Arnaud Demare of Groupama-FDJ took the win in today’s stage of the 2019 Giro d’Italia after a crash took down several of the sprint hopefuls. Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) retained the Maglia Rosa of General Classification leader
Who knew that Italy could be so flat? Stage 10 of the 2019 Giro d’Italia was a 145km jaunt from Ravenna to Modena with just 150m of elevation change. Heck, I had more elevation change than that on my last rail-trail ride.
After a slightly extended ride through the neutral zone, the flag dropped and Luca Covili (Bardiani-CSF) jumped off the front with Sho Hatsuyama (Nippo-Vini Fantini) joining. A very relaxed peloton let the two first-timers run out to a gap of four minutes in short order.
Today’s stage is just one of three sprint opportunities left in the race and everyone was looking for Pascal Ackermann to take another stage. For the team being though, everyone seemed to be enjoying an easy start back into another week of racing. The pace was hanging under 38 km/hr after 100km of racing.
The intermediate sprint points go to Covili the first time around with Hatsuyama jumping to take the bonus at the second sprint point.
The break got caught with about 30km remaining, but the gruppo was still calm. Ackermann and his BORA-hansgrohe teammates were seen moving up towards the front of the peloton.
With about 7km remaining, things started to perk up a little. Thomas De Gendt made a move that caught more than a few people by surprise, but there was still plenty of time for the sprint teams to come together.
Unlike some of the race’s earlier sprint stages, the finale today was a wide, straight 3km run into the finish in Modena.
Francisco Ventoso made the first attack with 2km to go, and holds it until the flamme rouge. A crash took down many of the sprint contenders, including Ackermann, opening up the sprint to FDJ and Arnaud Demare for the win.
Speaking seconds after the stage finish, the stage winner Arnaud Demare said: “We came to the Giro for this. I really wanted a stage win and I got it. I avoided the crash because we, as a team, were very well positioned. I’m super happy.”
The race leader Valerio Conti said: “I hope nothing bad happened to my team mate Simone Consonni in the crash. I have been well protected by my team the whole day. I thank them for giving me one more day in the Maglia Rosa.”
Stage 10 Brief Results:
- Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ 3:36:07
- Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) s.t.
- Rüdiger Selig (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
- Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) s.t.
- Giacomo Nizzolo (Dimension Data) s.t.
- Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy) s.t.
- Manuel Belletti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) s.t.
- Giovanni Lonardi (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) s.t.
- Jasper De Buyst (Lotto Soudal) at 2″
- Jacopo Guarnieri (Groupama-FDJ) at 4″
General Classification After Stage 10:
- Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates at 39h45’10”
- Nans Peters (AG2R La Mondiale at 1’50”
- Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma s.t.
- José Rojas (Movistar Team at 2’33”
- Amaro Antunes (CCC Team) 2’34”
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