Richie Porte Loses More Time On Stage 13

Team Sky suffered another setback at the Giro d’Italia following a late crash on the run into Jesolo on stage 13.

Both Richie Porte and Leopold König were brought down in a pile-up with 3.3 kilometres to go on a day that turned the general classification on its head.

2015 Giro d’Italia: Stage 13 Results

With riders and bikes strewn across the wet road, Porte was forced to grab a bike from team-mate Vasil Kiryienka and ride to the finish, dropping two minutes and seven seconds to the lead peloton. König crossed the line just seven seconds in front of his team-mate, also falling out of the top 10 overall.

Race leader Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) was another to hit the deck and was forced to relinquish the maglia rosa on what had looked, on paper, like a straightforward sprint stage.

As further bad luck hit Porte the Tasmanian now sits 17th overall, 5:05 back on new race leader Fabio Aru (Astana). König now occupies 15th, 4:24 adrift.

On home ground Elia Viviani took third in the sprint and moved back into the red jersey. The Italian surfed the wheels on the run-in but was just bested by Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) at the line.

“The red jersey is the big focus after my stage win,” Viviani told Eurosport after the stage. “Richie lost more time today after the crash and it’s certainly not a lucky Giro d’Italia for him. Tomorrow we have a big time trial and then after the Madonna di Campiglio stage he can decide what he wants to do for the rest of the race.

“We knew it was dangerous today with the rain and we had a lot of guys to support Richie. But there was another crash and it’s just not a lucky race for us.”

Sports Director Dario Cioni added: “The guys were well-positioned in the peloton when the crash happened. There wasn’t much that we could do.

“Let’s see how it goes tomorrow with the time trial. It’s a huge test and after the outcome of that we’ll see where we are and make a plan.”