photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) soloed to victory in stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia today, while Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) kept his grip on the Maglia Rosa.
Carapaz attacked as the peloton caught the breakaway about 4.5 kilometers from the end of the day’s final climb, holding off his pursuers to clinch his first Giro stage win since he won the Italian Grand Tour back in 2019
Meanwhile, Del Toro edged out Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) in a bunch sprint for second, about 10 seconds behind Carapaz, at the end of the 186-kilometer (116-mile) slog from Viareggio to Castelnovo ne’ Monti.
The bonus seconds also saw the Mexican rider extend his overall lead slightly to 31 seconds over Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and 1:07 ahead of Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious).
Earlier, the opening 40km saw a flurry of attacks from the likes of Mattia Cattaneo (Soudal-QuickStep), Yanis Voisard (Tudor), Alessandro Verre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), and Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
However, it wasn’t until Xabier Azparren (Q36.5) and Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked over the intermediate sprint at Borgo a Mozzano that the two riders opened up a slight gap over the peloton. But, that move was short-lived as the race quickly came back together.
More attacks ensued from there, with Wout Poels (XDS-Astana) and Wilco Kelderman (Visma-Lease A Bike) later riding clear over the climb of the Barga. But, the duo was soon joined by Lorenzo Fortunato, Mads Pedersen, Mathias Vacek, Bart Lemmen, Jan Tratnik, Nairo Quintana, Davide Piganzoli, Pello Bilbao, James Knox, Marco Frigo and Luke Plapp just before the Alpe San Pellegrino climb, while the peloton trailed at 1:40 behind.
With 11km still to go on the climb, Fortunato attacked from out of the break, pulling out a 30-second lead.
With 5km kilometers still remaining in the climb, Plapp provoked further splits in the break as Quintana, Poels and Bilbao joined him to try and chase down Fortunato.
Meanwhile, back in the peloton, Egan Bernal made a move off the front, which was closely marked by the UAE duo of Del Toro and Ayuso.
However, everything came back together on the descent, with 42km still standing between the riders and Cerredolo.
At Cerredolo, the lead group was still holding onto 2:15 gap, with Fortunato leading the way across the intermediate sprint before they began the Toano ascent.
From there, break battled its way up the day’s final climb, only to be caught with 9km left, with Carapaz attacking, while Del Toro and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) chased in earnest.
It wasn’t long before Carapaz pulled out a 30-second gap by the top of the climb, duly hanging on to claim the stage honors.
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