Giro d’Italia 2023: Pascal Ackermann edges Stage 11, Mark Cavendish third, Tao Geoghegan Hart crashes out

The longest day of the Giro d’Italia was won by the finest of margins as Germany’s Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) pipped Italy’s Jonathan Milan (Bahrain Victorious) in a photo finish in Tortona.

Ackermann sprang from the wheel of Britain’s Mark Cavendish (Astana-Qazaqstan) to round Denmark’s Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) on the home straight to hold onto his first win of the season despite a late, late surge from Milan, the maglia ciclamino.

As Ackermann raised his arms aloft in celebration, Milan wagged a finger – the Italian debutant clearly believing he had done enough to double up on the 219km stage to the home town of the great Fausto Coppi.

But it was Germany’s Ackermann who was awarded the win by a whisker after the photo finish, with Cavendish showing a resurgence of sorts with a competitive third place that will fill the veteran Manxman with the belief that a 19th win on the Giro may still happen.

A late crash inside the final 2km split the peloton and ended the chances of many sprinters, including Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and Australia’s Michael Matthews (Jayco-AlUla). Although he was caught out on the wrong side of the split, Welshman Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) retained his slender two-second lead over Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) in the battle for the pink jersey.

The 2020 champion was among a number of Ineos riders who went down after Italy’s Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates) lost control on a slippery corner right in front of Thomas. Thomas was quickly back on his way while Roglic swapped bikes with Dutch team-mate Koen Bouwman before pressing on.

But on a dark day for Ineos Grenadiers, Geoghegan Hart – third place going into the stage – was ruled out, while Frenchman Pavel Sivakov never rejoined the peloton and plummeted out of the top 10.

Portugal’s Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) rose to third place at 22 seconds, with Norway’s Andreas Leknessund (Team DSM) and Italy’s Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) completing the new-look top five.

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