Isolaccia (Italy) (AFP)

The verdict of the Stelvio, the great pass in northern Italy, propelled the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) to the top of the Giro, after the 18th stage removed Thursday from the Cancano lakes by his Australian teammate Jai Hindley.

Kelderman, in difficulty in the last two climbs of this queen stage, however managed to seize the pink jersey, which the Portuguese Joao Almeida wore since the third stage in Sicily.

The positions tightened in the general classification, three days before the arrival in Milan.

Three riders clocked in in 15 seconds, with Hindley second at 12 seconds and Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart third at 15 seconds.

Almeida, who fell back to 5th place, stumbled over the endless switchbacks of the Stelvio, numbering 48. But the Sunweb team, which hardened the pace to put it in difficulty, took a backlash in this long ascent of nearly 25 kilometers.

Kelderman was left behind at 8 kilometers from the top of the Stelvio by Hindley and Geoghegan Hart, who had found support from Australian Rohan Dennis, who survived a breakaway launched at the start of the stage.

Dennis set a hellish pace up to the top, between snowfields at an altitude of 2,758 meters, where Kelderman, lonely, fell about forty seconds behind the trio.

The gap then grew until the Dutchman, second in the general classification, peaked at the foot of the final climb to the Cancano lakes (8.7 km at 6.8%) and was overtaken by the Spaniard Pello Bilbao and the Dane Jakob Fuglsang.

At the front, Geoghegan Hart and Hindley engaged in a duel which ended in a sprint in favor of the Australian, who had remained in his wheel throughout the climb.

Bilbao, more than a minute and a half behind at the bottom of the climb, moved closer to take third place on the stage at 46 seconds.

He moved to fourth place in the standings, 1 min 19 sec behind Kelderman, who finds himself in a position to win the first grand tour of his career at the age of 29.

Hindley (24), already very prominent last Sunday in the climb to Piancavallo, took his first WorldTour success.

On Friday, the race returns to the plain on the occasion of the very long stage (253 km!) Which links Morbegno to Asti.

© 2020 AFP