Fernando Gaviria sprinted without a saddle in finale of Giro d'Italia 2021 stage 13
The Colombian was the first of the fast men to open up his sprint before eventual winner Giacomo Nizzolo came around to win
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Fernando Gaviria sprinted to the line on stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia 2021 without a saddle and still managed to achieve fifth on the day behind stage winner Giacomo Nizzolo.
Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) came from a long way back to rejoin and sprint straight past his lead-out men in the final 250 metres, but without a saddle. Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) jumped onto the Colombian's wheel to bridge to Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) who had attacked solo before taking the win.
But it is not yet known how Gaviria misplaced his perch. There was a bit of a reshuffling into the final two corners during the last kilometre that also saw Nizzolo's lead-out man Max Walscheid drop his chain, so perhaps it was there.
>>> Giacomo Nizzolo: My goal was to finish second, maybe that’s the trick to victory
Gaviria also suffered from a nose bleed with around 60km which was also a rather strange moment for him, but he managed to take back some points on Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) at the intermediate sprint before losing out the Slovakian rider in the sprint as Sagan finished third on the day, keeping his points jersey.
UAE Team Emirates' star sprinter has had a rough time the last couple of seasons having caught Covid-19 twice in 2020, bouncing back to win soon after both times but he has yet to take a win in 2021.
He looks to have the pace but various mishaps in the lead-out have meant that he has missed out on potential wins. Stage two of the Giro saw him taken out by his own team-mate, he went very early on stage seven to finish sixth and a poor lead into the final corner on stage 10 saw him come second behind Sagan.
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Tim Bonville-Ginn is a freelance writer who has worked with Cycling Weekly since 2020 and has also written for many of the biggest publications in cycling media including Cyclingnews, Rouleur, Cyclist and Velo.