PINEROLO: Matteo Trentin took a brilliant victory on the Giro d’Italia 18th stage as race leader Steven Kruijswijk comfortably held onto the pink jersey on Thursday.

Italian Trentin was part of a four-man chase group behind Etixx team-mate Gianluca Brambilla and Moreno Moser coming into the finish.

But as Brambilla played the team game sitting in Moser’s wheel, Trentin made up a 15-second deficit before flying straight past the two leaders with less than 300-metres left to take the victory.

Dutchman Kruijswijk comfortably monitored any potential threats to his lead and finished in group of overall contenders to maintain his three-minute lead over Esteban Chaves in the standings.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde is third ahead of former winner and 2015 Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy.

Results:

1. Matteo Trentin (ITA/ETI) 5hrs 25min 34sec, 2. Moreno Moser (ITA/CAN) same time, 3. Gianluca Brambilla (ITA/ETI) s.t., 4. Sacha Modolo (ITA/LAM) at 20sec, 5. Nikias Arndt (GER/GIA) 30, 6. Ivan Rovny (RUS/TIN) 34, 7. Matteo Busato (ITA/SOU) 1min 10sec, 8. Christian Knees (GER/SKY) 1:16, 9. Axel Domont (FRA/ALM) 1:24, 10. Davide Malacarne (ITA/AST) 4:28.

Overall:

1. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/LNL) 73hr 50min 37sec, 2. Esteban Chaves (COL/ORI) at 3min 00sec, 3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 3:23, 4. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/AST) 4:43, 5. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS/KAT) 4:50, 6. Rafal Majka (POL/TIN) 5:34, 7. Bob Jungels (LUX/ETI) 7:57, 8. Andrey Amador (CRC/MOV) 8:53, 9. Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA/A2R) 10:05, 10. Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR/DDA) 11:16.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2016