Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
France’s Paul Magnier made it a hat-trick of victories in the Giro d’Italia as he comfortably won a bunch sprint at the end of stage 18.
The 22-year-old Soudal Quick-Step rider was perfectly set up by teammate Jasper Stuyven in the final few high-speed turns on Thursday and powered to the line ahead of two Italian sprinters.
Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) was second with Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) third.
The highest-placed Australian finisher was Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), the 2022 Giro winner who came in 36th with compatriot Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling) six places behind. They retain their general classification positions of fourth and seventh respectively.
Victory for Magnier, who also won the first and third stages in Bulgaria, means he takes the lead in the fight for the points classification jersey.
Overall race leader Jonas Vingegaard attacked on the day’s short sharp final climb inside the last 10km but settled for a place in the main bunch to preserve his big lead.
Denmark’s Vingegaard (Team Visma – Lease A Bike), bidding to complete his set of Grand Tour triumphs, leads by 4:03 minutes with three stages left.
The 171-km stage came alive after a four-man break of Mattia Bais (Polti–VisitMalta), Andrea Mifsud (Polti–VisitMalta), Jonas Geens (Alpecin–Premier Tech) and James Shaw (EF Education–EasyPost) was caught with around 25 km to go.
The 1.1km Il Muro di Ca del Poggio ramp, with gradients of 19 per cent, provided a sharp sting in the tail and for a while it looked like Vingegaard might go for the stage win.
Previous General Classification leader Afonso Eulalio, who recovered from a crash earlier in the day when his arm got caught in a feed bag, also sensed an opportunity and briefly opened up a gap to the chasing pack.
But in the end it was a day for the sprinters and Soudal Quick-Step played the perfect hand as Stuyven led Magnier into the final tricky corner, giving his young teammate the perfect line for his final burst of acceleration to the line.
“I had a lot of confidence this morning,” said Magnier, who also wore the race leader’s Maglia Rosa jersey after his earlier stage wins. “My teammates made it into a sprint and I’m so happy to win. Jasper made an amazing lead-out.”
For stage favourite Milan, it was a disappointing day as he got out of position around the final corner.
“My guys did an amazing job and I have to say sorry to them, it was my fault to take that last corner as fourth wheel, I should have been right behind Magnier,” he said.
There was no movement in the general classification for other Aussies with Ben O’Connor (Team Jayco-Alula) remaining 10th and Chris Harper (Pinarello–Q36.5) 14th.
Friday’s 19th stage returns to the high mountains with a 151-km test in the Dolomites featuring 5,000 metres of climbing.
