Another battle was waged on the roads of the Giro. After two stages devoted to sprinters, the road rose again and offered a great fight. The race had almost no breaks, except for the first twenty kilometers after the start in Diamante. The stage had 4,490 meters of positive altitude difference, 4 passes and guaranteed to be quite a challenge.
From the start, the battle to get into the breakaway was fierce. Anthony Perez tried his luck a few times, riding with Formolo for a while on the first pass. But the best move of the day was made on the climb of Mount Sirino. Davide Villella was one of the seven riders in the breakaway. They had a lead of more than 5 minutes, while Guillaume Martin and Rémy Rochas remained in the pink jersey group.
Villella, on the verge of success
Davide Villella showed a lot of courage. After suffering a slight fall and changing his bike, he managed to stay with the breakaway and fought like never before to keep up the pace. For a while, the Italian stayed within sight of the leading quartet. Davide finally crossed the line in the 5th position, 2 min 25 sec behind the winner, Koen Bouwman.
Guillaume Martin was 14th in the stage (2 min 59 s behind). He is now 4 min 06 sec behind the pink jersey, Juan Pedro Sanchez.
Tomorrow, he will have to get back on the bike once again. Although the stage will be short (153 km) around Naples, it promises to be intense with a 19 km circuit to be covered five times. The stage should end in a sprint and allow Simone Consonni to try his luck again.
