King of the mountains leader Julian Arredondo won the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday as fellow Colombian Nairo Quintana held onto the overall race lead.
Trek’s Arredondo broke clear of an escape group in the final 4km and held off another compatriot, Fabio Duarte, to claim his maiden victory in the race.
“I’ve been trying since the start to win a stage,” said Arredondo, who was quick to thank his team’s for keeping faith.
Photo: AFP
“I want to thank the team for believing in me when I was a total unknown. I’ve been making huge sacrifices over the years without anyone really believing in me,” he said.
Irishman Philip Deignan of Team Sky took third on the stage, 37 seconds back at the end of the 171km stage from Belluno to the Panarotta Refuge.
Australian 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans was dropped by the group of favorites and lost his podium place. The 37-year-old BMC rider dropped from third overall overnight to ninth.
Quintana, who took the leader’s “maglia rosa” (pink jersey) by winning Tuesday’s 16th stage, leads another Colombian, Rigoberto Uran, by 1 minute, 41 seconds, with Frenchman Pierre Rolland up to third overall at 3:29.
“The time trial to Monte Grappa will be crucial, for me and the Giro,” said Uran, runner-up last year to Italian Vincenzo Nibali.
Arredondo had signaled his credentials earlier this season with two stage wins in the Tour of San Luis in Argentina and a fifth place overall at Tirreno-Adriatico, the latter prompting ambitions of a stage win at this year’s Giro, where he is also hoping to secure the climber’s jersey.
In a thrilling finale, in which the lead changed hands several times, the Colombian achieved one of those objectives and boosted his chances in the second by soloing to the biggest win of his career.
After Belgian Thomas de Gendt and Italian Franco Pellizotti had both tried their luck, Arredondo finally made a solo break stick.
Duarte, who had covered an earlier dig from Arredondo 6km out, tried to respond, but this time could not bridge the gap.
Behind the breakaway riders, the battle was on for podium places as Movistar’s Quintana expertly marshalled any danger to his overall lead.
Evans was the first to crack, giving Rolland, whose attacks thinned out the favorites’ group, the chance to snatch a podium spot.
“I’ll keep on going as I have from the start,” Rolland said. “Taking things day by day. Today I tried to snatch back some time in the final climb. I dug deep about 4km from the finish, but the chasers came back to us.”
However, he has two riders just 2 seconds back after Italian Fabio Aru of Astana pulled back a handful of second on the Europcar rider.
Aru is fourth on the same time as fifth-placed Rafal Majka, with Italian Domenico Pozzovivo just 23 seconds behind Roland in sixth.
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