Asgreen solos to Giro stage 14 win, Del Toro tightens grip on pink jersey
Asgreen was part of an early breakaway trio but, after several riders were brought down in a crash which split up the peloton, the Dane went for broke in the final kilometres and held off the chasing group.
"It was a tough day out there," Asgreen said. "It's annoying when you have to destroy yourself completely like this to win bike races but when it works out it's all worth it."
Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) outsprinted Dutchman Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) to take second place on the 195-km stage from Treviso to Nova Gorica in Slovenia.
Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) managed to avoid trouble and was with the chasing group which followed Asgreen over the line to increase his lead at the head of the general classification with Briton Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) climbing to second.
The Mexican began the day with a 38-second lead over teammate Juan Ayuso, but now has a gap of one minute and 20 seconds on Yates, with Ayuso a further six seconds back.
Asgreen went away with the Italians Martin Marcellusi and Mirco Maestri with the peloton expected to reel them in before the finish, but a stretch of wet, narrow cobbled streets threw those plans out of the window with less than 25km to race.
One-time race leader and winner of four stages Mads Pedersen was among those taken down along with Lidl-Trek colleague Giulio Ciccone, who had a nasty fall, but a reduced chasing bunch powered on, leaving many of Del Toro's rivals in their wake.
With the chasers closing in, Asgreen took off and coming into the final kilometre held a 16-second lead, enough to see the Dane home and able to celebrate long before the line, coming in 16 seconds ahead of the 16-man group.
That group contained Del Toro and Yates but many of the Mexican's main rivals were left counting the cost of that earlier incident which could have a huge bearing on the overall Giro result.
Pre-race favourite Primoz Roglic (Red Bull–Bora–Hansgrohe) began the stage one minute and 35 seconds behind Del Toro, but racing in his native Slovenia brought little joy as the 2023 winner remains fifth overall but is now two minutes 23 seconds adrift.
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