Giro de Italia (st. 4)

Ecuadorian strong at technical, tough uphill finish, takes 16th; Colombian (20th) remains within best ten overall in Giro d'Italia.

Belgian Tim Wellens (LTS) won Tuesday’s first Sicilian stage of the 2018 Giro d’Italia, a long (202km), tough course from Catania to an uphill finish in Caltagirone. The winding last section made for a significant split in the bunch, made even bigger by a crash due to a narrowing section of the road with 7km to go. Happily, two riders from the Movistar Team were inside the main group after the incident: Richard Carapaz and Carlos Betancur.

‘Richie’ was always near the front of the peloton, and took on the demanding, final slopes (8.5% over the last kilometre) inside the best ten in the group, finishing in 16th, 10″ down on the winner. In turn, Betancur overtook several riders over the final straight to finish in 20th place, just behind his team-mate, which allows him conserving a place inside the GC’s top-ten from Sunday, now 35″ behind Rohan Dennis. In turn, Rafa Valls finished 21″ after Wellens to now sit just under 1′ behind in the standings (23rd), pretty much at the same place of Carapaz (+1’08”, 28th).

Wednesday will see riders tackling a course very similar to today’s, yet significantly shorter: 153km between Agrigento and Santa Ninfa with three Cat-4 ascents -including the long Partanna and Poggioreale climbs into the second half of the race- and another short slope (6%) just before a flat finish.

Picture (c): BettiniPhoto.net