Joao Almeida edged out Geraint Thomas to assert victory on stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia on a summit end however the Welshman moved again into the Maglia Rosa chief’s jersey as he moved nearer to turning into the oldest winner of the race on the age of 37.
Following Monday’s relaxation day, racing resumed over a troublesome 203km mountain course from Sabbio Chiese to Monte Bondone.
A gaggle of round 25 riders had made an preliminary breakaway from the entrance of the peloton because the course headed on to the category-three climb of Passo Bordala.
Jumbo-Visma continued to push on the entrance of the peloton, with Ineos-Grenadiers’ Pavel Sivakov later dropped on the Matassone ascent the place Astana duo Vadim Pronskiy and Christian Scaroni launched an assault.
With round 52km left of stage 16, the entrance pair had been caught by the chasing group, which held a lead of simply over 4 minutes over the peloton approaching the ultimate climb of the day on Monte Bondone.
As the tempo was picked up, the breakaway had been once more reeled in as Almeida and Thomas made their transfer together with Jumbo-Visma’s Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglic within the common classification group.
Heading into the final 4.5km, Thomas launched his personal assault as he and Almeida dropped their rivals.
It was Portuguese rider Almeida, although, who had probably the most left within the tank to dash clear within the ultimate 150 metres to assert victory for UAE Team Emirates and decide up most bonus seconds.
Slovenian Roglic completed third, which noticed him drop 25 seconds within the GC standings, forward of Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AIUla), who moved as much as fifth total in consequence.
Bruno Armirail (Groupama–FDJ) noticed his hopes of retaining the Maglia Rosa fade as he dropped again heading into the ultimate 10km.
Thomas now has an 18-second lead over Almeida, with Roglic third, now 29 seconds off the tempo.
However, Ineos Grenadiers confirmed Sivakov had adopted Tao Geoghegan Hart and Filippo Ganna in dropping out of the race after failing to shake off the impression of a crash throughout a moist eleventh stage.
“It was a very tough day, a lot of climbs, I am happy with how it went. I found myself in front with Almeida, he was better in the sprint,” stated Thomas.
“It would have been nice to win the stage, but I had to keep riding – didn’t want to be caught playing cat and mouse with Joao with Roglic behind.
“It is nice to be back in pink and gain some time, but it’s obviously not great to lose a team-mate (Sivakov).”
Almeida hailed his maiden Giro stage victory as a “dream come true”.
He stated: “I was feeling well and the whole team was extraordinary. I try to improve day by day to become the best version of myself.”
Wednesday’s seventeenth stage will probably be a flat 195km course from Pergine Valsugana to Caorle.