Giro d'Italia

Remco Evenepoel didn’t have any problems when it came to retaining the maglia rosa at the end of Monday’s long stage from Vasto to Melfi, which concluded with a small bunch sprint. The day was a pretty straightforward one, with just two classified climbs in the final part and some rain that made the riders extra attentive on the final descent.

Soudal Quick-Step controlled matters with Mattia Cattaneo and Louis Vervaeke, who then led out Remco at the intermediate sprint in Rapolla. The World Champion was first there, snatching three bonus seconds that helped him increase his margin over the closest opponent in the general classification to more than half a minute. From there on, the sprinters’ teams moved to the front and kept setting the tempo until the end, where Michael Matthews (Jayco-Alula) took the win.

“Everything went well today. The stage wasn’t hard and I had a very strong squad by my side the entire time. On the descent, which was wet and tricky, I wanted to have my teammates at the front, setting the tempo as we took on those narrow roads, and they did a great job. It wasn’t my plan at the start of the day to sprint for bonifications, but since I was there I decided to do it, because it didn’t cost me any energy”, said Evenepoel after the stage that brought him a third consecutive pink jersey.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images