Denmark’s Mads Pedersen won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia after the peloton caught a two-man breakaway with the finishing line in sight.
Pedersen claimed victory following a sprint after Australia’s Simon Clarke and Italian Alessandro de Marchi were passed with about 250m to go.
Italy’s Jonathan Milan was second, with Pascal Ackermann of Germany in third on the 162km stage through Naples.
Norway’s Andreas Leknessund retained the overall lead of the race.
Pedersen, 27, has now won stages at the Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana and Giro d’Italia.
“I’m pretty happy. It’s what we came for,” said Pedersen.
“It was a tough day for the team and it’s nice to pay them back with this victory – a good day.
“It was pretty close in the end, it was not easy to catch them for a long time. We really had to use everyone.
“I feel sorry for those guys because they did really well but I’m happy I could take the win.”
Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas had an issue with his bike with just under 12km to go but recovered to finish with the peloton and is sixth overall.
Compatriot Mark Cavendish’s Astana team said, shortly after the finish, he had “crashed earlier in the stage in the end of the descent from Colle San Pietro”.
The team later issued an update saying that, even though Cavendish had picked up some new “abrasions”, he “feels good” and had “avoided any serious injury”.
Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic, who also had an issue with his bike, is fifth.
Belgian’s Remco Evenepoel, who crashed twice on stage five, finished in the peloton and remains second in the general classification, 28 seconds behind Leknessund.
“It’s not nice, especially early in the Giro like this,” said Evenepoel prior to the start of the sixth stage on Thursday.
“[I have] some pain in the back, some big bruises. I’ve got a big black spot on my back which is some blood.
“It’s life, it’s racing. We have to deal with it and just handle the pain as well as possible and try to relax as much as possible because I think I will need a lot of energy now to heal from the wounds.”
Leknessund said he feels “ready for the mountain stage” on Friday, which will be a 218km ride from Capua to Gran Sasso d’Italia.
Stage six
1. Mads Pedersen (Den/Trek Segafredo) 3hrs 44mins 45secs
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita/Bahrain Victorious) same time
3. Pascal Ackermann (Ger/UAE team Emirates)
4. Kaden Groves (Aus/Alpecin-Deceuninck)
5. Fernando Gaviria (Col/Movistar team)
6. Michael Matthews (Aus/Team Jayco-Alula)
7. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita/EOLO-Kometa Cycling Team)
8. Marius Mayrhofer (Ger/Team DSM)
9. Lorenzo Rota (Ita/Intermarche-Circus-Wanty)
10. Simone Velasco (Ita/Astana Qazaqstan Team)
General classification
1. Andreas Leknessund (Nor/Team DSM) 22hrs 50mins 48secs
2. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick Step) +28secs
3. Aurelien Paret-Peintre (Fra/AG2R-Citroen) +30secs
4. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) +1mins
5. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +1min 12secs
6. Geraint Thomas (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +1min 26secs
7. Aleksandr Vlasov (Neutral/Bora-Hansgrohe) same time
8. Toms Skujins (Lat-Trek-Segafredo) +1min 29secs
9. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +1min 30secs
10. Vincenzo Albanese (Ita/Eolo-Kometa +1 min 39secs
