Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) is the winner of the last flat stage before the hellish mountain finish of the Tour of Italy. In the sprint in the town of Caorle near Venice, he was a hair faster than Jonathan Milan and Michael Matthews. There is no change in the total.
Shortly after the start of the completely flat 195 km long stage in Pergine Valsugana, a group of four escapees formed (Senna Leysen, Thomas Champion, Diego Pablo Seville and Charlie Quarterman), after 20 kilometers she gained a lead of three minutes. Everything was calm in the main part, only for a moment the main favorites for the stage victory, sprinters Matthews (Jayco AlUla) and Milan (Bahrain-Victorious), stretched their legs, but nothing came of their attack.
The advantage of the four escapees then began to melt away quickly. Champion was the first to be caught 20 km before the finish line, followed by Quarterman and Sevilla a few kilometers later, while Leysen himself continued in the lead and gained about a minute lead over the main group. The Belgian was also caught 5 km before the finish line.
He retained the joint leadership Geraint Thomas, who is 18 seconds ahead of Joao Almeida and 29 seconds ahead of Primož Roglič. On yesterday’s mountain stage, the man from Kisov gave up at the end, which was enough for his two biggest rivals to gain a 25-second advantage.
In the next two days, when there are still two very demanding stages on the schedule, Roglič will try to at least keep the gap, if not even eliminate it. On Saturday, there will be a mountain time trial on Sveti Višarje.
Source: Rtvslo
