Italy’s Alberto Bettiol won stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia with a stunning acceleration on the final climb in the Italian lakes.
Bettiol, of XDS-Astana, rocketed past Norway’s Andreas Leknessund over the top of the ascent on a road packed with fervent Italian fans, after the pair pulled away from the rest of a strong breakaway group.
Bettiol, 32, eventually won the 189km stage in bright sunshine by 26 seconds over Uno-X Mobility’s Leknessund, despite nearly crashing after bouncing violently over a drain grate as he took more and more risks to secure victory.
Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven of Soudal-Quick Step finished third at the head of a smaller group, 44 seconds back, with Britain’s Mark Donovan fifth.
“I won [this stage] before because all the family are here, and my girlfriend and her family are from Verbania, so I consider it my second house,” said Bettiol afterwards.
“But winning like this is something I will bring forever with me. I knew every single corner in last 50km because sometimes I train here. For me [I was] at the limit for this climb but I knew my shape was good.”
In the fight for the overall win, Portugal’s Afonso Eulalio of Bahrain-Victorious remains in the pink jersey, 33 seconds ahead of Denmark’s two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard.
Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard, 29, is widely expected to claim pink before the three-week race reaches Rome on 31 May, and Saturday’s huge mountain stage in the Italian Alps may well be the day he swaps the blue jersey of the king of the mountains for the pink one of the overall leader.
Vingegaard dismissed reports he was affected by an illness earlier in the week, insisting he felt “100%”.
Bettiol added his second Giro d’Italia stage win to a palmares which also includes the one-day ‘monument’ the Tour of Flanders, which he won in 2019.
Meanwhile, Lorena Wiebes of the Netherlands won a sprint finish on stage two of the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas in Spain.
The star SD Worx sprinter came over the line first, in a bunch which saw Britain’s Millie Couzens of Fenix-Premier Tech finish seventh.