Belgian veteran Thomas de Gendt claimed another fine breakaway victory at a Grand Tour by winning stage eight of the Giro d’Italia in Naples.
The 35-year-old was part of an initial breakaway before attacking again in the latter stages and winning a four-man sprint at the end of a hilly circuit.
It is the Lotto-Soudal rider’s fifth Grand Tour stage win, 10 years after his first in the Giro.
Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez kept hold of the leader’s pink jersey.
Lopez, the early leader but not seen as a real challenger for the overall race win, finished in the peloton with most of the main contenders for the general classification.
Frenchman Guillaume Martin was part of the initial breakaway which finished three minutes ahead of the peloton, allowing him to jump from 14th to fourth in the overall standings.
Sunday’s stage, which features a number of large climbs, will be the first test of the contenders, which includes Britain’s Simon Yates.
On his stage win, De Gendt said: “Today was one of those days that suits me.
“Ten years after the Stelvio stage [his first Giro win] I finally win a stage at the Giro again.
“If you asked two weeks ago if I was able to I would have said no because I was in such bad shape. Now the good legs are coming.”
Stage eight results
- Thomas de Gendt (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) 3hrs 32mins 52 secs
- Davide Gaburro (Ita/Bardiani-CSF-Faizane) same time
- Jorge Arcas (Spa/Movistar) same time
- Harm Vanhoucke (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) +4secs
- Biniam Girmay (Eri/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux) +15secs
- Mauro Schmid (Sui/Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) same time
- Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin-Fenix) same time
- Woet Poels (Ned/Team Bahrain) +33secs
- Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis) same time
- Fabio Felline (Ita/Astana Qazaqstan) +2mins56secs
General classification standings
- Juan Pedro Lopez (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) 32hrs 15mins 31secs
- Lennard Kamna (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe) +38secs
- Rein Taaramae (Est/Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) +58secs
- Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis) +1min 6secs
- Simon Yates (GB/Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +1min 42secs
- Mauri Vansevenant (Bel/Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) +1min 47secs
- Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 55secs
- Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +1min 58secs
- Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +2mins
- Richie Porte (Aus/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 4secs
