Giro d’Italia 2023: Filippo Zana outduels Thibaut Pinot in thrilling finish to win Stage 18

Thibaut Pinot’s pursuit of a fairy tale ending to his final Giro d’Italia was derailed by the Italian champion Filippo Zana (Team Jayco-AlUla) in a thrilling two-way sprint at the end of the first of two massive days in the Dolomites.

French veteran Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) crested four climbs in pole position to move back into the blue jersey – but his missed out on that elusive win by a whisker after Zana outlasted him on the home straight in Stage 18.

In the chasing pack, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) presented Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) with a conundrum to unwrap on his 37th birthday – but the Welsh veteran kept his cool, and his pink jersey, to finish alongside his Slovenian rival at Val di Zoldo.

Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) was the big loser of the day after being dropped by his rivals on the penultimate climb following an injection of pace from Roglic’s dependable team-mate Sepp Kuss. Almeida, the white jersey, battled to limit his losses alongside team-mate Jay Vine, but crossed the line 21 seconds behind his two podium rivals.

Roglic moved back above Almeida in the new-look GC, while Pinot rose six places to seventh after his near-perfect day in the breakaway – the Frenchman now 67 points clear of Ireland’s Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) in the king of the mountains standings.

After coming through the first of three remaining mountain tests unscathed, Thomas leads Roglic by 29 seconds on GC with Almeida third at 39 seconds. Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco-AlUla) was distanced late on by Almeida but moves above Italy’s Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) into fourth place at 3’39”.

Zana and Pinot were part of a strong seven-man break that held a maximum lead of over five minutes over the peloton as the sun shone over the majestic Dolomiti Bellunesi of north-east Italy.

Frenchman Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) took third place on the stage ahead of the irrepressible Canadian Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech), compatriot Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroen) and Italy’s Marco Frigo (Israel-PremierTech). Kazakhstan’s Vadim Pronskiy (Astana-Qazaqstan) was passed by the chasers after the GC battle kicked off on the third of five brutal climbs on the menu.

– – –