LORENZO FORTUNATO CLIMBED to victory in the gruelling 14th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Saturday in foggy and cold conditions on the summit of Monte Zoncolan.
Colombian Egan Bernal of Ineos was the first of the favourites to cross the finish line to consolidate his hold on the leader’s pink jersey.
Italian 25-year-old Fortunato, riding for the Eolo-Kometa team, finished 26sec ahead of Slovenian Jan Tratnik with Italian Alessandro Covi third at 59sec to claim his maiden career victory.
Bernal finished fourth at 1min 43sec to gain time on his rivals.
Britain’s Simon Yates moved second overall 1min 33sec behind the 2019 Tour de France winner, with Italy’s Damiano Caruso third at 1min 51sec.
Russian Aleksander Vlasov lost over a minute on Bernal on the final climb to lose second place overall with Belgian Remco Evenepoel also dropping 1min 30sec.
The stage covered 205km from Cittadella to Monte Zoncolan on the border with Austria with a final kilometre where the gradient was at times more than 20 percent.
Ireland’s Dan Martin finished 12th on today’s stage, leaving him 13th in the general classification, 7min 50sec behind Bernal.
Nicholas Roche, meanwhile, crossed today’s stage in 54th place.
