Friday 20 May 2016 17:21, UK
Team Sky's Mikel Nieve won a mountainous 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday as Movistar's Andrey Amador replaced Bob Jungels in the pink jersey.
Nieve formed part of a large breakaway group but moved into a lone lead on the penultimate climb of the day, with 33km to go, and pulled away to beat Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) into second place by 43 seconds in Cividale del Friuli.
All of the contenders for overall victory followed 34 seconds later, with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) beating Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to the four bonus seconds on offer for third place, but Jungels (Etixx - Quick-Step) was 50 seconds further back after being dropped on the final climb.
The result sees Amador (Movistar), who finished in the Nibali group, rise from second to first in the general classification and open up a 26-second lead over second-placed Jungels.
Thanks to his bonus seconds, Nibali climbs to third, 41 seconds down on Amador but two seconds ahead of Valverde and Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) in fourth and fifth respectively.
Nieve's win salvaged success from a Giro that had threatened to be a failure for Team Sky, following the loss of team leader Mikel Landa to illness on stage 10.
Nieve, who also won a Giro stage in 2011, told teamsky.com: "It was a tough day out there. I knew that I needed to attack early, as if I didn't the peloton could easily have come back to us. I had a good feeling on the climbs and I managed to get down the descents without any issues. It went really well.
"Everyone was sad to see Mikel [Landa] leave the race. Today is an important result for the team as our big aim now is to fight for stage wins. It's great for morale and hopefully we can keep that going."
Amador, meanwhile, becomes the first rider from Costa Rica to lead a grand tour.
He told Eurosport: "I didn't really imagine it; I didn't think it could happen and I am really happy to be able to have this jersey.
"They have always supported me in Costa Rica and this jersey is dedicated to all of them."
The Giro continues on Saturday with a mountainous 210km 14th stage from Alpago to Corvara in the Dolomites. Find out more about the route in our race guide.
Stage 13 result
1 Mikel Nieve (Esp) Team Sky, 4:31:49
2 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar, +43sec
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +1:17
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, same time
5 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, st
6 Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling, st
7 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, st
8 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, st
9 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st
10 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, st
General classification
1 Andrey Amador (Cos) Movistar, 54:05:50
2 Bob Jungels (Lux) Etixx - Quick-Step, +26sec
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana, +41
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +43
5 Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, same time
6 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff, +1:37
7 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha, +2:01
8 Esteban Chaves (Col) Orica-GreenEdge, +2:19
9 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale, +2:48
10 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +3:15
