Richard Kalapas overcame another early stage crash on the road to Cogne to retain the Giro d'Italia's Maria Rosa and head into Monday's third rest day as the race leader.

Calapaz was involved in a crash at the start of the second week, on stage 10 to Jessi, and again just 6km into stage 15.

Wheels collided within the peloton, sending many riders into the grass on the side of the road. Kalapas lowered his left shoulder, but rolled and was soon back on his bike. Kalapas suffered a bloody left knee, but otherwise appeared to be unaffected.

Then, after a hectic battle to form the day's break, Ineos Grenadiers formed a dominant mountain train that controlled the overall rivals for the remainder of the stage. only UAE Team Emirates was able to hold off Joao Almeida on the final He briefly tried to pick up the pace on the steep Vélogne gradient, but slowed when he realized he did not have enough riders to blow away the GC group.

"It was a pretty crazy stage at the start because I was very fast until the first climb. It was a pretty crazy stage at the start because I was very fast up to the first climb. After that, I went to the front and tried to control the gap to the break," explained Kalapas, as calm and collected as ever. [Yesterday was a complicated stage, so it wasn't unexpected. I was tired from yesterday's stage and a lot of teams went into the breakaway. Today I was a bit calmer and the team did well."

Karapas won the Maglia Rosa on stage 14, just as he did in 2019 when he won it with Movistar. He won the stage to Courmayeur in 2019 and held the lead until the final time trial in Verona. He will finish the race with another time trial in Verona this year.

Kalapas earned a few seconds of bonus seconds early in the Giro and has the tactical ability to attack as well as ride defensively with his teammates.

He leads Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) by just 7 seconds, with Almeida in third at 30 seconds and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) in fourth at 59 seconds. Others are within two minutes of each other, but this year's Giro d'Italia appears to be a battle between these four and a strong team.

"Yesterday the chance to take the jersey was motivating for us. It is better to have to defend the jersey than to attack to get it," Kalapas explained with calm logic.

"There are some pretty hard stages coming up. It's my terrain and I can protect it. But if I can make up time, that's always better."

"There are some tough stages and fatigue is setting in, so the final week will be very decisive. We will work hard to defend the jersey and it is very important to have a strong team like ours.

The Giro d'Italia can be seen live and on demand on discovery+ (open in new tab), GCN+, and Eurosport.