Frenchman Arnaud Demare won a mass sprint for the line on the Giro d’Italia on Friday after the peloton caught an escape group just ahead of the home straight on stage 13. Demare narrowly edged Phil Bauhaus and Mark Cavendish to the line while Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez held on to the leader’s pink jersey. On a short 93 mile run, only half the distance of the Milan-San Remo one-day classic, four riders opened a six-minute gap they only let slip in the final mile setting up the sprint. This was Demare’s third stage win at this year’s Giro and it extends his lead in the sprint points race.

“It was a monstrous leadout,” said the winner.

“They really resisted at the front,” he said.

The 30-year-old also won consecutive sprint finishes in the first week, leaving him on 238pts, while Cavendish is second on 121.

After showing strong form at the Giro, French climber Romain Bardet pulled out on Friday complaining of feeling sick.

The 31-year-old DSM man was fourth place in the standings heading into the mountainous final week of the 21-day race where he would likely have thrived. Along with Ineos leader Richard Carapaz and Bahrain Victorious’ Mikel Landa, Bardet was a credible pretender to win this Giro. Lopez will do well to survive in pink any further with Joao Almeida and Carapaz at 12sec in the overall, and a clutch of others lurking within a minute of the lead.

“Some guys will try to make a difference but I will do 100 percent and we’ll see what happens,” Lopez said after the race.

Saturday’s treacherous hilly stage should shake up the standings, while Sunday’s mountain climb is a slog to a summit finish at over 5000 feet at Cogne in the Aosta Valley north of Turin.

GIRO D’ITALIA 2022 STAGE 13 RESULTS

1	DÉMARE Arnaud	Groupama – FDJ	3:18:16
2	BAUHAUS Phil	Bahrain – Victorious	0:00
3	CAVENDISH Mark	Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team	0:00
4	GAVIRIA Fernando	UAE Team Emirates	0:00
5	DAINESE Alberto	Team DSM	0:00
6	CONSONNI Simone	Cofidis	0:00
7	DE BONDT Dries	Alpecin-Fenix	0:00
8	NIZZOLO Giacomo	Israel – Premier Tech	0:00
9	VENDRAME Andrea	AG2R Citroën Team	0:00
10	BAYER Tobias	Alpecin-Fenix	0:00

GIRO D’ITALIA 2022 STANDINGS

1	LÓPEZ Juan Pedro	Trek – Segafredo	54:37:23
2	CARAPAZ Richard	INEOS Grenadiers	0:12
3	ALMEIDA João	UAE Team Emirates	0:12
4	HINDLEY Jai	BORA – hansgrohe	0:20
5	MARTIN Guillaume	Cofidis	0:28
6	LANDA Mikel	Bahrain – Victorious	0:29
7	POZZOVIVO Domenico	Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux	0:54
8	BUCHMANN Emanuel	BORA – hansgrohe	1:09
9	BILBAO Pello	Bahrain – Victorious	1:22
10	VALVERDE Alejandro	Movistar Team	1:23

 

RBA/AFP Photos: Sprint Cycling Agency