Australia's Jai Hindley
outsprinted Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart to win the 18th stage
of the 103rd Giro d'Italia, a 207km high-mountain leg from
Pinzolo near Trento to Laghi di Cancano near Sondrio.
Dutchman Wilco Kelderman, who came in fifth 2'18'' behind
Hindley, grabbed the leader's pink jersey from Portugal's Joao
Almeida.
Kelderman has a few seconds on second-placed Hindley and
third-placed Geoghegan Hart in the general classification.
Almeida trailed in seventh, 4'51'' behind Hindley, and Italian
favourite Vincenzo 'The Shark' Nibal came eighth with the same
time as the former leader.
Kelderman, with an overall time of 77h46'56", precedes his
teammate Hindley, second at 12"; with Hart third at 15". Fourth
is Spain's Pello Bilbao, at '19"; fifth Almeida, now at 2'16"
from the lead. Nibali is eighth, 5'47" back and now out of the
race for final glory in Milan on Sunday.
Nibali said: "It was a tough day and, even though nothing
happened yesterday, the 5,000 metres of climb today made
themselves felt on everyone's legs. On the Stelvio there was a
strong pace right from the start, with Sunweb pushing. When it
was 8-9 km from the top, and we were already 2,000 metres high,
there was a further acceleration by the Ineos riders, with
Geoghegan Hart and Dennis.
They burst wide open the little group that had formed, and the
whole race. I was left on my own, I went forward as far as I
could and I arrived with the (old) pink jersey.
"The others are going faster, there's not much to be said.
"There's a new generation coming through, it's clear the others
have time on their side. I think I'm the only one born in 1984
who's challenging the leaders...
"Hindley is very strong, we already saw that at Piancavallo,
when he started setting a very high pace....
"Nothing's going to happen tomorrow, (but) the day after
tomorrow the race will blow wide open again", concluded the Trek
captain.
How they finished Thursday:
1. Jai Hindley (Aus) in 06h03'03" 2. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Gbr)
s.t. 3. Pello Bilbao (Spa) a 00'46" 4. Jakob Fuglsang (Dan) a
01'25" 5. Wilco Kelderman (Ola) a 02'18" 6. Patrick Konrad (Aut)
a 04'04" 7. Joao Almeida (Por) a 04'51" 8. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
s.t. 9. Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) s.t. 10. Fausto Masnada (Ita)
a 04'55" 11. Rafal Majka (Pol) a 06'43" 12. Domen Novak (Slo) a
08'15" 13. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) a 08'17" 14. Rohan Dennis
(Aus) a 08'33" 15. Ben O'Connor (Aus) a 11'48".
General classification:
1. Wilco Kelderman (Ola) in 77h46'56" 2. Jai Hindley (Aus) a
00'12" 3. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Gbr) a 00'15" 4. Pello Bilbao
(Spa) a 01'19" 5. Joao Almeida (Por) a 02'16" 6. Jakob Fuglsang
(Dan) a 03'59" 7. Patrick Konrad (Aut) a 05'40" 8. Vincenzo
Nibali (Ita) a 05'47" 9. Fausto Masnada (Ita) a 06'46" 10.
Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) a 07'23" 11. Rafal Majka (Pol) a
07'28" 12. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) a 09'34" 13. Sergio Samitier
(Spa) a 26'12" 14. Brandon McNulty (Usa) a 33'12" 15. James Knox
(Gbr) a 34'49".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA