Rabottini holds off Rodriguez surge

Matteo Rabottini produced a superb battling performance to claim the 15th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday.

On one of the race's toughest days, the 24-year-old escaped alongside Guillaume Bonnaford with 18 kilometres to go and held off a fight back from Joaquim Rodriguez to claim the first win of his professional career.
It wasn't all bad news for Rodriguez though, as his strong finish took him back into the race leader's pink jersey after he ended the day ahead of Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, who had taken the maglia rosa on Saturday.
The Spaniard now sits 30 seconds ahead of his rivals on the general classification going into Monday's rest day but the favourites seem to be massing behind him, with 2010 champion Ivan Basso now sat just 1:22 off the overall lead.