Cima takes dramatic victory in stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia

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Damiano Cima (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane) snatched victory with a sprint finish, holding off a late charging peloton in Thursday’s 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia.

Cima had been part of a long range breakaway and edged Pascal Ackermann, who headed up the charging peloton, on the line after nearly five hours in the saddle, with Simone Consonni third.

Ackermann could later console himself after regaining the sprint points jersey, while the winner was left in a state of euphoria.

“I can’t believe what just happened. I’ve spent so many kilometres in breakaways during this Giro. I thought I’d never make it but I’ve won today,” said the rider from Brescia. “It’s insane, the dream of a lifetime.”

There was no change among the general classification with Movistar’s Richard Carapaz holding his 1min 54sec advantage over Vincenzo Nibali, with Primoz Roglic third at 2min 16sec.

“It’s been a quiet stage but a long one, intense at the beginning only,” said Carapaz. “I’ve had good support from my team again. Tomorrow will be an important test but I’m confident of keeping the Maglia Rosa (pink jersey).”

It was an eventful stage which got underway in Valdaora in the Dolomites.

Cima formed a three-man breakaway after 50km along with Mirco Maestri and Nico Denz, building up a maximum advantage of four and a half minutes on the pink jersey group.

The 222km stage gave the remaining sprinters a final chance as the route dropped to sea level, through the Venetian hinterlands to Santa Maria di Sala, concluding with a 2km sprint for the line.


Friday’s 19th stage returns to the mountains with a 151km run between Treviso and San Martino di Castrozza, concluding with a final 13.6km climb with a 5.6 percent gradient, on the eve of the big stage in the Dolomites.

Giro d’Italia 2019 – stage 18 results (Valdaora – Santa Maria di Sala):

1Damiano Cima (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane)

4:56:04

2Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe)

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3Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates)

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4Florian Senechal (Deceuninck-Quick-Step)

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5Ryan Gibbons (Dimension Data)

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6Manuel Belletti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec)

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7Davide Cimolai (Israel Cycling Academy)

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8Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ)

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9Sean Bennett (EF Education First)

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10Mirco Maestri (Bardiani-CSF)

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11Nico Denz (AG2R La Mondiale)

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12Paolo Simion (Bardiani-CSF)

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13Michael Gogl (Trek-Segafredo)

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14Juan Jose Lobato (Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane)

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15Josef Cerny (CCC)

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16Marco Haller (Katusha-Alpecin)

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17Marco Marcato (UAE Team Emirates)

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18Rüdiger Selig (Bora-hansgrohe)

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19Jenthe Biermans (Katusha-Alpecin)

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20Francisco Ventoso (CCC)

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Giro d’Italia 2019 – general classification after stage 18:

1Richard Carapaz (Movistar)

79:44:22

2Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida)

+01’54”

3Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma)

+02’16”

4Mikel Landa (Movistar)

+03’03”

5Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo)

+05’07”

6Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana)

+06’17”

7Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe)

+06’48”

8Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)

+07’13”

9Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos)

+08’21”

10Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe)

+08’59”

11Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates)

+09’20”

12Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin)

+10’32”

13Hugh Carthy (EF Education First)

+14’42”

14Joe Dombrowski (EF Education First)

+15’44”

15Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ)

+19’45”

16Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec)

+23’34”

17Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo)

+25’17”

18Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott)

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19Victor de la Parte (CCC)

+26’12”

20Tanel Kangert (EF Education First)

+28’42”

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