Giro d'Italia #20: Siutsou ends 10th overall after final mountain stage

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka happy to have kept 10th on GC

Rein Taaramae (Katusha) won stage 20 of the Giro d'Italia, ahead of his early breakaway mates, John Darwin Atapuma (BMC Racing) and Joe Dombrowski (Cannondale). Most of the attention was on the battle for the pink leader’s jersey today, which in the end, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) would pull on after a commanding performance.

Being the final mountain stage of this year's Giro d'Italia the organisers made sure the race would finish with a stern test. The peloton left Guillestre and began climbing even while in the neutral zone. When the flag dropped the race went directly up the category 1 Col de Vars. As expected attacks flew and a group of 11 riders got away on the climb.

The peloton rode the Col de Vars and the next climb, the Col de la Bonette, at a good tempo but the break was still able to open up a lead of close to 8 minutes. Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka had Kanstantsin Siutsou and Igor Anton well positioned in the reduced peloton which went over the Coll de la Bonette together. Anton was doing a lot of the pacing though as Atapuma was threatening Siutsou's general classification position.

It was on the next climb where the real action started as the GC favourites began attacking each other. Nibali was the main aggressor as he had the most to gain, particularly after yesterday's strong display of form. The Italian champion attacked around 5km from the summit of the Colle della Lombarda and was able to put a minute into the pink jersey, Esteban Chaves (Orica-Greenedge), by the top of the climb.

Siutsou was riding within himself in a group just behind the pink jersey, but with the break still well up the road, it was clear he would lose his 9th position overall. As Taaramae survived from the break to take the stage win at the top of Sant Anna Di Vinnadio, it wasn't long until Nibali came home to secure the pink jersey. Chaves had to settle for 2nd in the overall race with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) taking 3rd.

Siutsou would finish the stage in 19th place, just less than 4 minutes behind Nibali. The result saw our African Team rider end the day 10th in the overall classification.

Jens Zemke - Sport Director
The 20th stage of the Giro d'Italia had everything cycling can offer. Beautiful landscapes, a lot of spectators and an exciting bike race. In the top 10, only the 5th and 6th placed riders kept their positions while everyone else ended the stage in a new position, so there was a complete reshuffling of the order really. We stayed in the top 10 with Kanstantsin, we are absolutely happy about that. The boys did a great job to protect him and Kosta had another fantastic ride and so we are proud of this result.

Team Dimension Data For Qhubeka
Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka was founded in 2007, steadily working its way up from a regional team to now being a World Tour team with bases in South Africa and Italy. It’s also known as Africa’s Team due to its focus on helping African talents to the world stage of cycling. The team races to raise funds for the Qhubeka Charity to mobilise people on bicycles in Africa. To contribute to the #BicyclesChangeLives Campaign, click here.

Qhubeka is an Nguni word that means “to progress”, “to move forward”. Qhubeka (qhubeka.org) is part of World Bicycle Relief (worldbicyclerelief.org), a global non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing education, health and economic opportunities by providing simple, sustainable transportation through the power of bicycles.  

Dimension Data (dimensiondata.com) uses the power of technology to help organisations achieve great things in the digital era. As a member of the NTT Group, we accelerate our clients’ ambitions through digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces for tomorrow, and cybersecurity. With a turnover of USD 7.5 billion, offices in 58 countries, and 31,000 employees, we deliver wherever our clients are, at every stage of their technology journey. We’re proud to be the Official Technology Partner of Amaury Sport Organisation, organiser of the Tour de France, and the title partner of the cycling team, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka.

Learn more about the team at www.africasteam.com. 

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