Egan Bernal attacks on the Passo Giau to extend his lead in the Maglia Rosa

Bernal strengthed his lead in the race on a difficult day that saw the stage shortened due to adverse weather conditions

Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) stamped his authority on the Queen Stage by soloing to victory and the Cima Coppi prize after attacking on the final climb of the Passo Giau before descending to the finish line.

EF Education-Nippo set a high pace for team leader Carthy that reduced the bunch to just 6 riders before Bernal attacked on the upper slopes of the Passo Giau to take the the Cima Coppi, the highest point of the race.

The Colombian held off Damiano Caruso (Bahrain-Victorious) and Romain Bardet (DSM) with 30 seconds all the way down the descent to the finish in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Bernal cruised over the finish line, having time to take off his rain jacket to display the maglia rosa and stamp his authority on the race at the end of the second week of racing.

Bernal took time on all his rivals; Caruso +26”, Bardet +26” , Carthy + 1’19, Ciccone +1’17, Almeida +1’21, Vlasov +2’11, Yates +2’36, Foss +2’33 and Martinez +3’12.

He extended his lead while Caruso moved up to second place and Carthy third. Vlasov limited his loses after a mechanical and hung onto 4th place, the biggest loser was Simon Yates who dropped to fifth overall.

Tomorrow is a rest day before the Giro heads into a mountainous final week.

Stage 17 on Wednesday is 193 kilometres long with the real action packed inside the last 55 kilometres. First the Passo del Valentino, then the brutal Sega di Ala mountain top finish.

VIDEO: 2021 Giro d'Italia Stage 16 Highlights

2021 Giro d'Italia Stage 16 Top 10

1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 4:22:41
2 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:00:27
3 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
4 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:18
5 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo
6 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep
7 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:02:11
8 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:02:31
9 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
10 Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma
11 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:02:36

2021 Giro d'Italia GC after Stage 16

1 Egan Bernal Gomez (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 66:36:04
2 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 0:02:24
3 Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 0:03:40
4 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana-Premier Tech 0:04:18
5 Simon Yates (GBr) Team BikeExchange 0:04:20
6 Giulio Ciccone (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:04:31
7 Romain Bardet (Fra) Team DSM 0:05:02
8 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:07:17
9 Tobias Foss (Nor) Jumbo-Visma 0:08:20
10 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:10:01