Giro d'Italia: Ewan wins stage 8

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) won stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia, triumphing in a sprint finish in the Adriatic coastal town of Pesaro. The Australian beat Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) to the line, having jumped from behind the German’s wheel in the closing metres.

Lotto Soudal had worked on the front of the peloton for the bulk of the stage, keen to secure a win for their star sprinter after a series of near misses so far in the race. Ewan had sprinted to third in Fucecchio, second in Frascati, and fourth in Terracina before today’s victory.

A tricky technical descent that ended just 3km from the line threatened to derail the sprinters’ chances, but luckily the possibility of rain was confined to a few light sprinkles and a short shower in the final ten kilometres.

Bora and Deceuninck were the teams in prime position heading to the seafront, with Ackermann in prime position, while Viviani eschewed his lead-out train once again to sit on Ewan’s wheel. A bend at 200 metres to go was navigated without any trouble before Ackermann launched the sprint 100 metres from the line.

Ewan came off the points classification leader’s wheel, his aero style clearly giving him the edge in the dash from the line. From further back, Viviani wasn’t close to Ewan, but edged past Ackermann to take another runner-up spot.

“We've been trying pretty much all seven days now that we've been here, and I'm just so happy to repay them with the win now,” said Ewan after the stage. “I thought if I was feeling good that I'd go first through the last corner, but it was still a long way to go and I wasn't feeling that good.

“It was quite a hard final – harder than I thought it would be. I just waited. I knew I had a good kick so I just waited until he [Ackermann] went then I came around him.

“It means a lot. I have a lot of pressure on me to win races now. The difference now is I'm expected to win. I had an alright start to the year, but not a great one. To win here means the world to me.”

Stage 8 saw no changes in the major classifications, with Valerio Conti (UAE Team Emirates) retaining the pink jersey, while Ackermann, Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), and Giovanni Carboni (Bardiani-CSF) kept the cyclamen, blue and white jerseys, respectively.

How it unfolded

Another long stage in the Giro d'Italia from Tortoreto Lido to Pesaro started under cloudy skies, with a threat of rain for the finish. The attacks went early in the pan-flat early kilometres, with Marco Frapporti (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Damiano Cima (Nippo Vini Fantini - Faizane) forming the day's move. The pair had Nathan Brown (EF Education First) along for a while, but the American decided against a likely fruitless day off the front of a sprinter's stage and went back to the peloton.

The Italian duo built up a maximum lead of just over six minutes before Lotto Soudal began to help reel them back, with Thomas de Gendt doing long turns for sprinter Caleb Ewan, almost singlehandedly controlling the breakaway.

There were a few crumbs of inspiration for the two leaders along the route, with intermediate sprints in Senigallia at km 127 and Calcinelli after 159.4km, and then a trio of small climbs - the category 3 Mombaroccio topping out at km 168.5, and category 4 climbs Monteluro (km. 203.7) and Gabicce Monte (km. 214.9) adding to the fatigue.

Cima took out the first sprint over Frapporti, and in the peloton behind Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) added to his tally in the sprint classification with third over points leader Pascal Ackermann. By the time the duo got to the second sprint, their lead had been cut in half. Frapporti claimed the sprint over Cima, with Oliver Le Gac (Groupama-FDJ) leading the peloton through while helping De Gendt bring the gap down.

On the category 3 climb the leaders had 2:47, with Frapporti taking the maximum points, and once De Gendt finally pulled off with 43.5km to go, the leaders had only 52 seconds in hand. Movistar, UAE Team Emirates, and Jumbo-Visma came to the fore to protect their leaders against any attacks on the next climbs.

As they went up the Monteluro, Cima was distanced and caught by the peloton, meanwhile mountain classification leader Ciccone put in an attack as the peloton closed in to under 20 seconds from Frapporti, easily bridged across to the Androni rider, had a chat, then sprinted full out to take the measly three points on offer at the top. Frapporti managed to come back to the Trek-Segafredo rider, but the pair had just eight seconds on the descent with 32km to go.

Soon, the peloton reeled in the escapees as the sprinters' teams - Bora-Hansgrohe and Groupama-FDJ in particular - pedalled a furious pace. Ciccone went again on the Gabicce Monte, taking out the points and getting away briefly with Francois Bidard (AG2R La Mondiale) and Louis Vervaeke (Sunweb), but with 22.7km to go and only 12 seconds, the attack would always be futile, especially when Deceuninck-QuickStep and Movistar started contributing to the pace in the peloton.

With another uncategorized climb at 20km to go, the trio built up a 42-second lead as the peloton eased somewhat to save their legs for the sprint. A tricky descent with some rain and wet roads called for maximum concentration for the riders, allowing the leaders to hold 34 seconds with 16km to go.

Luckily the rain let up and the riders traversed the technical descent with 10km without incident as the sprinters' teams brought the trio back to 16 seconds with 10km and one more unclassified climb to go. Vervaeke lost contact first as Bidard attacked, sensing the presence of the peloton just behind.

The trio’s move looked promising at one point, with a rain shower promising to make the task of catching them on the winding roads tougher. It passed quickly though, and the attack was brought back with 6.5km to go.

Deceuninck-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe took to the front on the tricky descent down into Pesaro. The German team lead the way under the flamme rouge, launching Ackermann on the short run to the line, but it was Ewan who prevailed to take his second career Giro stage win.

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