Giro: Stage win for Sagan

Peter Sagan creates his Italian masterpiece on stage 10, grabbing first Giro d’Italia win in style with stunning solo victory, Ben Swift 4th – Race leader João Almeida third and extends lead

Giro: Stage win for Sagan

An undulating parcour welcomed riders back to the Giro d’Italia after its first rest day. The 177km stage featured four short but steep categorised climbs, but with the hardest of these being third category, this wouldn’t slow the peloton down too much as they headed towards the finish in Tortoreto.

On a day that would suit the Classics riders, there was no surprise when Peter Sagan was among the riders trying to get in the break. Brought back once, it looked like the Slovak rider had missed his chance, with a group of five heading off up the road, but after Matteo Fabbro made his move and was pulled back, Peter slipped away and managed to bridge across. In the scramble for places in the escape group, their number went up and down until settling on seven, barely allowed much more than thirty seconds on the peloton in the early stages, before extending this gap to five minutes at its peak, after the peloton had called off the chase.

Making the most of being in this lead group, Peter set about claiming the maximum points in the intermediate sprint, before settling in for the race to the finish. With some distance still to go, the break started attacking one another with 30km remaining, as these efforts brought the peloton nearer, the gap less than a minute at the 20km to go point and shrinking steadily.

Seven riders became two before, with 12km to go, there was one left – Peter Sagan – the BORA-hansgrohe rider having attacked in true Classics style on the last climbs. Dipping into the final 10km, he had a slim lead over the peloton, pushing his bike-handling skills to the limit on the wet and slippery roads. With just twenty seconds’ lead on the peloton, the final kilometre came into view and by now, everyone knew that Peter was going to take his first win at the Giro d’Italia in spectacular style, not only taking the win, but one of the most memorable both of his career – finally having taken victories in all three Grand Tours.

Peter Sagan: “I’m very happy with this victory which also has a special meaning to me since it is my first one ever at the Giro d’Italia. My previous victory was last year at the Tour de France, so I had to wait a bit to get this result. The team and the fans had their expectations, so I owed them a victory. I was on the podium a lot of times but there is a big difference between first and second place”.

“We knew that going in the breakaway would be important today but I can guarantee you it wasn’t easy at all. It was very hard, it took a lot of effort and I think the escapees today were the ones with the best legs. On top of that, once our group was formed we had to work hard for a long time because the peloton, with Groupama-FDJ in front, also tried hard to bring us back. It took us a long time to build an advantage. On the final climbs, especially the last one, I knew I had to give it my all because I needed to have a gap and then make sure I didn’t crash on the last descent. I lost a bit of time there and in the final 7km it was important to ride on the limit because behind me there was a group of 10-15 riders that certainly wanted to catch me.”

Brandon McNulty (Second): “I got a puncture on one of the steep climbs and I had a long chase back on. It was a reduced group and no one had a teammate so I knew that if I could get a jump on the group then I could stay clear and that’s exactly what happened. I knew I was close to Sagan – the stage win would have been nice but also second place on the stage is incredible. Every day is possibly the last day here, so everyone is all-in everyday. We hope to continue but safety is the most important thing for all the riders and also all of Italy .”

Photo: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

João Almeida (third and race leader): “It was a hard day at the office, but I made it with the help of this tremendous team, who rode so hard for me and without whom I wouldn’t be where I am now. I felt good, despite the cold temperatures and the rain, and when Bilbao went, we remained calm and focused, and just did our homework, which concluded in bringing him back in the final kilometers”, said João, who leads the race by 34 seconds.

“Third after such a stage is a nice result, it feels good to get another podium at this beautiful race. The four seconds I got on the line isn’t that much, but every second counts and can prove important when all is said and done. I don’t know how far I can go with this pink jersey, I’m just honoured to have it on my shoulders for more than a week and I’ll just continue to take it day by day and see where that takes me.”

RESULT
1 Peter Sagan Bora-Hansgrohe 04:01:56
2 Brandon McNulty UAE Team Emirates + 19
3 Joao Almeida Youth jerseyLeader jersey Deceuninck-Quick Step + 23
4 Ben Swift INEOS Grenadiers + 23
5 Jai Hindley Team Sunweb + 23
6 Rafal Majka Bora-Hansgrohe + 23
7 Patrick Konrad Bora-Hansgrohe + 23
8 Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb + 23
9 Domenico Pozzovivo NTT Pro Cycling Team + 23
10 Pello Bilbao Bahrain-McLaren + 23

11 Tao Geoghegan Hart INEOS Grenadiers + 23
12 Vincenzo Nibali Trek-Segafredo + 23
28 James Knox Deceuninck-Quick Step + 01:38
125 Alex Dowsett Israel Start-Up Nation + 20:51
126 Matthew Holmes Lotto Soudal + 20:51
127 Jonathan Dibben Lotto Soudal + 20:51

OVERALL
01 Joao Almeida Deceuninck-Quick Step 39:38:05
02 Wilco Kelderman Team Sunweb + 34
03 Pello Bilbao Bahrain-McLaren + 43
04 Domenico Pozzovivo NTT Pro Cycling Team + 57
05 Vincenzo Nibali Trek-Segafredo + 01:01
06 Patrick Konrad Bora-Hansgrohe + 01:15
07 Jai Hindley Team Sunweb + 01:19
08 Rafal Majka Bora-Hansgrohe + 01:21
09 Fausto Masnada Deceuninck-Quick Step + 01:36
10 Hermann Pernsteiner Bahrain-McLaren + 01:52