The Italian Champion comes close to his first victory at this edition of his home Grand Tour.
A pancake-flat 144km-long stage between Ravenna, the former capital of the Western Roman Empire and of the Ostrogothic Empire, and Modena kicked off the second Corsa Rosa week. As soon as two riders decided to animate stage 10, Pieter Serry moved to the front of the peloton, assuming pace-setting duties together with delegates from other teams and making sure of reeling in the duo inside the last 30 kilometers.
With three kilometers to go, Francisco Ventoso (CCC Team) clipped off the front, taking advantage of some urban cobbles and corners to put around ten seconds between him and a bunch which began panicking as the lead-out trains desperately tried to slot their sprinters into a good position.
A high-speed crash under the flamme rouge, just as the Spaniard was being caught, took several riders out of contention, leaving a small group to fight for victory. After safely navigating this eventful finale thanks to Fabio Sabatini, Elia Viviani moved into the wheel of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), from where he kicked out with 100 meters to go, finishing second – behind Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) – and notching up his third podium at this edition.
“I jumped out from Ewan’s wheel and powered ahead straight down the middle of the road, but Demare was strong and could keep his speed until the end, despite putting in a long sprint. We have another opportunity on Wednesday and I hope to be again up there and fight for victory”, an upbeat Elia said in Modena, where the Giro d’Italia returned after more than three decades.
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