Paul Magnier of Soudal Quick-Step claimed his third victory in this year's Giro d'Italia, winning the bunch sprint on stage 18 in Pieve di Soligo, Veneto. The 22-year-old was expertly guided by teammate Jasper Stuyven through the final high-speed corners and powered to the line after 171km of racing.
Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) finished second, while Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) took third on the undulating stage that started in Fai della Paganella, Trentino. The win also puts Magnier at the top of the points classification.
Overall race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) attacked on the short, steep final climb inside the last 10km but then settled into the main bunch to protect his substantial lead. The Dane leads Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) by 4 minutes and 3 seconds with three stages remaining.
The stage came alive after a four-man breakaway—Mattia Bais, Andrea Mifsud (both Polti-VisitMalta), Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech), and James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost)—was caught with about 25km to go. The 1.1km Il Muro di Ca' del Poggio climb, with gradients of 19%, briefly threatened the sprinters, but Soudal Quick-Step controlled the finale.
“I had a lot of confidence this morning,” said Magnier, who also wore the race leader's Maglia Rosa jersey after his earlier stage wins. “My teammates made it into a sprint and I’m so happy to win. Jasper made an amazing lead-out.”
