Foligno (Italy) (AFP)
Peter Sagan (Bora) won the 10th stage of the Giro in a sprint on Monday in Foligno, the first success since the start for the Slovak.
Egan Bernal (Ineos) kept the pink jersey the day after taking power.
The Colombian, however, had to let the Belgian Remco Evenepoel steal a second from him in a hotly contested intermediate sprint 18 kilometers from the finish.
Bernal, third in this sprint removed by one of his teammates (Jhonatan Narvaez), pocketed a second bonus.
But he was beaten by Evenepoel, now 14 seconds behind the Colombian in the general classification.
At the finish line, Sagan beat another Colombian, Fernando Gaviria, and the Italian Davide Cimolai, at the end of a tortuous final with a final turn less than 250 meters from the line.
Italian Stefano Oldani took 4th place after 139 kilometers of this stage preceding the first of two days of rest.
The breakaway (Pellaud, van der Hoorn, Marengo, Rivi, Goessens), launched from the start, was picked up by the peloton 43 kilometers from the finish, on the acceleration of the peloton led by the Bora team who intended outrun the sprinters in the only ascent of the course.
Several of them (Groenewegen, Merlier, Nizzolo) were released, without being able to return since the Israel SN team of Cimolai restarted the pace in the descent.
Sagan, 31, took away his second success in the Giro.
Last year, for his debut in the pink race, he also won a stage.
Three-time world champion between 2015 and 2017, the Slovak has 117 victories to his name.
© 2021 AFP