The race’s first summit finish looms on the horizon.
Napoli – the city that gave this year’s Serie A champions – returned at the Corsa Rosa with a 162km stage that despite its hilly first part, was always expected to culminate in a bunch sprint, given the final 30 kilometers, that were completely flat.
Some riders had other ideas and quickly formed a breakaway that made the peloton work hard behind in order to catch them. Despite the fact that only two riders remained off the front with more than twenty kilometers to go, the chasers somehow allowed them to keep a considerable margin which the duo almost carried all the way to the line.
The bunch – where Remco Evenepoel, resplendent in his rainbow jersey, was surrounded by his teammates – found themselves one minute behind with eight kilometers to go, an extra incentive for the breakaway to keep going. It looked like they would make it, only for a late injection of pace at the front of the group to overhaul the duo an agonisingly 300 meters from the line, thus giving the sprinters another opportunity to fight for the win, which went to Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).
“It was a fast stage, but we remained focused all the time, made sure of being at the front on the descents, so we can be content with how things went. I feel better now and hope that things will continue going in the right direction”, said Remco, who retained his place on the podium ahead of the Campo Imperatore summit finish.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
