Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ) remains in pink, Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates) wins the 15th stage of the Giro

First for Brandon McNulty and another day in pink for Bruno Armirail. The American from the UAE Emirates team unlocked his grand tour victory counter this Sunday by winning the 15th stage of the Giro in Bergamo. He sprinted ahead of Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), his last two breakaway companions.

Despite terrain worthy of a Tour of Lombardy and the prospect of a final day of rest on Monday, the favorites did not start the big fight. Apathy which therefore benefits Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), still in pink the day after its timely takeover, despite the time lost in the final.

Timid attack from Roglic and Almeida

There was plenty to do to go to war. But the leaders have decidedly otherwise, once again, to settle for a meager explanation in the last small firecracker, unlisted, 4 km from the finish. The wicks lit by Primoz Roglic and Joao Almeida in Largo Colle Aperto only claimed one victim, Armirail, and more. The Frenchman only spent 33 seconds, a deficit for which he would have cheerfully signed up before the start of this day with four passes and nearly 4000m of elevation.

Overall, the Occitan remains 1’08” ahead of Thomas, 1’10” over Roglic and 1’30” over Almeida. Also left behind on the last embankment, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) made the effort in the last kilometer to (almost) plug the hole and rank two seconds behind his rivals. He remains 11th overall, three minutes from the podium, before the third week.

Again the party to the adventurers

For the 8th time in 15 stages, and the fourth in a row, the adventurers had the last word on this Giro. The good breakaway, strong of 17 runners, was extricated from the first kilometers, before the terrible Valico di Valcava (11.7km at 7.9%), climbed quietly at the front as at the back. The Groupama-FDJ team logically drove to allow Armirail to keep its tunic. In front, Einer Rubio (Movistar), the scorer of Pinot in Crans-Montana, was only eleven minutes behind the Habs.

The blue train handled its business perfectly, with Ignatas Konovalovas notably doing a very hard job up to the foot of the last listed climb (Roncola Alta), the summit of which was located 30 kilometers from the finish. The gap never exceeded eight minutes, roughly the delay of Armirail on the winner of the day (7’26”). In front, skimming was done in Roncola Alta (10km at 6.7%). Healy placed a counter that we thought was decisive 34km from the goal. But McNulty came back downhill, followed by Frigo.

McNulty maneuvered well

The Irishman put one back, as planned, in Largo Colle Aperto (1.3km at 7.3% and a cobblestone passage), to try to win his second success on this Tour of Italy. McNulty hung on. Not the Italian… who nonetheless returned once more. Frigo almost chilled his two companions by launching the sprint from the junction made 500m from the line. Healy got a little surprised by the speed of the Israel-Premier Tech runner. In his wheel, McNulty took advantage. He waited until the last few meters to dislodge Healy and raise his arms. The native of Phoenix, 25, thus signs his sixth victory, the first of the season. He had not won since a success at Paris-Nice 2022.