Giro d’Italia – Alberto Dainese defeats Jonathan Milan and Michael Matthews in photo finish

“It was really crazy today. It was the first sprint that went as we planned. We’ve always done a good job, but couldn’t show it with a good result,” said day winner Dainese, who was in Albano Terme grew up not far from Venice and thus also from the destination Caorle.

“Today we rode really well again. Marius (Mayrhofer) and Niklas (Märkl) were really strong. When I started my sprint, I was first overtaken. Then I tried to get to Matthews’ rear wheel. I had to go really low going saw Jonny (Milan) coming – it was a centimeter decision.”

For Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), who had to assert himself alone in the final without a helper, it was only enough for tenth place in Caorle despite a long good positioning. Nico Denz and Lennard Kämna (both Bora – hansgrohe) crossed the line just behind him in 14th and 16th.

Like Thomas, all other co-favorites for the Giro victory were unscathed and the peloton also reached the day’s finish without any major falls. There were therefore no changes in the overall standings: Thomas continues to lead 18 seconds ahead of Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and 29 seconds ahead of Primoz Roglic (Jumbo – Visma). Kämna is 3:20 minutes behind the pink jersey in sixth place.

Immediately after the start, a four-man breakaway group formed around Brit Charlie Quarterman (Corratec – Selle Italia), who after almost 20 kilometers already had a lead of almost three minutes.

But the peloton didn’t let the gap get bigger and made it immediately clear: This day should end with a mass sprint.

After 50 kilometers there was only 1:30 minutes left and from then on the gap stayed between 90 and 150 seconds until it dropped under a minute with 35 kilometers to go on the 195 kilometer stage.

Outliers had no chance on an uneventful day

With around 20 kilometers to go, the Belgian Senne Leysen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) broke away from the quartet and continued alone with a lead of almost a minute, while the other three were caught. At the 5-kilometer mark, he was back in the peloton, which was now preparing for the mass sprint.

Especially Movistar and Astana Qazaqstan had worked a lot during the day and also showed themselves early in the final. But in the last two kilometers, DSM took over with three men and finally led the field around the last corner with 600 meters to go and into the sprint.

Matthews and Dainese then dueled at the front for victory, but Milan came rushing up from far behind with a lot of excess speed and almost snatched victory away from both of them. In the end, however, it was razor-thin for loklamatador Dainese.