Polanc stays in Pink to make it seven in a row for UAE Team Emirates at the Giro D’Italia

After more than five and half hours of intense racing through the mountains of northern Italy, UAE Team Emirates’ Jan Polanc crossed the line in 15th position behind the eventual stage winner Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha Alpecin). However his valiant effort over the 196km route ensured that he would carry the leader’s jersey into tomorrow’s stage.

The early phases of stage 13 played out as expected, with the first wave of climbs splitting up the peloton and injecting a sense of nervous excitement into the race. After 30kms on the road three distinct bunches had formed, with Polanc in the Maglia Rosa – flanked by Valerio Conti – taking up his position in the second group. During the middle section of the stage, as the riders went over the classified climbs of the Colle del Lys and the Pian del Lupo – the gap to the breakaway continually fluctuated, as did the numbers of riders in each group.

At the front of the race the attacks began on the final climb, but with 20kms to go Polanc’s group – containing the race favourites – waited patiently to see who would be first to set off the fireworks.  As the climb unfolded more splits in the group began to appear and, as the ascent began to hit its maximum gradient of 14%, Conti lost contact with Polanc, leaving UAE Team Emirates’ leader to fight for his position without support.

In the final 5kms Polanc found himself isolated from many of the GC contenders – however he used his wealth of experience to ride at this own pace and cross the summit finish line with a lead of 2:25” over his closest GC rival, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma).

Commenting the stage, Polanc said: “I’m really happy with today. I knew it was going to be a really hard stage. After the big effort yesterday I felt really tired for the first part of the stage, but by the end everyone was suffering. I kept pushing and I was able to defend the pink jersey.”

Stage 14 will be another brutal day in the saddle as the peloton takes on a 131km route from Saint Vincent to Courmayeur with four classified climbs and a summit finish 1,293m above sea level.

Stage 13 Results
1 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha Alpecin 5:34:40
2 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton Scott +35”
3 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar  +1:20”
15 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates +4:39”

General Classification Standings
1 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 54:28:59
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo Visma +2:25”
3 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha Alpecin +2:56”