Alberto Dainese (DSM) won the 11th stage of the Giro d’Italia, this Wednesday in Reggio Emilia, thus signing the first victory of an Italian rider in this edition.
Dainese, who had not won a stage in the Giro so far, overtook Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who was second, at the finish line.
Third in the stage was another Italian, Simone Consonni, while Frenchman Arnaud Démare, winner of the previous two sprint finishes, was fourth.
The Spaniard Juan Pedro López (Trek) retained the ‘pink jersey’ as leader of the general classification, after a 203-kilometre stage without great difficulties on the route, but marked by heat and wind.
Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, who entered 23rd with the same time as the winner, pocketed three bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint and moves up one place in the general classification, placing second. He is now equal in time with the Portuguese Joao Almeida, 12 seconds behind Juan Pedro López.
"I saw Carapaz gain time in an intermediate sprint, but I’m not as fast as him. he couldn’t do anything"commented López, leader of the Giro since the fourth stage.
"Anyway, I’m happy to keep the pink jersey for at least one more day"he underlined.
The stage had started in Santarcangelo di Romagna and was without the winner of Tuesday’s 10th stage, the Eritrean Biniam Girmay. The first black African rider to win a stage in one of the three major cycling rounds was injured in the left eye on Tuesday by the impact of a cork from a bottle of prosecco, which he was opening on the podium.
adventurers without fortune
On Wednesday, the peloton was grouped together for most of the time, with the exception of a breakaway made up of two riders (Luca Rastelli and Filippo Taglioni), who were caught shortly after the halfway mark, at the start of Bologna.
58 kilometers from the finish, the Belgian Dries de Bondt tried his luck alone and was caught 1,300 meters from the finish.
At the end of the stage, Demare led a long sprint and was overtaken by Gaviria, who was then overtaken by Dainese, the winner of the day.
"This morning our plan was to go to the sprint with Cees Bol (the other DSM team sprinter), but it didn’t work out like that"Dainese explained, very excited after the arrival.
The 24-year-old Italian took the third victory of his career. Last year he was second in a stage of the Vuelta a España, behind the Dutchman Fabio Jakobsen.
On Thursday, the 12th stage, the longest of this Giro, will cross the Apennines to join Parma and Genoa (204 kilometres), with a relatively flat last 30 kilometres.