Dries De Bondt wins stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia in shock breakaway victory

A miscalculation from the peloton allowed four riders in the breakaway to sprint to victory, with De Bondt crossing the line first

Dries De Bondt Giro d'Italia
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) secured a shock victory on stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia, after the peloton miscalculated the speed at which the breakaway could finish the race. 

Four riders formed a breakaway early in the race, with De Bondt, Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost), Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) and Davide Gabburo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) staying two minutes ahead of the peloton for the majority of the race. The final flat 45km looked like this wouldn't come to fruition, but despite a mighty effort from the peloton, it failed to catch up the leaders. 

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Staff Writer

Ryan is a staff writer for Cycling Weekly, having joined the team in September 2021. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before making his way to cycling. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer.