Sagan goes it alone to win Giro 10th stage as Team Emirates Mcnulty finishes second

Tortoreto: Peter Sagan soloed to victory in the Giro d’Italia’s 10th stage on Tuesday after two teams, Mitchelton and Jumbo-Visma, were forced to pull out before the stage because of positive Covid-19 tests.

Sagan, riding for Bora, ended his winless drought going back to the 2019 Tour de France, as Portugal’s Joao Almeida kept the leader’s pink jersey in the race scheduled to finish in Milan on Oct.25.

“I won with my style, putting on a show!” said 30-year-old Sagan.

“We were in the breakaway all day, I had good legs, and went solo on the uphill before descending with care in the downhill and then full gas in the final kilometres.”

Meanwhile, after the third place obtained on Sunday by Mikkel Bjerg on the 9th stage of the Corsa Rosa, it was the turn of twenty-two-year old Brandon McNulty of the UAE Team Emirates.

McNulty finished second on the treacherous 10th stage, 177 km from Lanciano to Tortoreto, with the final made particularly tough with five selective climbs before 9 kms of flatland towards the finish. The stage was won by Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe), who foiled the days breakaway before dropping them all to arrive alone at the finish, while all his escape companions were caught and overtaken by the group of the pink jersey, Joao Almeida (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

On the finishing straight and with just 3km left to ride, McNulty broke from the group, gaining a few hundred meters that allowed him to get the 2nd place of the day.

In the overall standings, the American from UAE Team Emirates now occupies the 13th position at Giro d’ Italia.

McNulty: said: “I got a puncture on one of the steep climbs and I had a long chase back on. It was a reduced group and no one had a teammate so I knew that if I could get a jump on the group then I could stay clear and that is exactly what happened. I knew I was close to Sagan – the stage win would have been nice but also second place on the stage is incredible.

Every day is possibly the last day here,so everyone is all-in everyday. We hope to continue but safety is the most important thing for all the riders and also all of Italy Giro d’ Italia’s 11th stage, will offer the sprinters an opportunity and will also prove a test for Fernando Gaviria who was involved in a fall and suffered a severe bruise on his elbow but escaped any fractures.

Earlier, Mitchelton pulled out before the start of the 177km stage because of four positive tests, and Jumbo followed after Dutch contender Steven Kruijswijk tested positive.

Kruijswijk, who finished third in the 2019 Tour de France, returned a positive test along with Sunweb’s Australian Michael Matthews.

“We are trying to keep the situation under control,” said Giro race director Mauro Vegni.

“This morning, all the teams that have had positive cases have undergone new quick tests and we will do the same the day after tomorrow. So far we have done almost 1,500 tests and it is impossible to do more.”

Sagan, one of the most successful riders in the peloton with three world titles, achieved his first success in the Giro, to complete his set of stage wins on the three big tours -- France, Italy, Spain.

Danish Jakob Fuglsang was the day’s biggest loser after suffering a puncture 10km from the finish and losing a minute on his rivals.

The peloton was reduced to 145 riders from the 176 who started the race in Sicily on Oct.3.

The Mitchelton team said they had been notified of four positive results for “staff members” after tests conducted on Sunday.

“Upon receiving the results, Mitchelton-Scott immediately withdrew its team from the race and will focus on the health of its riders and staff and their safe movement to areas of quarantine,” the team said.

Mitchelton general manager Brent Copeland added: “As a social responsibility to our riders and staff, the peloton and the race organisation we have made the clear decision to withdraw from the Giro Alitalia.”

Agencies