For the third time this week the early escapers survived until the finish. Beñat Intxausti conquered the second mountain top finish in this year’s Giro and took the victory in today’s stage.

After a fast start the bunch split up and from the first part the leading group of 12 emerged. Due to the high pace a lot of riders were in trouble already in early stages of the race.

With 15km to the finish, three riders were in front with 1’30” on the remaining nine chasers. Beñat Intxausti (Movistar Team) was part of the initial chasing group as he bridged the gap on the final ascent, the Compitello Matese, and strongly climbed to victory.

In the background, Caleb Fairly was home first for Giant-Alpecin at 69th. For Nikias Arndt it was a real battle today, he was assisted by Tom Stamsnijder and Cheng Ji to finish at almost 37 minutes from the stage winner.

After the stage, coach Addy Engels reflected: “It was a hard day because of the fast start and early climbs. On such days we do not have the riders to compete for a stage result.

“Tomorrow there will be another hard stage but without mountain top finish, which suits us better as we will try to join the breakaway.”