Giro d'Italia: Peter Sagan wins stage 10

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Peter Sagan (Bora-Hasngrohe) sprinted to victory on stage 10 of the Giro d'Italia in Foligno, beating Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) to the line after his team had worked hard to shed several sprint rivals on a hilly section earlier in the stage.

The Slovakian took advantage of a lead-out from Gaviria's teammate Juan Sebastián Molano in the final 400 metres of the stage, coming out of the final bend at the front and successfully holding off the challenge of Gaviria, while Davide Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) rounded out the podium further back.

Sagan, who also won stage 10 at last year's race, albeit from the breakaway, had his team push hard on the unclassified Cantoniera and fourth-category climb of the Valico della Somma climbs around 40 kilometres from the finish of the race's shortest road stage.

They succeeded in shedding Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos), and stage 2 winner Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), leaving only a handful of top sprinters to contend the finish. Sagan's win – and the 50 points that came with it – means he now moves into the maglia ciclamino as leader of the points classification, enjoying a 17-point lead over Gaviria and Cimolai.

"For sure – today I think was a very good day for us," Sagan said after the finish. "We tried our best, and in the end, I won and I'm very happy for that. I have to say thanks to all my teammates.

"When Caleb Ewan won the second stage, I was very good. It was an uphill and I had very good legs. I started from a little back and I had good speed, but I was closed on the barriers and luckily, I didn't crash.

"Today I'm very happy to win a stage like this. It was a great effort from all the team. Day by day – we still have halfway to go and I will try my best [for the points jersey]."

Despite the stage being one for the sprinters, there was movement in the general classification battle, too, albeit in the smallest increment possible. Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) retains the maglia rosa, but his lead over Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) has now been reduced from 15 to 14 seconds after the Belgian pipped him to the line at the second intermediate sprint of the day.

How it unfolded

After two tough weekend days for the climbers and GC men to come to the fore, Monday's tenth stage of the Giro d'Italia brought one of the few remaining chances for the sprinters to get a win on the board.

A short 139-kilometre run from L'Aquila to Foligno in central Italy provided more challenges than previous sprint days as the peloton were set to weave through the foothills and valleys of the Appennines. Several hills would provide the challenge in the final third of the stage, including the Valico della Somma, 38 kilometres from the line.

The early parts of the stage, which featured the uncategorised climb of Sella di Corno from the very start, saw the breakaway establish themselves early on, with some familiar names getting away from the peloton to make the move of the day.

Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) and Simon Pellaud (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) were out front yet again, each making the break for the fourth time in 10 stages. The pair were joined by stage 3 winner Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Samuele Rivi (Eolo-Kometa), and Kobe Goossens (Lotto Soudal).

After the five men got away, the peloton quickly relaxed, letting the group head off up the road and build their gap. Each sprinter's team was represented on the front, with a man apiece from the likes of Jumbo-Visma, Bora-Hansgrohe, Alpecin-Fenix, and Cofidis working to limit the break's advantage ahead of the expected sprint finish.

That gap was limited to two minutes, with no chances taken by the sprint squads on the shortest road stage of the Giro. There was, then, little reward out on the road for the five men in front, with the first intermediate sprint at Rieti seeing Rivi beat Marengo and Pellaud across the line.

Back in the peloton, Viviani grabbed three points for sixth place, beating Andrea Pasqualon (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert) and Sagan. Meanwhile, the break's lead fell by around 30 seconds after the quintet were forced to stop at a level crossing.

Heading across the mid-point of the stage, their advantage was back up to two minutes, however. But with Bora-Hansgrohe moving to the front of the peloton to work for Peter Sagan in an attempt to try and shed some sprinters over the hilly section at 60 to 40 kilometres to go would mean the break wouldn't last much longer.

The unclassified Cantionera climb saw the German team push the pace hard, spitting Groenewegen out the back, while Merlier and European champion Nizzolo lost contact on the Valico della Somma.

There, Israel Start-Up Nation also set to work on behalf of Cimolai, and the break was brought back before the top as Nizzolo and teammate Victor Campenaerts began the furiously working to try and make it back to the peloton.

The pair pushed hard in the valley road but were no match for the full teams of Sagan and Cimolai, and Nizzolo could be seen shaking his head in an admission of defeat at 25 kilometres to go. Groenewegen and Merlier, meanwhile, were long gone, meaning there would be a new sprint victory following Caleb Ewan's withdrawal at the weekend.

At the second intermediate sprint in Campello sul Clituno, 18 kilometres from the finish, there was the novel sight of two GC men doing battle with makeshift lead-out trains.

New maglia rosa Bernal took third place behind his closest challenger Evenepoel, while the Colombian's Ineos teammate Jhonatan Narváez snaffled up first place, with the end result seeing Evenepoel move from 15 to 14 seconds down.

Bora-Hansgrohe moved back to the front shortly afterwards, joined by GC teams wary of possible crosswinds on the flat run-in to Foligno. The threatened winds didn't come though, and so the final run was all about the overall contenders avoiding crashes as the sprinters battled for position.

Gaviria was stuck on Sagan's wheel as the peloton reached the outskirts of Foigno, with Viviani and his pilot Simone Consonni next in line and Cimolai lurking behind his compatriot. The likes of Astana-Premier Tech, DSM, and Deceuninck-QuickStep were all visible up front on the run-in but heading into the final two kilometres Bora-Hansgrohe were back in charge.

Thankfully, almost all riders in the peloton safely navigated the three tight corners around the one-kilometre mark, with Max Kanter (Team DSM) the unlucky rider to hit the deck. Bora-Hansgrohe and UAE Team Emirates led the way into the final metres, with Molano hitting the front around the final bend and Gaviria not managing to latch onto his teammate.

Sagan, however, was able to grab the wheel, and sprinted from the slipstream of the Colombian to take the second Giro d'Italia stage win in two participations.