Pietrobon lord of breakaway and intermediate sprints, Lonardi in the top-10 sprint finish: another great day at the Giro

With the memories, especially in the heart, of the remarkable day on the Marche walls, with Captain Maestri as the protagonist during and after the race alongside the great Alaphilippe, this morning Team Polti Kometa faced the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia, the flattest of them all, with a dual objective: to increase leadership in certain secondary classifications and to sprint to the best of their ability on the streets of Cento.

Regarding the first aspect, starting from Riccione Andrea Pietrobon took off alongside two other riders. As the trio was later caught after over 120 km through Emilia Romagna, and he passed first through Forlì and Conselice, the 25-year-old from Belluno now leads the escape classification with about 140 km advantage over Maestri and the intermediate sprints classification with 16 points ahead of Alaphilippe.

Following a split in the peloton and a subsequent attempt by two men, with regrouping finally thanks also to the work of Polti Kometa, we arrive at the sprint in Cento won by the usual Milan: as always well supported by teammates, Giovanni Lonardi finishes 9th and achieves his third top-10 in this Giro after the 10th place in Andora and the 3rd in Francavilla al Mare.

Sports director Stefano Zanatta: “We worked well for the intermediate results with Andrea and for the finishing one with Giovanni. In the hectic final phases, a crash also involved Mattia Bais without serious consequences.”

Pietrobon: “Winning the escape classification still means a podium in Rome, and we are determinedly aiming for that. Moreover, knowing that the wind could have been troublesome, anticipating is always a good move; in fact, I managed to stay ahead until the end to help Lona.”

Lonardi: “A day of two halves, initially very calm and then animated by Ineos’ forcing. We spent a lot of energy to catch up and, in the complicated finale, I couldn’t get Milan’s wheel. Still a good top-10 finish, and after tomorrow’s ITT on Lake Garda and a series of mountain stages, there will also be two opportunities for me in Padua and Rome.”