Denz breaks away to win for Roglic as Del Toro protects Giro lead
Nico Denz escaped from the remnants of a huge breakaway to win stage 18 of the Giro on Thursday as the surviving overall contenders took it easy ahead of two mountain-top battles.
Even so, the race continued to take a toll on the big names. Juan Ayuso started the stage but retired two days after Primoz Roglic, the other big pre-race favourite, pulled out.
Denz, a 31-year-old German, surged away from the other 10 remaining members of the lead group to give Roglic's Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe team their first win of a disastrous Giro.
"Everyone on the team had the big goal to win the Giro with Primoz," Denz said. "You lose a leader like Roglic, you lose a dream. But we turned it round."
Italian Mirco Maestri sprinted to second 1min 1sec later, edging Belgian Edward Planckaert.
Overall leader Isaac Del Toro rolled home alongside his main rivals 13min 51sec back. The Mexican has two former grand tour winners in close pursuit. He is a mere 41 seconds ahead of Richard Carapaz and 51sec ahead of Simon Yates.
Asked what he was on his mind on the eve of the final battle, the 21-year-old Del Toro replied that he would go to bed thinking of having Nutella for breakfast.
The transitional stage from Morbegno to Cesano Maderno was designed to give sprinters a chance and the main contenders a rest, ahead of two days of high-altitude battles.
Instead, a breakaway group of almost 40 riders, none well placed overall, coalesced up the road. With almost every team represented, the pack let the break go and spent the gently 144km run rolling easily along.
The stage ended with two 12.5km laps and the peloton was so slow that there was a danger it would start its first circuit just as the leaders were beginning their last loop.
Organisers solved the problem by asking the previously dormant Q36.5 team, which had no riders in the breakaway, to up the pace at the head of the pack.
Ayuso, the designated leader of the UAE team, started the day more than 49 minutes behind team-mate Del Toro, his right eye completely closed after he was stung by a hornet the day before. Ayuso had also been nursing a knee injury since a crash on stage nine that required three stitches.
Saturday's 166km run from Del Biella to Champoluc includes three first-category climbs. It is first of two two ferocious mountain days before the survivors can roll into Rome in triumph on a flat final day when the route passes the Vatican where the new pope is expected to watch.
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