Best young rider of the race, Bob Jungels finished in the pack and will wear the white jersey for the 14th consecutive day.
For the Giro d'Italia peloton, Wednesday came with a much-awaited stage, an almost flat one, during which the riders could take it easy after another tough and fierce day in the mountains. Having bunch sprint written all over it, the stage saw only three men being willing to go in the escape: Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff), Daniel Oss (BMC) and Eugert Zhupa (Willier-Triestina). The leading trio put around six minutes between them and the peloton, before Lampre-Merida and Trek-Segafredo reacted and their furious chase melted the gap.
With 20 kilometers to go, Lars Bak (Lotto-Soudal), Maxim Belkov (Katusha) and Ignatas Konovalovas (FDJ) attacked from the pack and joined the three riders at the front, and the six of them made things more complicated for the sprinters' teams, who reabsorbed the escapees only inside the last two kilometers. With no lead-out trains to control the finale, Roger Kluge (IAM Cycling) took advantage of the situation and attacked, fending off the sprinters and landing the win ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and Nikias Arndt (Giant-Alpecin).
After previously getting involved at both intermediate sprints of the stage, Matteo Trentin sprinted to fifth, notching his best result at this year's Giro d'Italia, a race on which Etixx – Quick-Step left a heavy mark. For Bob Jungels, his teammate, it was an easy day at the office, which he finished in the same time as the winner. At the end of the stage, in Cassano D'Adda, he climbed on the podium to receive another white jersey, his 14th since taking command in the white jersey classification.
"It ws a chaotic final, with several attacks in the last kilometers. Kluge used his track skills and had a perfect timing, so congratulations to him. Behind, I opened my sprint, but probably did it a little bit too early and this cost me in the last 30 meters", was the analysis of Matteo shortly after the arrival. "Anyway, the important thing is that the condition is good, so in the next days I'll be ready to work for the team whenever it's necessary, but if another occasion will arise, then I'll try to grab it".
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele
