Five star Conti spends fifth day in Pink

UAE Team Emirates’ Valerio Conti continues to hold onto the Pink Jersey, with the Italian remaining top of the General Classification (GC) standings after today’s Stage 10.

With riders returning refreshed after Monday’s rest day, they were greeted with a relatively simple 145km route from Ravenna to Modena, that was almost completely flat. The peloton bided their time, easing themselves back into racing, knowing that a breakaway had little chance of seeing it out to the finish line. But there was chaos in the closing kilometre as a crash at the 800m mark took out a number of riders, including UAE Team Emirates’ Simone Consonni.

Just 10 riders managed to escape the chaos to contest the bunched sprint finish, which was eventually won by Arnaud Demare (Groupama – FDJ).

Commenting on the result, Valerio Conti said: “Today’s stage was quite straightforward. The sprinters teams led the bunch so my teammates and I didn’t have to waste too much energy. We were aiming to get Consonni up for the sprint but he got caught up in a crash at the end, but luckily he’s okay and it is nothing too serious.”

Stage 11 will be another day for the sprinters, with a 221km flat route from Carpi to Novi Ligure. Should Valerio Conti retain the Pink Jersey, he and his UAE Team Emirates will be hoping to hold out for a full week in the GC’s top spot.

Stage 10 Results:

1 Arnaud Demare (Fra) Groupama-FDJ  3h36’07”

2 Elia Viviani (Ita) Deceuninck-Quick Step  s.t.

3 Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-hansgrohe  s.t.

61 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates  s.t.

General Classification after stage 10:

1 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates  39h44’39”

2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team Jumbo Visma  +1’50”

3 Nans Peters (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale +2’21”