Giro d’Italia 2023: Ben Healy and Einer Rubio have argy-bargy for KOM points as fans rush to get out of way

Ben Healy (EF Education–EasyPost) and Einer Rubio (Movistar) had a wild scrap for KOM points on Stage 15 at the Giro d’Italia, with the pair rubbing shoulders on the road as fans hurried to get out of the way.

The duo, who both boast stage wins in this year’s race, were in the day’s breakaway and intent on hoovering up the maximum 40 points on offer for the opening Cat. 1 climb in the mountain classification.

Rubio was first to attack before Healy bridged over and went clear, but both riders appeared to have shot off too early as they came back together on the road.

An extraordinary shoulder-to-shoulder battle followed as Rubio nudged Healy closer to the spectators, who quickly darted off the road, as the Irishman refused to cede ground.

“Go on, whack the elbow on him!” cried Adam Blythe on Eurosport commentary as the pair jostled for position. “I’ve not seen that for a mountain point in a while.”

Rob Hatch added: “It was like watching the sprinters in a big bunch sprint.”

Rubio consolidated his third place in the KOM competition with another 18 points – pushing him to 86 points – behind Davide Bais (Eolo–Kometa, 144 points) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama–FDJ, 114 points).

“Great stuff. It wasn’t just one touch of the shoulder – bang,” added Classics legend Sean Kelly.

“It was two, three, four and he wasn’t backing off at all. It’s nice to see a bit of a fight because the mountain classification points are sometimes just rolled over but that was a nice little fight for the points.”

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