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Cadel Evans takes lead in Giro d'Italia as Diego Ulissi wins stage Cadel Evans takes lead in Giro d'Italia as Diego Ulissi wins stage
(about 5 hours later)
Cadel Evans snatched the overall lead in the Giro d'Italia after finishing among a group of race favourites in Saturday's eighth stage, the first mountain test of the event, which was won by the Italian Diego Ulissi. Cadel Evans snatched the overall lead in the Giro d'Italia from Michael Matthews after finishing among a group of race favourites in Saturday's eighth stage, the first mountain test of the event, which was won by the Italian Diego Ulissi.
The BMC rider Evans, the 2011 Tour de France champion, wrested the pink jersey away from his fellow Australian Michael Matthews, who was quickly dropped when the competitors started to climb in the 179km trek from Foligno. Ulissi made his move inside the final 300m, bursting out of the peloton and passing Robert Kiserlovski for his second stage win in the race.
Evans, who gained ground on his main rivals after dodging Thursday's crashes, now leads the Colombian Rigoberto Uran by 57 seconds. Poland's Rafal Majka is third, 1min 10sec off the pace. Wilco Kelderman was third on the 179-km leg from Foligno to Montecopiolo, which had two first-category climbs, including the final ascent to the finish.
The Italian Michele Scarponi lost lots of time after struggling all day with a leg injury. "It was a difficult race today, it was really too hard for my characteristics, but of course I am really happy," Ulissi said.
The Frenchman Pierre Rolland, who surged clear of the peloton with 30km left, was caught 250 metres from the line after an attack by the Spaniard Dani Moreno. Evans finished fifth to take the lead from fellow Australian Matthews, who had worn the pink jersey for six days, and now has a 57-second advantage over Rigoberto Uran, with Rafal Majka third.
The Lampre rider Ulissi won the stage in Montecopiolo after outsprinting Robert Kiserlovski of Croatia. "We had hopes of what we could do," Evans said. "It's been a really difficult Giro for all sorts of reasons. We are in a good position at the moment. It was a hard stage with all the contenders there … We still have huge mountains to go and the gaps there will be even more than today."
"I hung in there all day to stay in the leading group. Then I did a super sprint," Ulissi told Italian media. Julian Arredondo led the race for most of the day as part of an early break of 10 riders who managed to build a lead of more than eight minutes.
Sunday's 172km ninth stage is from Lugo to Testola. That advantage diminished on the approach to the first climb. With an average gradient of 9.9%, and 14% at its steepest, the Carpegna was the first serious challenge of this year's Giro.
Arredondo jumped on the ascent with 36.6km remaining and had a 36sec advantage over Stefano Pirazzi at the summit, with a greatly reduced peloton crossing 1 minute, 57 seconds later.
Pierre Rolland attacked off the group on the descent, but Arredondo still had an advantage of 1:10 over him at the start of the penultimate climb, with the peloton trailing by 2:40.
Arredondo faded 2km from the finish, and Rolland continued on solo before being swept up by the peloton with 350m to go. Daniel Moreno tried his hand, but he was passed by Kiserlovksi, who looked certain to take the win until Ulissi's attack from nowhere.
Sunday's ninth stage is a 172km leg from Lugo to Sestola, which ends in a second-category climb to the finish.