Richard Carapaz (Movistar) won the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday as Chris Froome once again crashed in rainy conditions.
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) kept the overall leader’s pink jersey on the second mountain finish after a 209km run up though southern Italy from Praia a Mare to the monastery of Montevergine di Mercogliano.
Chris Froome crashed onto his right side as he did before the opening stage time-trial in Jerusalem, but he managed to finish in the leading group.
Carapaz made a break 1.4km from the line. The 24-year-old held on in the tricky conditions, finishing seven seconds ahead of a large chasing group containing all favourites.
Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) finished second followed by Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), who crossed in third to move up in the overall standings to fourth, 41sec behind Yates.
“It was a slippery but it was okay,” said Yates.
“I think so,” he replied when asked if he could win. “I feel really good and I just need some good luck. I have great teammates to help me do this so I don’t see why not.”
“Tomorrow will be a bit more difficult,” added Yates of Sunday’s ninth stage which finished at 2,135 metres altitude at Gran Sasso d’Italia with a gruelling 26.5km climb at Campo Imperatore, where Benito Mussolini was imprisoned in 1943.
Giro d’Italia 2018 – stage 8 results (Praia a Mare – Montevergine di Mercogliano):
| 1 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | 5:11:35 |
| 2 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +07” |
| 3 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 4 | Enrico Battaglin (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 5 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 6 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 7 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 9 | Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) | ,, |
| 10 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | ,, |
| 11 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 12 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | ,, |
| 13 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | ,, |
| 14 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | ,, |
| 15 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | ,, |
| 16 | Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 17 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 18 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | ,, |
| 19 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 20 | Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
General classification after stage 8:
| 1 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | 31:43:12 |
| 2 | Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) | +16” |
| 3 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +26” |
| 4 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +41” |
| 5 | Domenico Pozzovivo (Bahrain-Merida) | +43” |
| 6 | Rohan Dennis (BMC) | +53” |
| 7 | Pello Bilbao (Astana) | +01’03” |
| 8 | Richard Carapaz (Movistar) | +01’06” |
| 9 | Chris Froome (Team Sky) | +01’10” |
| 10 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’11” |
| 11 | Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’12” |
| 12 | Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac) | +01’39” |
| 13 | Sam Oomen (Team Sunweb) | +01’42” |
| 14 | Carlos Betancur (Movistar) | +01’44” |
| 15 | Patrick Konrad (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’46” |
| 16 | Sergio Henao (Team Sky) | +01’47” |
| 17 | Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data) | +02’00” |
| 18 | Tanel Kangert (Astana) | +02’01” |
| 19 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | +02’02” |
| 20 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +02’12” |
