Italy’s Diego Ulissi claimed his second victory at the 2020 Giro d’Italia in a sprint finish on stage 13.
Ulissi, 31, edged out Portugal’s Joao Almeida, who extended his overall race lead after collecting six bonus seconds on the line.
Austria’s Patrick Konrad was third, with Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart finishing fourth on the 192km route from Cervia to Monselice.
Saturday’s 14th stage is a 34.1km time trial from Conegliano to Valdobbiadene.
Almeida, 22, who is racing in his first Grand Tour, now leads the race by 40 seconds from Sunweb’s Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman, with Spain’s Pello Bilbao a further nine seconds adrift.
“I am a bit disappointed with my second place, I wanted a stage win. I was really close but not close enough,” Almeida said.
“The goal was the stage win, the seconds is just a bonus. After the descent, the group was quite small. I saw three guys [team-mates] with me and I know I can be fast in small groups, so we tried. The team really deserve to have won but Ulissi was fastest.”
A largely sedate day of racing sparked into life in the final 40km, as a seven-man breakaway was reeled in and two categorised climbs in quick succession splintered the peloton.
Arnaud Demare, who has won four stages in this year’s race, was initially dropped on the Roccolo climb and although he fought his way back, was decisively dropped on the final climb, the Calaone.
Triple world champion Peter Sagan missed an opportunity to leapfrog the Frenchman in the points classification after falling back on the Calaone.
And with Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s James Knox and Fausto Masnada helping to maintain a high speed towards the line, Almeida finished half a wheel behind Ulissi in the sprint finish.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Michael Matthews says he has twice tested negative for coronavirus since withdrawing from the race before the start of stage 10.
The Sunweb rider was among a number of riders and support staff to test positive on the first rest day.
“I got a test the next morning which came back negative. Then on the Wednesday I got another test that came back negative. I am super-happy with that,” Matthews said.
“It’s sad to be out of the race but I am really happy I am fit and healthy and that I don’t have Covid-19.”
Stage 13 result
1. Diego Ulissi (Ita/UAE Team Emirates) 4hrs 22mins 18secs
2. Joao Almeida (Por/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) Same time
3. Patrick Konrad (Aut/Bora-Hansgrohe)
4. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB/Ineos Grenadiers)
5. Mikkel Frolich Honore (Den/Deceuninck-Quickstep)
6. Sergio Samitier (Spa/Movistar)
7. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana)
8. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain McLaren)
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Trek-Segafredo)
10. Jai Hindley (Aus/Sunweb)
General classification after stage 13
1. Joao Almeida (Por/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) 53hrs 43mins 58secs
2. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Sunweb) +40secs
3. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain-McLaren) +49secs
4. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita/NTT Pro Cycling Team) +1min 03secs
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Trek-Segafredo) +1min 07sec
6. Patrick Konrad (Aut/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 17secs
7. Jai Hindley (Aus/Sunweb) +1min 25secs
8. Rafal Majka (Pol/Bora-Hansgrohe) +1min 27secs
9. Fausto Masnada (Ita/Deceuninck-Quick-Step) +1min 42secs
10. Jakob Fuglsang (Den/Astana) +2min 26secs
Selected others
12. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GB/Ineos Grenadiers) +2mins 51secs
15. James Knox (GB/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +6mins 02secs
