Giro d'Italia: Cima wins stage 18

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Damiano Cima took a breathtaking win for Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane on stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia and provided one of the most dramatic moments of this year's race after narrowly holding off the chasing bunch including a hugely frustrated Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates), who led the sprint home behind.

Cima and his breakaway companions, Nico Denz (AG2R la Mondiale) and Mirco Maestri (Bardiani CSF) came into the finishing straight with a slender lead over a rampaging peloton and when Denz and then Maestri were swallowed up it looked as though the sprinters would deny the break a famous win.

"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. It's insane. It's the dream of a lifetime," Cima said in a flash interview following the stage.

Ackermann hit the front and looped around Denz and Maestri but Cima miraculously held on to take the biggest win of his career and his team's first-ever Giro '’Italia stage win. The sight of Ackermann smashing his bars while Cima celebrated said it all and had the line been 10 metres further the outcome would have been different. However, the bunch at times were reluctant to chase and Cima was a deserving winner on a day that only sparked to life in the last hour of racing.

There were no changes in the overall standings with the Richard Carapaz (Movistar) retaining his lead over Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain Merida) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) ahead of the race's final set of mountain stages and Sunday’s finale in Verona.

How it unfolded

After several days of break and mountains stage 18 was a rare chance for the sprinters still in the race. It took over an hour for the break to final form and the likes of Ackermann would have been content with three riders to control. However, after almost three weeks of brutal racing nothing is ever straightforward. Arnaud Démare – the leader of the points classification - was unwilling to commit to the chase as he feared a straight shoot out between himself and the German. A break suited the Frenchman which left Ackermann relying on Israel Cycling Academy and the Dimension Data to provide support.

The bunch should have still had enough firepower to keep the three leaders in check but when the six minute advantage had dropped by only two minutes with 35km to go alarm bells began to go off in the peloton. Démare was still not moved into collaborating with the chase while token gestures from QuickStep and Lotto Soudal did little to help.

With 16km to go the stage remained in the balance with the break working well and the gap still at a respectable 2:07. A tailwind and a willingness to work ensured that the advantage was still over a minute with 10km. The bunch still had numbers, while the break were obviously tiring and when Denz accelerated from the break with just over 3km to go it looked as though the harmony within the leaders was completely shot.

However, the peloton were intent on fluffing their lines one last time. Rather than finish their race with a flourish and prove that the past were days in the mountains weren’t a waste of time or energy they eased off when the break was within touching distance.

That hesitation was all the leaders needed and even though they began to weave from one side of the road in a bid to make Denz lead out, they still had the line in their sights. FDJ finally hit the front in the final moments and when Denz and Maestri were drowned in the sprinters' waves it looked as though Ackermann would safely surf to his third win of this year’s race. However, Cima last kick for the line was all he needed.

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