Kasper Asgreen took a sensational solo victory from a breakaway, after dramatic stage 14 left the Giro d’Italia wide open.
Asgreen led with four riders from 165km to go, but left Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta) and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane)in his tracks with just 5km to the end to beat the rest of the field by 16 seconds.
The EF Education–EasyPost rider added to the team's total stage wins so far this tour, after Richard Carapaz rode to a solo stage 11 victory, moving the team to ninth in the overall team standings.
The 30-year-old Dane said: “It is annoying that you have to destroy yourself this much to win bike races, but when it works out, it is all worth it.”
The stage win marks Asgreen’s second in a Grand Tour, having previously been victorious on stage 18 from an equally epic breakaway. At that time, Asgreen was a Soudal Quick-Step rider and was part of a four-man group Bourg-en-Bresse - showing that this style of victory is becoming a trademark.
He said: “It is fantastic, one step closer to completing all three Grand Tours.
“I’ve tried it before, and I know that once you get into the second half of a grand tour, even if it's a flat stage, if you have a good group that works well together, then you can make it. I think everyone has tired legs, and that's what made the difference today.”
Asgreen broke from the peloton originally in a group of five riders, but after Louis Meintjes (Intermarche-Wanty) dropped back to rejoin the peloton, only four were left in the lead pack made up of Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ), Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta), and Martin Marcellusi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane).
While the route from Treviso to Nova Gorica was relatively flat, it included three category 4 climbs and the route dipped between Italy and Slovenia, but also provided intricate and tight corners, which under varying weather conditions provided difficulty to many riders.
Asgreen said: “It definitely played to my favour, the circuit was quite technical here, so wet roads make it hard for the bikes to go faster.
“I am super super pleased right now. The team gave me permission and the freedom to go for it today, and I’m super grateful for that”.
The four then became three as Clément Davy soon had to rejoin the peloton, resulting in him falling victim to the huge crash, which not only sealed Asgreen’s stage victory but also rocked the General Classification, after numerous Lidl-Trek riders, including Mads Pedersen, struggled to get back into the race
EF Education-EasyPost sports director Juanma Gárate said “The Giro is still very open, we were on the right side today, we were very lucky, it is a great day.”
While teammate Mikkel Honore said: “We planned a breakaway and we knew it was going to be a hard circuit. We didn’t plan everything, but Kasper and the other guys played it really well. He made it because he is such a phenomenal rider and a super strong rider.”
Stage 14 was presumed to go down to a sprint, and yet Asgreen put 16 seconds on the field, and was joined on the podium by Kaden Groves (Alpecin - Deceuninck) and Olav Kooij (Visma–Lease a Bike), who fought out a bunch sprint.
The result opens up the General Classification as UAE Team Emirates-XRG Isaac Del Toro extended his lead to 1 minute 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Simon Yates, as Juan Ayuso fell into third and 1 minute 26 seconds behind.
Stage 15 will have riders head from Fiume to Asiago, as they take on the decisive Monte Grappa.
Kasper Asgreen takes sensational solo victory from the breakaway on dramatic Giro d’Italia stage 14
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