Deceuninck – Quick-Step sprinter racks up 17th Grand Tour top 3 stage finish.
Last opportunity for the sprinters on the first week of the Corsa Rosa came in Pesaro, at the end of a 239km-long stage spiced up by some small hills, a tricky descent and several tight corners, all jammed inside the last 20 kilometers. This combination prompted a swift attack from three riders, who went on to carve out a 40-second advantage that forced a reaction from the bunch, who pegged them back with six kilometers to go.
Eros Capecchi and Bob Jungels led the peloton onto the downhill of Monte San Bartolo, before Florian Sénéchal and Fabio Sabatini stretched out the pack going into the last two corners. Sitting in fifth wheel, Italian Champion Elia Viviani opened his sprint with 150 meters to go and finished second, behind Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) and ahead of the maglia ciclamino, for his second podium at the 102nd Giro d’Italia.
The general classification – where Pieter Serry lies in eighth place – remains unchanged ahead of stage 9, one of the most important of this edition, a 34.8km individual time trial between Riccione and San Marino, which features in the second half a challenging 5.6km climb averaging 6.2%.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield/ Getty Images
