A fourth stage win for Frenchman Arnaud Demare saw the in-form Groupama-FDJ rider extend his lead at the top of the maglia ciclamino standings in Stage 11 to the beach resort of Rimini in the ongoing Giro D’Italia.
One day after Peter Sagan ended his drought, normal service resumed for the Slovakian, who had to settle for a fourth-second place after the 182km stage — of the race being broadcast on Eurosport network — along the Adriatic coast on Wednesday. Having closed the gap to 20 points, Sagan now trails Demare by 36 points in the two-horse race for the purple jersey.
Once again, Demare benefitted from a flawless lead out from his Groupama-FDJ train, the 29-year-old launching from the wheels of teammate Jacopo Guarnieri on the home straight and never looking back.
Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) beat the Colombian Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck Quick-Step) for second place while the Italian Simone Consonni (Cofidis) and the German Rick Zabel (Israel Start-Up Nation) completed the top five.
Despite some hard work from his UAE-Team Emirates outfit, the misfiring Colombian Fernando Gaviria could only muster seventh place, while tenth-place Elia Viviani’s chances were not done any favors when the Italian sprinter from Cofidis was knocked off his bike by a race motorcycle with 32km remaining.
On the day which belonged to Demare and his Groupama-FDJ team, there was no change in the overall classification as Portugal’s Joao Almeida (Deceuninck Quick-Step) retained the pink jersey with a 34-second lead over the Dutchman Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb).
