Alberto Bettiol of EF Education won the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia, the longest of the race at 231 kilometres, on Thursday in Stradella.
Bettiol hunted down Frenchman Remi Cavagna of Deceuninck who had escaped from a big breakaway group with 26 kilometres to go and finished 15 seconds ahead of fellow Italian Simone Consonni.
“It was a really emotional stage, it was a really hard stage,” said Bettiol after his first career victory in Italy.
“It was really warm finally, because it’s been a really tough and a really cold Giro. Finally the sun comes out.”