photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Andrea Vendrame gave his Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale team its second victory in this year’s Giro d’Italia, after the Italian rider attacked from out of the breakaway group to triumph atop the Cima Sappada, while Pelayo Sanchez (Movistar) was second on the stage ahead of Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost).
Meanwhile, race leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) suffered a puncture on the stage, but his lead of 7:42 went otherwise unchallenged despite the breakaway gaining over 16 minutes.
Elsewhere, third-placed Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) crashed with 6 kilometers to go after touching wheels with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious). Fortunately, the Welsh rider was able to quickly remount on a new bike, while Pogačar et al eased up on the pace to let him rejoin the group.
Race Highlights
It wasn’t until the halfway point that a breakaway finally materialized, with 19 riders containingthe likes of Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadeirs), Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), Steinhauser and Sánchez coming to the fore.
With 50 kilometers to go, 4 riders escaped over the Passo Duron, who were quickly joined by Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) and Vendrame. But, the septet didn’t stay together for long, with Vendrame launching what appeared to be a doomed attack with 30 kilometers still to go.
However, Vendrame continued to increase his advantage, later swelling to around a minute along the final climb.
In the meantime, Steinhauser and Sánchez made a few efforts to bridge their way across, but the duo was only able to pull back a handful of seconds on the lone leader.
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