DISCUSSION Giro d'Italia Stage 16 | Ayuso's implosion; Del Toro's crack; Roglic's withdrawal and more...

The first real mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia did not disappoint and turned everything upside down. A brutal stage with more than 200km, four monster climbs and almost 6 hours on the bike were the perfect breeding ground for carnage, and that is what happened.

A chaotic day, not the first and probably (hopefully) not the last. The main two favourites to win the Giro before it started lost all his options today. In the case of Primoz Roglic, another crash forced him to abandon the race.

In the case of Juan Ayuso, he unexpectedly cracked with more than 40km to go and lost almost 15 minutes, saying goodbye to his GC chances. Isaac del Toro also suffered in the final climb, losing time to some contenders such as Richard Carapaz, Simon Yates and Derek Gee. The GC is incredibly tight, with three riders within thirty seconds.

XDS - Astana teammates Christian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato arrived together at the finish line spending most of the day in the breakaway, with the former getting the biggest win of his career.

Once the stage finished, we asked some of our writers to share their thoughts and main takeaways about what happened today.

It’s madness to try and sum this up properly. The stage was absolutely bonkers, of course, but it was one you just couldn’t get enough of. First, there’s a completely demoralized Primoz Roglic who crashes and then abandons. Bernal falls too but manages to continue.

Then Ayuso gets dropped and loses minutes, clearly frustrated, only for us to see Pellizzari ride away from the group of remaining favorites with surprising ease. Carapaz then tries the same, thinking he can catch Pellizzari, but ultimately fails. And last but not least, Yates manages to crack Del Toro after all.

This stage was especially beautiful because not a single GC contender played hide and seek. Even Derek Gee, who was the first to respond to Carapaz’s attack, showing he had even stronger legs than Simon Yates. Yes, this stage will stick in the memory for a long time.

Pellizzari stood out for me. Showed courage — and let’s not forget, he's now completely free of having Primoz Roglic breathing down his neck. How far is he behind? I'll have to check the GC article for that.

All that, on a day when three Italians finished 1, 2, and 3 – you couldn’t make it up.

Crazy stage. Determining for both good and bad. The best of the Giro d'Italia so far. Because of the route, it was expected, but it was even better.

As for the stage itself, great gesture of Lorenzo Fortunato with his teammate and compatriot Christian Scaroni... Fortunato was clearly the strongest of the breakaway, but in recognition of his work and dedication, he left him the victory on a platter.

Third was Giulio Pellizzari, who after the abandonment of Primoz Roglic will now have much more freedom and will surely give his all to finish as the best Italian in the general classification. At 21 years of age, he has shown that the next Italian to win the Giro could be him.

Richard Carapaz was one of the big winners of the day. He has cut 42 seconds from Simon Yates and 1:36 from Del Toro and has clearly placed himself in the fight for the maglia rosa. Derek Gee and Michael Storer confirm that you don't have to be a young prodigy to be a top 10 in a Grand Tour one day.

As for Movistar Team, they were rewarded for their work with a 6th place for Jefferson Cepeda and Einer Rubio, who is already at the gates of the Top 10 overall. And finally, UAE could have lost everything in one day. They keep the pink with Del Toro but the gap has narrowed considerably and Juan Ayuso has said goodbye to the Maglia Rosa, to the podium, even to the Top 10...

Another big loser of the day was Antonio Tiberi, who was completely outclassed by his compatriot and teammate Damiano Caruso, 14 years his senior.

With so much happening it's maybe easier to go by points.

Breakaway fight: Lovely, Scaroni is a tremendous rider but I have never seen him climb like this, a truly career-defining victory because it really came on what is the hardest possible stage.

Primoz Roglic: His withdrawal was expected, but one final crash wasn't. Besides bad luck, it seems clear that there are problems with bike handling or riding in a peloton. Not something that I'm happy to say, but it is evident, and whilst he may not have won this Giro, it has cost him another Grand Tour. He will go to the Tour, but I don't think he will be within a shot of the podium, much less thinking about winning it.

Juan Ayuso: He has cracked, physically and mentally. The writing was on the table, with him still reportedly struggling with his stitches that came from the stage 9 crash, the constant commentary and pressure put on him, UAE and their tactics.

At his best he would've likely thrived today and provided UAE with the second card that they needed upon Del Toro's crack, but he has struggled a lot himself. His role from now on is clear: Domestique. But it will be interesting to see if he and UAE will get along perfectly after another heartbreak for the Spaniard.

Isaac del Toro: He showed his level, his true level. I think throughout the whole race he's ridden above all expectations, and today within expectations. A great ride, but he clearly cracked. Long days in the mountains, long and steep climbs... Weak spots in his arsenal have been exposed, even if the 3rd week or recovery isn't one of them.

