Belgian Thomas De Gendt (Lotto) won the 8th round of the Giro lit by Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel’s vain, Saturday in Naples.
Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek) retained the leader’s pink jersey, but Frenchman Guillaume Martin, who was present at the breakaway of the day, recovered nearly three minutes into the overall classification and climbed to fourth place.
To win on stage, De Gendt ran ahead of his last three companions, Italian Davide Gabburo, Spaniard Jorge Arcas and another Belgian Harm Vanhoucke.
At the age of 35, De Gendt won the Giro again, ten years after his first victory on the Stelvio stage and his third place in the final classification. It also has stages on two other Grand Tours, the Tour de France and the Vuelta, on its list.
The breakaway of about twenty runners, who opened the race from the 14th kilometer, was fixed with an acceleration by van der Poel at the entrance of the last 50 kilometers. But the Dutchman, closely guarded by Eritrean Biniam Girmay and Swiss Mauro Schmid, had to let a counter (Gabburo, De Gendt, Vanhoucke, Arcas) form a few moments later.
Under De Gendt’s impetus, the leading quartet maintained their lead until the seafront finish was judged.
For the general classification, the candidates remained in anticipation on the eve of the main stage of the first week, arriving at the top of the Blockhouse in Abruzzo. With the exception of Martin, who oversaw a general reclassification operation of the same kind last year at the Tour de France and at the Vuelta
Sunday, the 9th stage, 191 kilometers long, shows nearly 5,000 meters of elevation increase. It ends at the Blockhaus, 1,665 meters above sea level, above Pescara.
Source: Radio-Canada
