NOS Cycling•
Ben Healy has won the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia. The Irishman topped off an impressive 50km solo with his first WorldTour victory.
The 22-year-old Healy is working on his first Grand Tour and so far has four victories on his honors list. Last year he became Irish road and time trial champion.
Primoz Roglic dealt a mental blow to Remco Evenepoel. The Jumbo-Visma rider attacked on the final climb and world champion Evenepoel had to pass.
At the line, the Belgian lost fourteen seconds of the lead he had built up in the first stage – a time trial. The difference between the two top favorites is now half a minute.
Classification leader Andreas Leknessund also lost time. The Norwegian had just enough left to keep the pink: two seconds over Evenepoel.
Healy and Roglic hit the final climb
Healy, who surprised in the spring with a second place in the Amstel Gold Race and the Brabantse Pijl and finished fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, said earlier that he had already set his sights on this 207 kilometer long, hilly stage.
On the first of two climbs of I Cappuccini (2.8 kilometers at 7.8 percent), Healy rode away from his twelve flight mates (including Oscar Riesebeek) and soon he had created an unbridgeable gap.
On the same steep wall, where Healy placed his decisive attack, Roglic also took off. Evenepoel, who was 0.44 ahead of the Slovenian in the standings, kept the gap at about ten meters for a while.
On the steepest part, however, the Belgian came to a halt and even saw Tao Geoghan Hart and Geraint Thomas pass. In the descent, the Ineos duo joined Roglic and the three of them made up fourteen seconds on Evenepoel.
Giro continues without Dekker, Ganna and Van den Berg
The Giro is over for David Dekker. The Arkéa sprinter, second in the second stage of this Giro, was struggling with the after-effects of his crash in the fifth stage and had to release this stage before the first climb.
Even before the start of the stage, it was announced that Filippo Ganna, one of the favorites of the Italian cycling public, would not leave due to a positive corona test.
Lars van den Berg also did not start anymore. The Dutchman from Groupama-FDJ is ill.
2023-05-13 15:03:17
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