(Reuters) -Denmark’s Magnus Cort completed his Grand Tour Slam with a maiden victory at the Giro d’Italia in Tuesday’s stage 10, out-sprinting Derek Gee and Alessandro de Marchi in a rain-soaked 196-km ride from Scandiano to Viareggio.
The trio were part of a breakaway group that held off the peloton and set up a three-way sprint, with Cort timing his move perfectly to take the win.
Cort, 30, has won two stages in the Tour de France and six in the Vuelta a Espana, and completed the Grand Tour stage sweep with his first Giro victory on his second appearance in the race.
“I’m extremely happy to complete my trilogy, winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia after the Tour de France and La Vuelta,” said Cort, who rides for EF Education-EasyPost. “But it’s been one of the hardest days I’ve spent on the bike.
“Firstly I had to get back to the front. Then my radio wasn’t working because of the rain so I was never sure where the chasing peloton was. But we kept pushing hard. It was worth it. It’s hard to believe that it happened though.”
Canada’s Gee (Israel-PremierTech) and Italian De Marchi (Jayco-AlUla) finished second and third, respectively.
Geraint Thomas retained the overall two-second lead over Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic after both riders finished in the peloton, 51 seconds behind Cort.
Tao Geoghegan Hart was third overall, five seconds behind his Ineos Grenadiers team mate Thomas.
Welsh veteran Thomas inherited the leader’s maglia rosa jersey on Sunday after pre-race favourite Remco Evenepoel had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.
Other riders including Italian Domenico Pozzovivo of Israel-PremierTech and Intermarche’s Norwegian rider Sven Erik Bystrom also withdrew on Tuesday due to COVID.
“It was nice but obviously not ideal conditions to be leading the Giro,” Thomas said. “It was pretty cold on top of the hill and crazy in the descent.
“I’m happy with getting through this stage alright. In this race anything can happen, especially with the weather.”
Wednesday’s stage 11 is a 219km ride from Camaiore to Tortona, the longest stage of this year’s race.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in HyderabadEditing by Christian Radnedge)
