De Gendt hits new heights with 57km breakaway Giro mountain victory

Canada’s Ryder Hesjedal lost time but remained the big favourite to clinch overall victory when the race finishes with a 30km individual time trial today in Milan.

De Gendt charged away from the favourites just before the top of the infamous Mortirolo climb, then shed riders from an earlier break to claim a summit stage win on the snow-capped 22-kilometre ascent of the Passo Dello Stelvio.

Italian Damiano Cunego, the Giro 2004 winner, finished 56 seconds behind the 25-year-old Vancansoleil rider on the toughest and final mountain stage of this year’s race, with Spain’s Mikel Nieve third and Rodríguez fourth.

“I thought that if the favourites didn’t start chasing soon, the pink jersey (of leader) was a possibility as well as the stage” said De Gendt, who moved from eighth to fourth overall. “But I knew the other favourites would go full gas in the last four kilometres and eat into the margin I had built up. The podium in Milan is still a possibility, though, if I recover well enough from today’s effort.”

Spaniard Rodríguez – who took over as points leader from Britain’s Mark Cavendish – leads Hesjedal by 31 seconds. “I don’t think my advantage will be enough,” he said, “but at least I’ve got a few more seconds on him. I’m a better time triallist than I was last year, and I’ll try to ride the time trial of my life tomorrow.”