Simon Yates may have looked out of the game after Chris Froome beat him on what is probably cycling's most feared climb, but he pulled further ahead in the general classification.
Chris Froome wins Giro stage 14 Monte Zoncolan
With the Irish making an impact on this Giro d’Italia after two stage wins by Sam Bennett, today was about survival rather than victory.
Of the three Irish in the race – Ryan Mullen, Nicolas Roche and Bennett – Roche is the one Irish fans would have looked to today for a performance.
The BMC Racing man is having a challenging Giro. And while today might have been a stage on which he joined the early breakaway, it wasn’t to be.
His team is now behind trying to help Rohan Dennis to a top 10 placing overall, while getting in the breakaways is secondary goal.
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Dennis slipped four places today to 11th overall. But with a long TT to come, he can still get well inside the top 10 before the race finishes next Sunday.
Roche would come home today in 136th, some 27:52 down.
Froome on his way to victory. Yates opens the gaps on all of his rivals apart from the stage winner. Dumoulin loses time but he is still just about within reach of the leader's jersey.
While Roche might well have been up the road on a good day, Mullen and Bennett had one goal today; to stay in the race within the time limit.
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And to their credit, they pulled their frames up Monte Zoncolan and live to fight another day.
Bennett, a typical top sprinter who will judge exactly the time he has available and try to use it all, was last man today.
He rolled over the finish line in 166th, beside fellow fast man Boy Van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo) some 33:49 down.
But unlike Van Poppel, Bennett has two stage wins to his name, and already this race has been a resounding success for him.
While Mullen was disappointed with his performance in the stage 1 TT two weeks ago, his survival today means he has another chance next week.
The stage 16 test on Tuesday is 34.2km and comes after Monday’s rest day, meaning Mullen will hopefully have time to gather himself.
The parcours is also flat, which should suit him. It will be interesting to see how he rides with 15 hard stages in his legs.
Today off the front of the race the battle was for stage and overall honours.
Chris Froome (Team Sky) attacked on the Zoncolan with just over 4km remaining; taking victory with the field stretched out behind him.
#Giro101
He made it! #84kg @ryanmullen9 really enjoyed the #Zoncolan and we caught up to him at the finish for a word or two... pic.twitter.com/nInacxtyui— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) May 19, 2018
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) eventually left what remained of the select group to chase down Froome.
But he just failed to catch him, taking 2nd some six seconds back. Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain Merida) was next, 23 seconds down on the winner.
Then came Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) at 25 seconds. Tom Dumoulin was 5th; the Team Sunweb man losing 37 seconds to Froome and 31 to Yates.
So it is Yates who still leads the race. Indeed, he pulled further ahead today. Dumoulin, last year’s winner and currently second overall, is now 1:24 down of Yates.
He has given himself a lot of work to do to take the maglia rosa back from the British rider. But with the TT to come it’s not an impossible task.
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