus Burghardt and Lampre–Merida's Max Richeze pulled out a gap of around a minute. Gilbert's goal during the stage was to take the points classification and he managed to get closer to that goal as he won the first intermediate sprint.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 21
The four riders eventually took it easy as they waited for the peloton to catch up to them. After the quartet were caught, AG2R La Mondiale riders, Axel Domont and Patrick Gretsch attacked as well but they were immediately caught by the Tinkoff–Saxo-led peloton. With Tinkoff-Saxo setting a fast pace, no attacks were successful until after the first of seven laps of the circuit in Milan when Etixx–Quick-Step's Iljo Keisse and Orica–GreenEDGE's Luke Durbridge attacked the peloton.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 21
The duo were able to build a gap of around 40 seconds with other teams in the peloton contributing to the chase. Along the way, Team Giant–Alpecin's Luka Mezgec and Team Sky's Leopold König suffered punctures as the duo up front continued to maintain their gap. After a while, Gilbert and IAM Cycling's Heinrich Haussler also suffered punctures as the leading duo kept their advantage at around 40 seconds.


2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21, Stage 21
Several teams began contributing to the chase but the leading duo worked perfectly together as they held a pretty healthy gap on the peloton heading into the last kilometer of the stage. As the final kilometer wore on, Durbridge and Keisse began playing cat and mouse before Durbridge started his sprint first. However, Keisse came through to the front to take the stage win, his first victory in a Grand Tour.