The climbers’ legs of Jan Hirt had the most strength on Tuesday and with that the Intermarché rider won the tough 202 kilometer long sixteenth stage in the Giro d’Italia over three first category cols. Fellow refugee and Dutchman Thymen Arensman (DSM), who just couldn’t get to Hirt in the last kilometer, finished second in seven seconds.
Hirt was the strongest of a group of remaining refugees, including three Dutchmen for a long time: Koen Bouwman (Jumbo-Visma), Wout Poels (Bahrain) and Arensman. The 42-year-old Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Lennard Kämna (Bora) and Hugh Carthy (EF) were also in that flight group.
blue mountain jersey
Bouwman kept his blue mountain jersey by going second over the top of the Goletto di Cadino and first to top the Mortirolo. Good, because the Dutchman had his fellow escapee and number two in the mountains classification Giulio Ciccone (Trek) panting all day long. With about thirty kilometers from the finish, Bouwman’s work was done and he let the front runners go, bearing in mind the exhausting mountain stages of the coming days.
The pink remains on the shoulders of Richard Carapaz (Ineos).
