Alberto Dainese won the eleventh stage in the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday. The Italian was the fastest in a blistering bunch sprint and thus gave the Dutch-tinted Team DSM its first WorldTour victory of the season.
Initially Fernando Gaviria seemed to take the stage win in the streets of Reggio Emilia, but in the final meters he was overtaken by 24-year-old Dainese. For the sprinter, it is only the third win of his career and the first in a Grand Tour.
Dainese’s victory is a boost for Team DSM. The cycling team of Dutch team boss Iwan Spekenbrink has only won twice before this season and is only just above the relegation zone on the WorldTour ranking.
Although the ride to Reggio Emilia was completely flat, there were some shifts in the general classification. Top favorite Richard Carapaz captured three bonus seconds along the way and is moving up to second place in the general classification. The Ecuadorian is twelve seconds behind rose jersey carrier Juan Pedro López.
Biniam Girmay did not start in the eleventh stage. The 22-year-old Eritrean received a hard cork from a bottle of prosecco in his eye after his stage victory during the podium ceremony on Tuesday and had to go to hospital for this. For Dainese, the cork had already been removed from the prosecco bottle.
Result eleventh stage in Giro:
- 1. Alberto Dainese (Ita) – 4.19.04
- 2. Fernando Gaviria (Col) zt
- 3. Simone Consonni (Ita) zt
- 4. Arnaud Demare (Fra) zt
- 5. Caleb Ewan (Aus) zt
- 6. Mark Cavendish (GB) zt
- 7. Edward Theuns (Bel) zt
- 8. Sacha Modolo (Ita) zt
- 9. Phil Bauhaus (Germany) zt
- 10. Lawrence Naesen (Bel) zt
Fans briefly cause panic
After Tuesday’s spectacular hill stage, it promised to be a quiet day for the classification riders. The profile of the eleventh stage to Reggio Emilia was almost flat, so it was the turn of the sprinters.
Immediately after the start of the 203 kilometer stage, Filippo Tagliani and Luca Rastelli jumped out of the pack. At the peak, the two Italians had a lead of about five minutes over the large group.
At about 100 kilometers from the finish, the nervousness in the peloton increased when the wind got free rein on the course. Led by top favorite Carapaz’s INEOS Grenadiers, the group also broke up into fans, but that was short-lived. Leaders Tagliani and Rastelli have been caught in the meantime.
Dries De Bondt made another attempt with about 60 kilometers to go. The rider of Mathieu van der Poel’s team held out for a long time, but was caught more than a kilometer from the finish, so that nothing stood in the way of a bunch sprint. In it, Dainese astonished friend and foe.