Kruijswijk opens up big Giro lead after mountain time trial
Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto NL-Jumbo) produced a fast mountain time trial effort on the slopes of Alpe Di Siusi and opened up a potentially decisive lead in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday
Russian Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-Rusvelo) was the fastest on the 15th stage, 11km (7 miles) uphill - in a time of 28 minutes and 39 seconds.
Vincenzo Nibali had to deal with a dropped chain and spectators blocking his path.
"I came to the Giro well prepared for this stage in particular because uphill time trials have always been my forte," Foliforov said.
Kruijswijk finished second, 16 seconds behind, and Alejandro Valverde was third, 23 seconds back.
"I was close to the victory but most importantly I gained time over my rivals on general classification," said Kruijswijk, who also finished second in Saturday's Queen mountain stage. "I did everything for that and I'm confident that I'll be able to defend the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey) during the last week".
Overall, Kruijswijk leads Esteban Chaves by 2 minutes, 12 seconds, with Nibali third, 2 minutes and 51 seconds behind.
Kruijswijk, who rides for the Lotto NL-Jumbo team, is attempting to become the first Dutchman to win the Giro. He finished seventh last year.
Valverde is fourth, 3 minutes and 29 seconds behind.
Chaves finished sixth in the stage while Nibali was 25th, 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind Foliforov.
Nibali was already losing a lot of time when his chain dropped and he had to change bikes midway through the stage. Then spectators started running alongside Nibali until the Sicilian swiped one of them away with his arm.
Starting with a small incline, the route then got very steep the rest of the way, with an average gradient of 8.3 percent and a maximum of 11 percent.
The finish at an altitude of 1,844 meters (6,050 feet) in Alpe di Siusi showed off Europe's largest high-altitude Alpine meadow, which extends for 52 square kilometers (32 square miles).
After a rest day Monday, Stage 16 Tuesday is a 133-kilometer (83-mile) leg from Bressanone to Andalo featuring three classified climbs, two of them in the second category.
Only Chaves and Nibali and within 3 minutes of Kruijswijk on General Classification.
Valverde, Majka and Zakarin will have to attack in the coming days to stand any chance of being in contention for the Maglia Rosa.
The race ends next Sunday in Turin.
Stage 15 Alpe di Siusi Top 10
1 Alexander Foliforov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 35 pts
2 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 18
3 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 12
4 Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 9
5 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 6
6 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 4
7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 2
8 Joe Dombrowski (USA) Cannondale Pro Cycling 1
General classification after stage 15
1 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 60:41:22
2 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge 0:02:12
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:51
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:29
5 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff Team 0:04:38
6 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Team Katusha 0:04:40
7 Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team 0:05:27
8 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step 0:07:14
9 Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr) Dimension Data 0:07:37
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:07:55
11 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:12
12 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:08:19
13 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:16:31
14 Stefano Pirazzi (Ita) Bardiani CSF 0:17:03
15 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:17:21
16 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:37
17 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:18:47
18 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:18:48
19 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:25:18
20 Andre Cardoso (Por) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:26:02
