The Mexican was unable to follow the attacks of his rivals on the final climb after 203 kilometres up to San Valentino. Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost) was, as on the previous days, one of the main protagonists. His attack six kilometres before the finish broke up the group of favourites. In addition, the two original favourites for the overall Giro victory no longer played a role: Primoz Roglic (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) had once again crashed early in the race and abandoned the race exasperated. And Juan Ayuso (UAE Emirates - XRG) also lost touch on the penultimate climb of the day, ending up almost 15 minutes behind and thus no longer in the top 10 of the overall standings.

However, Carapaz and Simon Yates (Visma | Lease a Bike) are now more than ever in the race for Rosa. The Ecuadorian, who finished fourth on the day, made up a minute and a half on del Toro, who ultimately only finished 13th and even had to let professionals like Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain - Victorious), who had been left behind, pass him again. Yates was also able to make up almost a minute of ground on the 21-year-old and is now only 26 seconds behind the youngster in second place in the classification. Carapaz is only another five seconds behind. The battle for Rosa is closer than it has been for a long time.

Pellizzari takes over Roglic's role

"We knew that this day would be a key stage. For me too, and I worked so hard for it. We tried everything that was possible. It also cost me a lot to be so far ahead here," said Carapaz at the finish on Eurosport.

Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) finished ahead of the Ecuadorian. After it became clear that his captain Roglic was no longer in the race, the young Italian was able to unleash his full potential. The 21-year-old made the biggest leap forward in the classification, moving up nine places and now also occupying ninth place. "I've been waiting a long time for this moment and today was the day. It's a shame that I've only just been able to show what I'm capable of. But I definitely want to keep trying," he explained on the Eurosport microphone. He is 4:36 minutes behind del Toro.

XDS Astana with stage win and safety in the mountain jersey

Scaroni plays no role in the overall standings. The 27-year-old already delivered strong performances at the start of the season, celebrating several victories. However, his stage win at the Giro is the highlight of his career so far. "I'm so happy about it. Fortunato and I fought very hard today," he said in the winner's interview. "I felt pretty good at the start in the rain. Towards the end we talked about who should win the stage. He took the points for the mountain jersey and left the stage win to me."

Fortunato can only lose that mountain jersey after today if he doesn't reach the finish in Rome. He has 319 points in his account. His closest rival has 125 points - and is Scaroni. Third in the ranking is Ayuso with 54 points.

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Giro d'Italia 2025 - Results of the 16th stage

This is how the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia 2025 went

The 16th stage started in the continuous rain in northern Italy, which also had the character of a royal stage due to the difficult conditions. Seven men broke away from the peloton, among them Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) and Josh Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers). Even when the group had a one-minute lead after the first intermediate sprint and almost 40 kilometres, the situation in the peloton hardly calmed down. By then, however, Tarling was no longer part of the breakaway. The Welsh stage winner of the first time trial slipped off in a wet roundabout and skidded into the crash barrier. He was unable to continue the race.

At the foot of the climb to Carbonare (2nd category), a group of climbers broke away from Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team) for the mountains jersey. The peloton immediately picked up the pace. The leading group went into the climb with 1:40 minutes on the almost 20 chasers, the peloton was quickly more than five minutes behind.

Fortunato in front in time for the mountain classification, Roglic drops out

In addition to Fortunato, Pello Bilbao (Bahrain - Victorious), David Gaudu (Groupama - FDJ), but also Kim Heiduk (INEOS Grenadiers) and Felix Engelhardt (Team Jayco AlUla) were also there. Shortly before the summit, the chasers caught up with the escapees. Fortunato took the lead and secured 18 points for his jersey. The peloton came over the mountain more than six minutes later.

After the descent - which saw a crash in the leading group by Alessio Martinelli (VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè), who slipped in a bend and slid more than ten metres down a heavily overgrown slope, but probably got off relatively lightly - it was already more than eight minutes. Before heading up to Candriai (1st category), another report made the rounds: Roglic dropped out after allegedly crashing again.

Ayuso drops back high to Santa Barbara

On the following climb, INEOS Grenadiers stretched out in front of the peloton and increased the pace considerably. While it was almost nine minutes at the bottom, five and a half remained at the top of the climb, which Fortunato won again. Until Egan Bernal also crashed. His team then calmed down again, so that at the second intermediate sprint of the day, which Dries De Bondt (AG2R La Mondiale Team) decided ahead of van Aert, there was again a difference of eight minutes. There were still 63 kilometres to the finish.

Up to Santa Barbara, Fortunato sorted out the breakaway group. After the first two kilometres, only eleven pros were left together. At the back, EF Education - EasyPost stepped up the pace and this also paid off. Ayuso, who had already had difficulties on the first climb of the day, fell back for good this time. Not much later, Bernal also had to let go, but he came back before the mountain classification.

At the top in Santa Barbara, Fortunato was back on top and collected another 40 points. With 35 kilometres to go, the seven men at the front still had a good four-minute lead over the group of favourites.

Del Toro can't keep up with the competition

On the descent, Yannis Voisard (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) attacked out of the leading group. He extended his lead to 40 seconds on the first kilometres of the final climb to the Passo di San Valentino. However, 13 kilometres before the finish, Fortunato, Scaroni and Jefferson Cepeda (Movistar Team) were back with him. The Swiss rider was no longer able to keep up the pace.

Eleven kilometres before the finish, Scaroni attacked at the front. At the same time, Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe) started at the back of the favourites. A short time later, Fortunato also left Cepeda behind and rode ahead of his team-mate. At the back, Simon Yates went on the offensive. Del Toro immediately went with him and Carapaz also countered. A short time later, Derek Gee (Israel - Premier Tech) came back. And then Carapaz went six kilometres before the finish.

The Ecuadorian's attack was spot on. Within two kilometres, he distanced Del Toro and Yates by a minute. And Gee also broke away from the other two. Four kilometres before the finish, del Toro even had to let Yates go. Instead, Bernal rode to the front again for the pink jersey. Carapaz, on the other hand, had pulled ahead of Pellizzari.

Fortunato and Scaroni celebrate double victory

At the front, however, Fortunato and Scaroni celebrated a one-two finish. They rode hand in hand over the line, but Scaroni was allowed to push his bike slightly forwards. However, the man in the mountain jersey was clearly the stronger one. Pellizzari came third because Carapaz had obviously overtaken himself a little and lost a few seconds at the back. Otherwise he might have been riding in pink.

The jersey, however, was defended by del Toro, who ultimately had to let go not only Bernal but also Damiano Caruso (Bahrain - Victorious) and ultimately finished 13th in the daily classification.