Démare sprints to 4th Giro stage win as Almeida keeps pink; Ewan wins in Belgum

RIMINI: Arnaud Démare earned his fourth stage victory at this year’s Giro d’Italia on Wednesday by winning the 11th leg in another mass sprint, and João Almeida held onto the overall leader’s pink jersey.

Démare edged Peter Sagan and Álvaro Hodeg at the end of the mostly flat 182-kilometer (113-mile) leg from Porto Sant’Elpidio to Rimini along the Adriatic coast.

Démare, a French rider with the Groupama-FDJ team, also won the fourth, sixth and seventh stages, which also ended in mass sprints.

Fernando Gaviria was the first to launch his sprint, with 200 meters (yards) to go, but Démare responded immediately.

“The youngsters of the team have done enormous work to bring the breakaway back,” Démare said.

“My three leadout men delivered me in a perfect position and I felt a lot of strength in my legs to launch my sprint.

“Coming to the Giro, I didn’t think I’d get four stage wins. Hats off to my teammates.”

With about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) remaining, Elia Viviani was hit by a motorbike as the peloton went around a roundabout. The Italian managed to get back onto his bike and was helped back to the group by his team but could only finish 10th in the sprint.

Five riders formed an early breakaway and their lead hovered around three minutes for much of the first half of the stage before eventually being reeled back in.

Sander Armée was the last of the breakaway riders to be caught, with 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) to go.

Almeida, a Portuguese rider with the Deceuninck-Quick Step team, remained 34 seconds ahead of Wilco Kelderman and 43 seconds ahead of Pello Bilbao.

“The first part of the stage was fairly quiet, then a frenetic finish with many teams who wanted to race in the front,” Almeida said. “Tomorrow is a very undulating stage, there will be some attacks but we will be prepared.”

Thursday’s 12th stage is a hilly 200-kilometer (126.8-mile) route that starts and ends in Cesenatico and features five categorized climbs.

The Giro was rescheduled from its usual May slot because of the coronavirus pandemic. The race ends on Oct. 25 with an individual time trial in Milan.

Meanwhile, the world’s current top cycling sprinter Caleb Ewan won the Grand Prix de l’Escaut on Wednesday in a race where the great British veteran Mark Cavendish possibly made his last appearance.

Cavendish wiped away tears this week saying he was possibly at the end of a career which has produced 30 Tour de France stages, a record only bettered by Eddy Merckx on 34.

While the Belgian was an all rounder Cavendish was the greatest pure sprinter the Tour has ever seen and would surely have surpassed Merckx but for fallow spells in his career.

The 35-year-old has suffered with Epstein-Barr virus and depression in recent times and does not yet have a contract for 2021.

“I don’t want to stop. I love this sport,” he told Belgian media. “But this might have been my last race. I was looking forward to this race and I was enjoying racing in Belgium. It’s pure racing like when I was a kid again. I don’t have a desire to stop.”

On Wednesday Cavendish ripped off his race number from his bib and pocketed it before leaving the event, sparking speculation it was a souvenir.

Agencies