German Maximilian Schachmann from Berlin scored a fifth victory for Quick-Step Floors at the Giro d’Italia, after Elia Viviani’s four bunch sprints, to equal last year’s tally (four by Fernando Gaviria and one by Bob Jungels). The first Maglia Bianca of the 101st edition of the Corsa Rosa (eighth in the opening time trial in Israel) took advantage of the first winning breakaway en route to Prato Nevoso.
The uphill finish proverd brutal for race leader Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott) who lost contact with Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb), Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain – Merida) and Chris Froome (Team Sky), his closest rivals on GC. His lead over the defending champion is now reduced to 28 seconds.
STATISTICS
- First Grand Tour for Maximilian Schachmann and first stage win. He’s the third German rider to win an uphill finish at the Giro d’Italia after Rudi Altig at Rocca di Cambio in 1966 and Udo Bölts at Pila in 1992, out of 35 German stage victories in the whole history of the Corsa Rosa.
- The first 18 stages of the 101st Giro d’Italia have been won by riders from 10 different nations: Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Great Britain and Slovenia.
- German riders have won 190 stages in all three Grand Tours: 35 at the Giro, 87 at the Tour de France, 68 at La Vuelta.
- Ruben Plaza was close to becoming the 93rd rider to win a stage in each of the Grand Tours after he won stage 20 to Alcala de Henares (ITT) in the La Vuelta in 2005, stage 16 to Gap in the 2015 Tour de France and stage 20 to Cercedilla in La Vuelta the same year.
- 28 seconds is the closest gap between the leader and the runner-up in the overall rankings after stage 18 since Denis Menchov led the 2009 Giro d’Italia by 26 seconds over Danilo Di Luca.
FINAL RESULT
1 – Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) – 196km in 4h55’42”, average speed 39.770km/h
2 – Ruben Plaza (Israel Cycling Academy) at 10?
3 – Mattia Cattaneo (Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec) at 16?
4 – Christoph Pfingsten (Bora – Hansgrohe) at 1’10”
5 – Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates) at 1’26”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
2 – Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 28?
3 – Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain – Merida) at 2’43”
4 – Chris Froome (Team Sky) at 3’22”
5 – Thibaut Pinot (Groupama – FDJ) at 4’24”
6 – Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) at 4’54”
JERSEYS
- Maglia Rosa (pink), general classification leader, sponsored by Enel – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott)
- Maglia Ciclamino (cyclamen), sprinter classification leader, sponsored by Segafredo – Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)
- Maglia Azzurra (blue), King of the Mountains classification leader, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott), jersey worn by Giulio Ciccone (Bardiani CSF)
- Maglia Bianca (white), young rider general classification leader, sponsored by Eurospin – Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team)
PRESS CONFERENCE
The stage winner, Maximilian Schachmann, said: “We knew it was probably going to be a good day for a breakaway, although so far none had worked. The first nine attackers went pretty early. I have to say a big thank you to Michael Morkov who took me on his wheel to jump as the last two riders to reach the front group. I knew I had quite good legs, so I tried to bring home the victory in a safe way. I tried to keep energy for the last few meters before the finish line. I knew the last 2km would be fine for me. I didn’t panic when [Ruben] Plaza came across. He’s an experienced rider but I believed he’d be dropped again. With this victory, I’m already pretty close to the top of world cycling. It’s the most enjoyable part of my career but I know it’ll be harder in the future.”
The Maglia Rosa, Simon Yates, said: “Today it was an explosive big effort, which is not my forte. After Tom Dumoulin’s first acceleration, I looked at him to see how he was. When he went the second time, I couldn’t close the gap. I was tired. But I’m ok with it. I have no regret to have spent a lot of energy earlier in the Giro because this is what I needed to do. If I didn’t race so aggressively before, I would be behind Dumoulin. I collected almost 50 seconds in time bonuses – that’s more than my overall lead now. I only felt bad for one kilometre today. I’m still in the lead and the coming two mountain stages suit me much more than today’s.”
