Big surprise at the Giro: Dversnes stuns the chasing peloton from the breakaway

The Norwegian won the sprint ahead of Marco Maestri of Polti Visit Malta and Martin Marcellusi of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber after a nail-biting finale in which the peloton threw everything at bringing back the four-man breakaway but ultimately failed. 

The escapees were left to fight it out in the sprint, where Dversnes proved the strongest from second position, beating the faster-fancied Maestri to the line and claiming a magnificent victory for Uno-X Mobility in their debut season as a WorldTour team.

Leader Jonas Vingegaard of Visma | Lease a Bike finished safely in the peloton to retain the maglia rosa, with Monday’s rest day now awaiting the bunch.

The stage profile suggested the day was likely to end in a bunch sprint and, with Unibet Rose Rockets, Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek controlling the chase at what seemed to be a safe distance, the breakaway never really looked like it had much of a chance. In the end, however, the sprinters’ teams miscalculated.

The day after the summit finish to Pila, the peloton rolled out of Voghera with many of the GC contenders already looking beyond Milan and towards the decisive third week.

The breakaway went clear almost as soon as the stage began, with Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber), Mattia Bais, Mirco Maestri (both Polti Visit Malta) and Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility) forming the move of the day.

Behind them, Unibet Rose Rockets, Soudal Quick-Step and Lidl-Trek quickly took control of the peloton, making their intentions clear. This was a day they wanted to finish in a bunch sprint. As a result, the breakaway’s advantage was never allowed to grow beyond three minutes.

With more than 100km still to race, the intermediate sprint provided a welcome injection of action. Jonathan Narváez and Paul Magnier battled for fifth place, with Magnier taking the sprint and a valuable point in the points classification, drawing level with the Ecuadorian.

After that, the focus shifted towards the expected sprint finish in Milan, with the breakaway’s advantage gradually being brought down. The most notable moment came with just over 40km remaining, when Jonas Vingegaard was seen alongside the race organisation’s car discussing the safety of the local Milan circuit. That ultimately led to the decision to stop the clock for the overall standings with 16.3km remaining.

In the meantime, the peloton still had to close the gap, and the breakaway held on surprisingly well. Between 20km and 10km to go in particular, the bunch struggled to bring the move fully under control.

Inside the final 10 kilometres, the peloton closed the gap to 20 seconds, but there were no longer enough fresh legs left to bring the four escapees back.