His lead over Yates and Carapaz is too short to be confident in the victory now, and nervousness will take over him. I believe he will look better tomorrow where the terrain won't be as hard, but the buffer he spent two weeks creating has been closed.

Things look grim for UAE, who did not look dominant today, and have to change tactics - more riders to breakaways - in order to keep hold of this narrow race lead.

GC: Richard Carapaz riding with GRINTA! Because UAE did not use their team to place someone like Yates or McNulty also in the GC fight, they are now left to 1 card. Carapaz and Yates, who do not have much team to support them, have not been put under pressure and could just race head-to-head against Del Toro, winning crucial time.

Carapaz is a crazy rider, now also crazy full of confidence and knowing he can gain time on his two rivals, meaning he will likely attack on most opportunities now.

Yet the GC fight is not only between them, as Derek Gee is fully within reach of the podium or even victory, and do not discard them of either as he looked really strong today. Egan Bernal will continue to try and attack from far and surprise to have a shot at the podium; Giulio Pellizzari will likely also attack because he looked way too strong today to finish in 9th place in the final classification...

This is the real Giro, real racing and a day I absolutely loved. This is what the Tour de France and Vuelta a España need to see, and implement more 200-kilometer massive mountain stages in their races - specially after a rest day.

The fatigue adds up, and can more easily create such moments. These past two stages have delivered in ways the Giro hasn't delivered in years, and I believe we will have more fireworks in the coming days still.

Great stuff from Astana! Their season has been brilliant so far and they just keep on winning and picking up precious UCI points. Fortunato has been the most combative rider of this Giro by far and today he even gifted the stage to Scaroni.

I believe he has one stage for him on the legs, the remaining stages are extremely hard and the break will most likely be successful in some. And one piece of advice for Intermarché-Wanty: don’t fall asleep…the fight for relegation is far from over and Picnic, Astana and Cofidis are not that far behind.

UAE had four different cards to play just one week ago and now... only one is remaining. Their tactics have been questionable throughout the race and there was much criticism claiming they should put all their eggs in one basket and just focus on supporting del Toro.

The team preferred to keep their two options alive for as much as possible fearing del Toro could crack in the high mountains, and when the moment of truth came…both cracked, even if one more than the other.

One of the biggest question marks is what the role of Juan Ayuso will be. His GC chances are completely over and he doesn’t look hurt by the crashes or sick, so I rule out that he abandons. He had a (very) bad day and from now on he should be at the service of Isaac del Toro as an elite domestique.

However, we already know he has never felt comfortable in such a role, as it was exemplified during the last Tour de France. Switching his mentality from being one of the main favourites for the overall win to a supporter of an even younger teammate than him might not be easy for him to do, but that is absolutely what should happen and the best for the team and also for him.

I must also say it is quite refreshing seeing UAE being vulnerable for once. We are too used to their dominance in pretty much every race and sometimes it feels like they never have a bad day. They already got 39 wins this season, 17 more than the next team (Lidl-Trek) and seemed like they were in perfect position to add the Giro 2025 to their cabinet.

But everything changed at the stroke of a pen, and now they are more human than ever. Let’s see if it lasts, it makes the race much more open and fun to watch.

Some riders proved today that their time is coming and I expect them to perform really well during the last days. Giulio Pellizzari was terrific, he attacked at the base of the final climb and was the best amongst the GC contenders. He almost caught the Scaroni-Fortunato duo! It's a pity he lost too much time and energy working for Roglic, he could be fighting for the podium.

Derek Gee and Michael Storer also proved that they should be taken into account, they gained a lot of confidence today and I hope to see them being ambitious and launching long-distance attacks. The same goes for Egan Bernal, he crashed once again but performed really well, and Ineos has been the bravest team so far, so I have high hopes for him.

When I turned on the TV halfway the stage, I thought we'd get another boring game of GC chess. Boy, was I wrong. The sunshine in Trento was signal for everyone to wake up and the rest? Pure ciclismo.

We thought that Giro 25 would be a tactical battle between of Roglic and Ayuso? Wrong! As of today - they're both gone from the standings.

We thought that Isaac del Toro was invincible in that pink jersey? Richard Carapaz would love to have a word about that. Just like in 2019, we overlooked the Ecuadorian and like 6 years ago, he's suddenly on the way to win the Giro d'Italia. I already had that feeling there will be no stopping him when he won the stage last week.

Today we have seen many winners and even more men were defeated, some even disillusioned. As cycling fans, this is exactly what we expect and wish for in these 'queen stages'. The best part? There are three more dishes this week!

Right now, I don't dare to guess who will stand on the podium in Rome, but we should keep an eye on Derek Gee. The successor of Ryder Hesjedal is far from done with the race.