DE BONDT SURPRISE SPRINTERS AS HE POWERS FROM BREAK TO SEAL WIN IN STAGE 18- GIRO D’ITALIA.
A four-man breakaway – Dries De Bondt (Alpecin–Fenix), Edoardo Affini (Jumbo–Visma), Magnus Cort (Education–EasyPost) and Davide Gabburo (Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè) – were left to contest Stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia after a miscalculation by the peloton. And De Bondt proved to be the strongest in a sprint finish as he sealed a first Grand Tour stage win.
Dries De Bondt (Alpecin–Fenix) won Stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia after the peloton miscalculated leaving a four-man breakaway to contest the stage.
Mark Cavendish had slogged his way through the mountains in the expectation to contest a bunch sprint, but a reduced peloton miscalculated and were unable to reel in the escapees, leaving De Bondt, to seal the stage win.
Stage 18 – a 156km ride from Borgo Valsugana Treviso – was thought to represent the last opportunity for the sprinters, but an early break – consisting of De Bondt, Edoardo Affini (Jumbo–Visma), Magnus Cort (Education–EasyPost) and Davide Gabburo (Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè) – stayed out all the way for De Bondt to pick up a first Grand Tour stage win.
Affini took second and Cort sealed third while Cavendish finished eighth.
Jai Hindley (Bora – hansgrohe) suffered a puncture within the final 3km and was thus given the same time as Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), meaning that the Ecuadorian retains his three-second advantage over the Australian in the general classification
