Caleb Ewan outsprints Demare and Ackermann in Giro d'Italia
May 22 2019 11:28 pm CET
Caleb Ewan (c)Lotto Soudal
Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) was the strongest sprinter at the end of the 11th stage of the Giro d'Italia. The Australian took his second stage victory in this edition of the race by outsprinting Arnaud Demare and Pascal Ackermann.
The route of the eleventh stage of the Italian grand tour followed the traditional itinerary of Milano-Sanremo up to three kilometres from the finish, and it was another chance for the fast men.
The escape group of the day was created in the first kilometres of the day by Damiano Cima, Mirco Maestri and Marco Frapporti - who has ridden more than 800 kilometres in breakaways so far in this edition of the Giro. The escapees created a gap of more than five minutes with the peloton and were finally reeled back in with 24 kilometres to go.
With four kilometres to go, Team Ineos' Christian Knees attacked but he was soon reeled back in. In the last stretch of the stage, the riders faced headwind which made it complicated to sprint successfully.
The first rider to launch his sprint was Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) but he was soon overtaken by Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) and Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ), who crossed the finish line in the first and second place respectively. Deceuninck-Quick-Step's Elia Viviani and Israel Cycling Academy's Davide Cimolai completed the top five of the day.
With his second position on the stage, Demare took the lead of the points classification from Ackermann. UAE-Team Emirates' Valerio Conti arrived safe and sound to the finish line and keeps the Maglia Rosa ahead of the first mountain stage.
The twelfth stage of the Corsa Rosa will take the peloton through a 158-kilometre hilly and intense route that features the climb of Montoso, the first climb of the first category of this edition of the race.
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