
After yesterday’s early rest day, the Giro d’Italia peloton were back in action this afternoon with the first mountain test awaiting them and the finish atop Mount Etna. Rolling out from the start line in Avola, it was a punchy beginning to the day as a fierce fight to join the breakaway ensued over the lumpy terrain with Nico Denz involved in an early move that was brought back. Eventually the elastic snapped and a large group went clear, with all Team DSM riders in the peloton, where focus switched to conserving as much energy as possible for the finale.
The breakaway would be afforded a large enough gap to fight for the stage win and take over the lead of the race, while in the bunch the pace increased in intensity as they hit the foot slopes of the ascent. After some good work by the rest of the team, Chris Hamilton, Romain Bardet and Thymen Arensman were well positioned as the climb ticked by, with Hamilton doing the final bit of positioning work until five kilometres to go. From there, the pace increased another notch and the GC group thinned down but no major gaps were made as Bardet and Arensman rode strongly together. Coming into the finish Bardet claimed a nice eighth place finish on the stage, as he moves up to tenth on GC, with Arensman crossing the line in 13th.
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | KÄMNA Lennard | BORA - hansgrohe | 4:32:11 | 100 |
2 | LÓPEZ Juan Pedro | Trek - Segafredo | ,, | 40 |
3 | TAARAMÄE Rein | Intermarché - Wanty - Gobert Matériaux | 0:34 | 20 |
8 | BARDET Romain | Team DSM | 2:37 | - |
14 | ARENSMAN Thymen | Team DSM | ,, | - |
44 | HAMILTON Chris | Team DSM | 5:56 | - |
72 | TUSVELD Martijn | Team DSM | 13:31 | - |
94 | COMBAUD Romain | Team DSM | 19:17 | - |
143 | BOL Cees | Team DSM | 29:25 | - |
157 | DENZ Nico | Team DSM | 29:55 | - |
164 | DAINESE Alberto | Team DSM | ,, | - |