Richard Carapaz won stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday as as Mexican rider Isaac del Toro kept hold of his overall lead in the Grand Tour.
Former Giro champion Carapaz claimed his first win of the year at Castelnovo ne’ Monti after attacking from the peloton nine kilometres from the finish line on a tough 186km ride from Viareggio.
“From the very first climb I saw that so many of the riders were struggling,” said Carapaz after the fourth Giro stage win of his career.
“I know that I didn’t have good legs but I chose the right moment because I knew that I could make it to the finish. It was almost like a time trial trying to make it home today.”
EF Education-EasyPost rider Carapaz shaved 14 seconds off the gap separating him from UAE rider Del Toro who finished second and stays in the pink jersey.
Carapaz’s win was his eighth on a Grand Tour and announced his bid to repeat his overall Giro victory from 2019, his only title from a major three-week race.
Del Toro is 31 seconds ahead of Juan Ayuso in the general classification as the title pretenders crossed at the same time behind Carapaz.
There was some local joy as Lorenzo Fortunato extended his already heavy lead in the mountains classification over Ayuso to 102 points after being first to the summit of two of the three categorised climbs of the day.
Giulio Ciccone moved up a place to seventh in the general classification after finishing third on the day, just behind Del Toro, while Antonio Tiberi is also in the hunt at just over a minute behind the overall leader.
