Mads Pedersen fends off Wout van Aert to claim fourth stage win at Giro d'Italia
Mads Pedersen claimed his fourth stage victory of the Giro d'Italia after holding off Wout van Aert on an uphill sprint finish in Vicenza, with Isaac Del Toro finishing third to strengthen his grip on the Maglia Rosa leader's jersey.
Friday's 13th stage ran over 180km from Rovigo, taking in four category-four climbs.
A nine-rider breakaway built a lead of around two minutes, but was eventually pulled back in by the peloton heading towards the final 50km before Lorenzo Germani and Christian Scaroni started another attack.
Although Romain Bardet and Mathias Vacek also went for a counter heading into the final climb, there never looked enough distance to the chasing pack, who closed up during the final 500m.
Danish rider Pedersen then powered through the last sprint battle for the line ahead of Belgian Van Aert (Team Visma), with Del Toro also making another podium.
Ireland's Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) finished 16.08 minutes down, crossing the line 145th, while Daniel Rafferty came home 89th.
In the general classification standings, Mexican del Toro (UAE Team Emirates XRG) now holds a 38-second lead over Spanish team-mate Juan Ayuso.
Italian Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) is one minute and 18 seconds back, with Britain's Simon Yates (Team Visma) fourth and former winner Primoz Roglic (Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe) sitting in fifth.
In the points standings, Bennett is 38th.
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