FRENCHMAN ARNAUD DEMARE clinched a long-range, high-speed bunch sprint to win stage 10 of the Giro d’Italia on the cobbled streets of Modena on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old FDJ sprinter timed his move to perfection as Italy’s Elia Viviani came second and early pace setter Caleb Ewan finished fourth after a 60kph crash on the home straight took out German sprinter Pascal Ackermann.
Winner of two stages so far on the Giro and wearer of the sprint points jersey, Ackermann got back in the saddle and trundled across the line with the left side of his outfit in tatters, showing painful looking grazes.
Ackermann retains a slight advantage over Demare in the sprint points ranking and both riders intend, unlike many others, to finish the Giro in the hope of winning the Cyclamen Jersey.
For Demarre this was a first-ever Giro win, but the 27-year-old has been consistently in the mix on bunch sprints so far here and in 2019 won the Milan San Remo classic.
“We got it right today,” FDJ sports director Frederic Guesdon said after the race. “We had a good chat with him on the rest day and got him in the right mood.”
The rider himself said he had never let himself become downhearted watching others win.
“I have been very good but missed out for one reason or another,” said Demare.
“The team never lost confidence in me either.”
“I had a good look at the final kilometre ahead of the start at Bologna (which is 20km away) and decided to take the wide side,” explained the winner.
Italy’s Valerio Conti of the UAE Emirates team once again maintained his overall lead atop the GC standings.
Irish duo Eddie Dunbar and Conor Dunne finished 84th (3:36.07) and 145th (3:39.15) respectively today, leaving them 49th and 151st in the general classification.
Wednesday’s 221km of racing is the final flat stage for the sprinters before the Giro heads in to mountainous terrain, and it is likely to finish in a high-speed bunch sprint in the Piedmont city of Novi Ligure.
The stage and general classifications can be found here.
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That’s such a tough fight for Garry. Respect to him for taking it
@Ian O’Boyle: this will determine whether he is up there with Mystic Mac or not.. massive respect for taking this fight.
*170 pounds
Big test, Neal’s beaten Belal Muhammad, Ponzinibbio and Vincent Luque to name but a few top fighters. Ian will have the reach advantage though and will look to circle and pick from the outside like he did against Rodriguez. Good fight this one fingers crossed for him.
Hope I’m wrong bit think this is about 2 to 3 fights too soon for garry huge step up but hope he proves me wrong