Rodriguez retains Giro lead

Jon Izagirre won the 16th stage of the Giro d'Italia, while Joaquin Rodriguez retains the overall lead of the race.

The Euskaltel-Euskadi rider secured his first win on a Grand Tour as he broke away on the final climb to finish ahead of Alessandro De Marchi and Stef Clement, who were both 16 seconds back. The stage was dominated by a large breakaway that got clear 63 kilometres into the 173km route, as the peloton allowed them to build a large lead as none of the 10 riders in there were a threat to the overall classification. Izagirre made his move on the steep slopes of the final 4km climb into Falzes and De Marchi originally went with him, but could not keep pace and dropped back to allow the 23-year-old to complete a solo ride to the finish line. The main pack finished almost nine minutes adrift and all the main contenders crossed the line within the same group, meaning Rodriguez holds on to his 30-second lead over Ryder Hesjedal with Ivan Basso back in third.