Jai Hindley and Tao Geoghegan Hart jumped seconds from the pink jersey as the Giro d’Italia exploded on the slopes of the famous Stelvio
Hindley clinched the Londoner’s Stage 18 victory on the line as Sunweb Australian teammate Wilco Kelderman took the rose off João Almeida’s shoulders, but a dramatic day left the race delicately poised for Last weekend
Kelderman may have inherited the lead but he too struggled, finishing two minutes and 18 seconds behind his teammate, and the fight for the pink could still be a battle between two riders who came into the race as That domestic Hindley sits 12 seconds from pink, with Geoghegan Hart of Ineos Grenadiers seated threatening in third, three seconds down, after a day in which he came of age as a Grand Tour driver
JAI 🆚 TAOThe Last Km of a stage that will go down in history JAI 🆚 TAOL’ultimo km di una tappa che rimarrà nella storia # Giro picTwittercom / GQXNxgqhiM
It was inevitably the snow-capped Stelvio, the highest cobbled mountain pass in the Eastern Alps at 2,757m, that served as the stage for a radical change of scenario Almeida, resplendent in pink since the third stage on Etna more than two weeks ago, faded early on this 25 km race to the top and others – among them Vincenzo Nibali and Jakob Fuglsang – have quickly followed
As Rohan Dennis downsized Geoghegan Hart’s power, the biggest surprise came when Kelderman was dumped with nearly 10 miles of climb ahead. Hindley didn’t wait for his teammate, resolutely sticking to the Ineos pair at the summit
The young Aussie got more drama as he struggled to put on his jacket, almost crashing his bike at one point, before fighting his arm But neither he, nor Kelderman behind, could close their jackets before the summit – setting off for the hectic descent exposed to the biting cold with the wind chill putting temperatures below zero
Kelderman made it over the summit about 46 seconds after the leading group, Almeida nearly three minutes later, although he recovered part of it on the way down. But as they reached the valley as they approached the next climb, Kelderman quickly backed off, passed by a Pello Bilbao and a recovering Fuglsang as Geoghegan Hart and Hindley thought about fighting for the pink.
A performance at Kelderman’s scrapyard would deny them that, but with such narrow deficits covering the top three, the race is wide open now Bilbao is fourth, one minute and 19 seconds later, while Almeida is down fifth , two minutes and 16 seconds later
“It was a crazy, super tough day, the hardest day of my life,” said Kelderman “It was a great fight It couldn’t be better for us with Jai taking the stage victory and me in pink We dropped Almeida pretty early on the Stelvio and then it was a race – Ineos was super strong with two guys and I couldn’t hold them back «
A massive sprint is planned for Friday on the relatively flat stage 19 to Asti before another mountain test in Sestriere on Saturday, although stage 20 was watered down due to forced changes to the route The winner, however, will only be known after the close of Sunday’s time trial in Milan
• More details and news from the third stage of Vuelta a España will appear here later
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Giro d’Italia, Ben O’Connor, Jai Hindley, João Almeida
News from the world – AU – Hindley and Geoghegan Hart finish at the top of the Giro d’Italia after the confrontation with the Stelvio
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
