It was a flat stage with a fast finish in Friday’s Stage 13 of the 98th Giro d’Italia. In the heart of the sprint action was Team Katusha’s Aleksandr Porsev, positioning himself in the front group and taking fourth place behind winner Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida).

"This result is not so bad, but maybe I could have done better. I was in a good position thanks to Luca Paolini, but the last corner was too slippery and dangerous and I lost maybe 1-2 positions and later I had to fight back to get a better position for the sprint. I lost some energy doing that but still tried to get the best possible result and I finished 4th. The main thing is today I felt really good, my condition is coming up and I hope in the next suitable stages I can try again," said team sprinter Aleksandr Porsev.

It was bad luck for Luca Paolini. Just as Luca was expertly leading Porsev through the bunch and toward the front, he suffered a flat tire at 1,5km to go, exactly when he wanted to pull Porsev into a good position before the last corner. It was an all-Italian podium with Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek Factory Racing) in second place and Elia Viviani of Sky rounding out the daily podium. At 147 km, the stage began in Montecchio Maggiore and ended in Jesolo. 

"It is a pity this happened as we feel we could have done much better today – Luca was really strong. The crash at 3,2 km to go put many GC contenders behind. Team Katusha did a great job to keep Trofimov in front and he finished the stage in a good position. He is now in tenth place. The team work today was great," said team director Dmitry Konyshev. 

A late race crash just outside the 3 km protective “safe zone” saw a few riders go down and many more held up behind those on the ground. The result was a reduced field sprinting for the finish and many riders losing time, including race leader Alberto Contador. His time loss put Fabio Aru (Astana) in the lead by 19-seconds to the Spaniard with Mikel Landa in third place at 1.14. Iurii Trofimov is now in tenth place at 3.15 behind the new race leader Aru. 

Tomorrow brings the first individual time trial in this year’s race. The course begins in Treviso and ends in Valdobbiadene. The route promises to be difficult with a rise in the middle and then another at the end after 59,4 km of racing.