page_title: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21
section_title: Stage 18
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Giro d'Italia, Stage 12 to Stage 21 / Stage 18
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Philippe Gilbert bij de start van de Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2012 te Gent
context_page_description: The 2015 Giro d'Italia began on 9 May, and stage 12 occurred on 21 May.
context_section_description: 28 May 2015 — Melide (Switzerland) to Verbania, 170 km (105.6 mi)
  Probably the last chance for a breakaway to bring home a victory, the stage features the first category climb of Monte Ologno near the end of the stage. The first 124 kilometers of the stage is mostly flat but has several lumps along the way before the riders tackle the climb of Monte Ologno. The climb is expected to test everyone, especially the GC contenders, as it is 10.4 kilometers long and it has an average gradient of 9 per cent. After reaching its summit and after a very short descent, the riders will ascend an uncategorized climb before descending again. Another short uncategorized climb is located along the way but the descent goes all the way until the 6-kilometer mark where the riders tackle a flat ride to the finish in Verbania.
  A fast start to the stage prevented any break from forming until 44 kilometers into the stage when a 14-man group attacked out of the peloton. However, shortly after the break was made, Lampre–Merida's Roberto Ferrari and Nippo–Vini Fantini's Damiano Cunego crashed up front. While Ferrari dropped down to a chase group with Trek Factory Racing's Fabio Felline and Movistar Team's Jesús Herrada, Cunego had to retire from the race. The peloton caught the chase group and allowed the break to have a maximum advantage of around 13 minutes, almost making sure that someone from the break would take the stage win. It was not until the climb of Monte Ologno that the day featured more drama in terms of the GC and the stage win.
  On the ascent of Monte Ologno, the break split into two with some riders from the breakaway dropping back on the climb's steep gradients. The gap between the two breakaway groups hovered at around a minute. From behind, a crash took place, bringing down most of the Team Sky riders but the most notable rider caught behind it was Astana's Mikel Landa, who was sitting in second-place overall. At the front of the peloton, maglia rosa wearer, Alberto Contador, told his team, Tinkoff–Saxo, to up the pace. After a while, Contador attacked solo and he immediately built a gap of around two minutes. Contador's attack was presumed by many as payback for what happened on the Mortirolo two days earlier but Contador said after the stage that he told his team to press on the pace even before Landa was caught behind in the crash. A chase group consisting of most of the top 10 riders formed in pursuit of Contador with Landa joining that group after a huge effort. Further up the climb, Contador dropped his chain but he was quickly helped by his mechanic and he was able to keep his lead. Eventually, the only rider to catch up to Contador was Cannondale–Garmin's Ryder Hesjedal, who caught up to Contador at the summit of the climb at around 7 minutes behind the breakaway with the chase group a further minute behind the duo.
  On the descent, Davide Villella, who was an original part of the breakaway, was caught by Hesjedal and Contador. Villella, who was Hesjedal's teammate, helped the duo build and maintain their advantage over their chasers. Contador's group maintained a minute-and-a-half advantage over their chase group but still at a large deficit behind the breakaway riders. Up front, the first breakaway group led the second breakaway group by nearly a minute before BMC Racing Team's Philippe Gilbert attacked from the second breakaway group and he was able to get to the front group on the descent. With 19 kilometers left for the break, Gilbert immediately attacked and he was able to build a substantial gap. Several riders from the remnants of the breakaway tried to chase Gilbert but only Francesco Manuel Bongiorno managed to build a gap over the other riders. Gilbert managed to stay up front to take his second win of this year's Giro with Bongiorno crossing the finish line 47 seconds behind. The remnants of the break finished a further 14 seconds behind Bongiorno while Hesjedal led Contador across the line, 6' 05" behind Gilbert. Aru's and Landa's group crossed the line 7' 18" behind Gilbert and crucially, 1' 13" behind Conta
caption: Philippe Gilbert grabbed his second victory of the Giro by coming from behind
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