Severe weather continued to batter the Giro d'Italia peloton on Sunday, with inclement weather forcing another course change to Stage 15. The stage was shortened to 145km, and the race finished before the Galibier summit due to cold temperatures and heavy snow accumulations.
A seven rider breakaway eventually dwindled down to Giovanni Visconti (Movistar Team), who attacked four riders remaining ahead on the Col du Télégraphe (average gradient 7.2%, 12km). Visconti went on to win the stage solo, but it was far from easy as the snowfall was heavy on the final climb and there were groups all over the road on the Galibier (6.8%, max ramp 11%). Matteo Rabottini (Vini Fantini) was chasing solo for quite some time, and other chase groups formed behind him, but were eventually brought back. One of the groups behind Visconti that managed to stay away from the maglia rosa group going into the final kilometer was Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida), and Carlos Betancur (AG2R-La Mondiale).
Betancur was 2nd, and Niemiec 3rd. There were many attacks in the maglia rosa group, but the Majka attack caused a major split in the group and left only a very elite group to decide the top positions of the stage. There was no change in the top 3 of the GC, and only Majka gained time in the top 10.
Michal Golas was the top OPQS finisher, and all OPQS riders finished the stage. OPQS looks next to a rest day on Monday.