Thomas step closer to Giro glory
Leader enjoys 37th birthday by matching Roglic’s attack Pinot denied again as Zana sprints clear for the stage win
Geraint Thomas celebrated his 37th birthday by strengthening his grip on the leader’s Maglia Rosa on stage 18 of the Giro d’italia as Filippo Zana left Thibaut Pinot distraught again.
Thomas was able to follow a late move from Primoz Roglic on the approach to Val di Zoldo as Joao Almeida dropped back, and the two then worked together to keep the Portuguese behind and take 20 seconds out of him, enough to move Roglic up to second.
With one mountain stage to come and a mountainous time trial before Sunday’s finale in Rome, Thomas leads by 29 seconds from Roglic, with Almeida 39 seconds in arrears.
“To gain time on Almeida and not get dropped by Primoz, it was a solid day, for sure,” Thomas said. “Obviously, it’s nice [to gain time] but Primoz had a bad day the other day and Almeida did today. I’ve just got to keep being consistent.”
The Maglia Rosa crossed the line a little under two minutes after Italian champion Zana sprinted clear of Pinot, who for a second time in a week came within a few metres of a first career Giro stage win in his final appearance in the race.
The leading duo had been part of a six-strong breakaway group who were allowed an advantage of up to six minutes on the 161-kilometre stage from Oderzo, but eyes were further back on the first of the mountainous trio of stages that will decide who wears pink in Rome.
Thomas, who is aiming to become the race’s oldest winner, was in confident mood as his Ineos
Grenadiers team-mates drilled the pace at the front of the peloton. They quickly shed several riders as the road ramped up inside the final 30km.
Roglic showed his hand as Jumbo-visma team-mate Sepp Kuss guided him to the front to launch an attack. Thomas was quickly on his wheel but Almeida dropped back. Jay Vine did his best to bring his UAE Emirates team-mate back but could not fully close the gap after running wide on the short descent into the 2km climb to the finish.
Irishman Eddie Dunbar finished just behind Almeida to move up to fourth overall.