Dhe 103rd Tour of Italy is heading for a heart-stopping final after an exciting royal stage. The Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) took over the pink jersey of the overall leader on the difficult 18th section, but only a few seconds separate him from his pursuers. When his teammate Jai Hindley (Australia) won, Kelderman was fifth, 2:18 minutes behind, while the previous leader Joao Almeida Portugal / Deceuninck-Quick Step) lost significantly more time in seventh (4:51).
In the battle for overall victory, Kelderman was only twelve seconds apart from Hindley and 15 seconds from Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos). The Brit finished second behind Hindley at the same time and made a strong impression. Third place went to the Spaniard Pello Bilbao in the torture over several mountain passes, some of which had to be overcome at three degrees and in the middle of a snow-white landscape. He is also still promising in the battle for Rosa. Almeida has dropped from first overall to fifth.
Jan Hindley wins the day’s victory on the queen’s stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia.
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Bild: AP
On the 207 km between Pinzolo and Laghi di Cancano there was an ascent of the highest, two of the first and one of the second category. Especially the 24.7 km long ascent to the Stilfser Joch, at 2758 m the highest point of this year’s Giros, demanded everything from the drivers. On the serpentines for the mountain classification there was then a decisive attack that tore apart the remnants of the peloton.
First Almeida had to be demolished, a little later Kelderman also fell behind. But the Dutchman was just able to keep the distance within limits on the remaining kilometers and take the overall lead. On Thursday morning, a supervisor from the Astana team tested positive for Corona, the test result has no effect on the rest of the race.
On Friday there is initially a flat stage before the field sets out for the final mountain stage on Saturday. Due to official requirements, this does not go through France as planned. Instead of the 2744 m high Colle dell’Agnello and the Col d’Izoard known from the Tour de France, the 20th and penultimate stage now includes three ascents to the destination Sestriere. The 103rd Tour of Italy is due to end on Sunday after an individual time trial in Milan.
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