Belgian Dries De Bondt won stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday as a quartet of escapees defied a frantic bid from the sprinters to reel them in over the final kilometre.
The final flat stage on this 21-day slog around Italy was supposed to be the last chance for sprinters such as Arnaud Demare and Mark Cavendish, but in a rare event the mass bunch sprint was denied by the escape group.
“It’s a we question, not an I question. It was a collaboration (working together) until the last kilometre,” De Bondt said.
“Everyone said Cavendish or Démare or Dainese was going to win – it was written in the stars.