Tuesday 20 May 2014 19:16, UK
Nacer Bouhanni avoided a late crash to claim his third win of this year’s Giro d’Italia on stage ten in Salsomaggiore Terme as Cadel Evans retained the overall lead.
Pre-stage favourite Bouhanni was put under pressure when Giacomo Nizzolo launched a powerful burst for the line with 150m remaining, but the Frenchman was able to fight back to win by a bike’s length.
Both men had entered the final 1km at the head of the race and consequently missed a big pile-up just behind them, which happened when Tyler Farrar fell with just under 700m to go and brought down around 20 riders.
Several of the general classification contenders were held up by the incident, but because it took place inside the final 3km, all riders were awarded the same time for the stage, meaning Evans consolidates his 57-second lead over Rigoberto Uran overall.
Bouhanni said: “At the end it was really quick, but my team did it absolutely perfectly. They were all ready to help me and they gave me a very good approach to the sprint. I followed my team-mates and in the final 500m I did my job.”
The 173km tenth stage followed the second rest day and was ridden at a pedestrian pace up until a lone climb inside the last 10km.
Team Sky ramped up what had been a sedate pace on the uncategorised ascent as they attempted to drop pure sprinters such as Bouhanni and set up British rider Ben Swift.
They succeeded in lining out the peloton and caused small splits, but the bunch reformed on the descent back down to the finish line and the likes of Bouhanni and Nizzolo made their way back to the front in ample time to sprint for the win.
Evans said: “As expected after a rest day, everyone is a bit fresher physically and mentally. The final climb was very fast and the fresher riders were desperate to get to the front after the descent. It is often makes it a more dangerous finish.”
Stage 11 takes the riders on a 249km rolling stage from Collecchio to Savona.
Stage ten result
1 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) FDJ, 4:01:13
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Aus) Trek Factory Racing, same time
3 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, st
4 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
5 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Bardiani-CSF, st
6 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha,
7 Albert Timmer (Ned) Giant-Shimano, st
8 Ben Swift (GB) Team Sky, st
9 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC, st
10 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Neri Sottoli, st
General classification
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC, 42:50:47
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, +57secs
3 Rafal Majka (Pol) Tinkoff-Saxo, +1:10
4 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +1:20
5 Steve Morabito (Swi) BMC, +1:31
6 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, +1:39
7 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida, +1:43
8 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Belkin, +1:44
9 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +1:45
10 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Trek Factory Racing, +1:49
