Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) was the victor in what was a chaotic sprint in Padova, at the end of stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia.
He denied points jersey leader Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) a fourth stage win by half a wheel. Aussie Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who was hoping to claim a first stage in the race for his team, was third.
It came at the end of a 178km southward leg from Fiera di Premiero to Padova in the north of the country, which started in pouring rain but finished in the sun. It was a rare flat, almost downhill day on the Giro d'Italia, following several stages in the mountains.
The profile featured just the one categorised climb – a cat-four to Lamon after only 17km – as well as two or three smaller blips in the first half. The second 90km was flat all the way to the Veneto finishing town.
That's not to say there wasn't plenty of interest in the final kilometres. Once the sprinters' teams had caught the day's break, they had multiple roundabouts, as well as 90-degree and even 180-degree turns to contend with, as well as some tricky chicanes.
Not entirely surprising then, that both Merlier and Milan found themselves floundering some way from where they would have ideally liked when they opened up their sprints. It looked as though Groves might scoop his stage, but his two big rivals simply had too much power, and they burst through the front of the bunch neck and neck on either side of the road, with the Belgian narrowly taking the honours.
Afterwards he said: "We were always in a good position, not the perfect line but we managed to be in a good position.
"I was a bit surprised, the last kilometre was really fast with the two corners.
"When I found my moment I started my sprint but I needed to go a bit around, but in the end I made it."
This was the first time Merlier had won a more than one stage in a Grand Tour, pointed out his interviewer, and he had not won this late before either – was it a step up for him?
"The haters will be disappointed," smiled Merlier.
How it happened
This looked as though it would be one of those days when the break went early and everyone had a lovely time taking it fairly easy until the last 25km or so, when the sprinters' teams doubled down, caught the break, and delivered their charges to victory.
Not quite. The riders certainly stuck to the script of the first act, with four men easing away pretty much opposed after around 15km when the road began to point uphill to Lamon, on that first climb.
The quartet – Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost), Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani-Faizanè), and Andrea Piotrobon and Mirco Maestri (both Polti-Kometa) – quickly gained two and a half minutes. Writing on the live blog, I do believe my exact words were: "The peloton is unlikely to see the front four again until, ooh, about five kilometres to go."
But I was forced to chow down on that particular sentence before too long, because two-and-a-half minutes was all they got, and it didn't last. The bunch almost never relaxed their grip on the four, and with 65km to go had brought them to within 35 seconds.
At this point Eduardo Affini (Visma-Lease A Bike) jumped across to make it five, demonstrating that bringing a break too near can be more trouble than it's worth. But while the break worked very well, and caused Lidl-Trek riders in the bunch to expend a lot of energy keeping them on a tight leash, the chances of them taking it all the way were minimal.
At 45km to go the bunch was eight seconds behind and from that point, rarely let the five men out its sights until it made the inevitable catch with 10km left.
What followed was a gradually accelerating maelstrom of riders; teams constantly swapping positions and the lead and yet staying upright despite all the additional technical challenges, all the way to the line.
Full results to follow...
Results
Giro d'Italia stage 18: Fiera di Primiero > Padova (178km)
1. Tim Merlier (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step, in 3:45:44
2. Jonathan Milan (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck
4. Alberto Dainese (Ita) Tudor Pro Cycling
5. Stanisław Aniołkowski (Pol) Cofidis
6. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Movistar
7. Madis Mikhel (Est) Intermarché-Wanty
8. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Jayco-AlUla
9. Davide Ballerini (Ita) Astana Qazaqstan
10. Juan Sebastián Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates, all at same time
General Classification after Stage 18
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates, in 67:17:02
2. Daniel Martínez (Col) Bora-Hansgrohe, +7:42
3. Geraint Thomas (Gbr) Ineos Grenadiers, +8:04
4. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, +9:47
5. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +10:29
6. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +11:10
7. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +12:42
8. Einer Rubio (Col) Movistar, +13:33
9. Filippo Zana (Ita) Jayco-AIUla, +13:52
10. Jan Hirt (Cze) Soudal Quick-Step, +14:44
