Italy’s Davide Ballerini won stage six of the Giro d’Italia after the favourites crashed on the final cobbled sector in Naples.
Rain started to fall as the peloton geared up for a bunch sprint when four riders fell on a cobbled corner, causing chaos and taking France’s Paul Magnier and Italy’s Jonathan Milan out of contention.
Ballerini, 31, of Isle of Man star Mark Cavendish’s former team XDS-Astana, was on the inside of the right-hand corner and slipped by the mess of riders and bikes to power up the hill towards the finish line, keeping Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven of Soudal-Quick Step at bay.
Stuyven’s team-mate Magnier, who remains in the ciclamino points jersey, recovered to finish third, with British sprint hopefuls Ben Turner of Netcompany Ineos Cycling fifth and Ethan Vernon of NSN Cycling 19th after also being caught up in the crash.
The incident was another example of the bizarre ‘domino effect’ in cycling when riders’ bikes appear to slide out from under them after a first rider hits the floor without any contact, often several metres apart – the likely cause being the hurried application of brakes.
First of all, decorated Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenwegen of Unibet Rose Rockets hit the deck at the same time as team-mate and compatriot Elmar Reinders, before Venezuela’s Orluis Aular of Movistar fell, as Norway’s Tobias Lund Andresen of Decathlaon-CMA CGM hit the tarmac further back.
The four floored riders caused several others to stop to avoid the mess, leaving Ballerini to go from third to first and hold on to win.
Portugal’s Afonso Eulalio of Bahrain-Victorious remains in the overall leader’s pink jersey after Wednesday’s epic win in Potenza.
He eased off before the end thanks to the rule which protects riders’ times if they crash within five kilometres of the finish.
The overwhelming favourite for the overall win on 31 May in Rome, Denmark’s two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard of Visma-Lease a Bike is still six minutes 22 seconds down.
But he and the other main contenders for the overall are expected to catch up during Friday’s climb to Blockhaus in the Abruzzo apennines.