Kasper Asgreen leaves it late to clinch stage 14 win at Giro d'Italia
The EF Education-EasyPost rider proved too strong for Italian pair Mirco Maestri and Martin Marcellusi with five kilometres to go and then held off the chasing peloton for victory.
The peloton's chase at the end of a flat 195-kilometre run from Treviso to border city Nova Gorica was dashed by a major crash on the closing circuit, which split the group with over 20 kilometres to go, as Asgreen finished 16 seconds clear.
Australia's Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and the Netherlands' Olav Kooij (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) led the peloton across the line.
Mexico's Isaac Del Toro extended his lead in the general classification, while Simon Yates moved up to second above Spain's Juan Ayuso, with Ecuador's Richard Carapaz climbing up to fourth.
General classification contenders Primoz Roglic, Ayuso, Egan Bernal, Antonio Tiberi and Giulio Ciccone were all held back by the incident and lost time.
Tyrone native Darren Rafferty (EF Education - EasyPost) crossed the line 62nd to move to 89th in the general classification, while Carrick-on-Suir sprint specialist Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) finished 122nd on the stage. 2020 Tour de France Green jersey winner Bennett is 43rd in the points standings.
Sunday's stage 15 sees the return of some major climbs with 3,900 metres of elevation gain across 214km from Fume Veneto to Asiago.
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