Novi Ligure (Italy) (AFP)
Last sprint before the mountain: the Australian Caleb Ewan has won in front of Arnaud Démare the 11th stage of the Giro, Wednesday in Novi Ligure (north-west), the city of "campionissimo" Fausto Coppi.
The explanation for the sprinters, the penultimate of this 102nd edition since only one other sprint is expected (18th stage), brought together the four best specialists. With advantage to the smallest, 165 centimeters, of the quartet.
Ewan won in a sprint in slight false flat and especially headwind. The young Australian (24) won for the second time since the start, four days after his success in the winding sprint of Pesaro.
His rivals could not worry him. Demare (2nd), the fastest the day before in Modena, consoled himself with the capture of the cyclamen jersey in the points classification to the detriment of the German Pascal Ackermann, third this time.
The German champion was presumptuous from a distance, facing the wind. But he crossed the line in front of the Italian Elia Viviani, the big loser of this sequence of sprints.
The Olympic champion of the omnium remained at zero victory, insofar as he was downgraded from first place to Orbetello (3rd stage). The opposite of his success of 2018 when he had removed four sprints.
"I am disappointed," admitted Viviani, the line crossed. "Something is not working, if I understood what was wrong, I would have won today, I may be lacking in explosiveness, but I do not think I'm out of condition."
- Viviani throws in the towel -
"I need to find serenity," said the Italian champion who announced his departure from the race rose. Ewan, who intends to put all the assets on his side to make his debut in the Tour de France, has also given up. "It's not illogical that sprinters leave the Giro prematurely, and from now on, it's almost only difficult stages that do not suit us," said the winner of the day.
For the riders of the general classification, the Giro begins from Thursday a new chapter. On the program, the 12th stage between Cuneo and Pinerolo, two cities entered in the history of the Giro in 1949 when Coppi had made a memorable raid of ... 192 kilometers.
The Italian champion had climbed at the top of the passes of the Maddalena, the Italian side of the Larche pass, Vars, Izoard, Montgenèvre and Sestrière. To reach the finish with almost twelve minutes ahead of his great rival Gino Bartali and seize the pink jersey.
If it is quite different this time, in a greatly watered down version, the 2019 course takes the first climb classified in the first category of this edition. The climb of Montoso, near Cavour, is very steep (8.8 km at 9.5%) but the summit is located 32 kilometers from the finish, which is preceded by a last little "wall" at 2 kilometers of the line.
"The main climb is difficult but I want to keep the pink jersey," warns Italian Valerio Conti, who has a lead of 1 min 50 sec on the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, the first of the favorites.
? 2019 AFP