The Dutch Sprinter Casper van Uden claimed his first Grand Tour victory during his debut during a three-week race when he won phase four of the Giro d’Italia.
The first chance for the pure sprinters after a time trial and two spicy days in neighboring Albania, this would always be a fast final and it was the 23-year-old who came to a chaotic finish in Lecce, who led an all-holder stage.
His Picnick-PostNL team came out of nowhere within the last kilometer when the peloton switched for position, with Van Uden launching a long-distance sprint from 500m and the favorite of the day, Olav Kooij, and Maikel Zijlaard for the victory.
Van Uden said afterwards: “I didn’t do it alone, we did it with the whole team, all the boys, all the staff back at head office. They did super good. I didn’t have to take a wind up to a little more than 200 [metres] To go, and I know I have a good long sprint. I just went for it and hoped for the best.
“I know I just have to follow the boys. I am really happy to give them something back.
‘I don’t think it’s a surprise [win]I know that the boys and everyone really believe in me, sometimes I have to find that faith a bit in myself. This helps. “
The peloton had the first of three rest days on Monday and resumed with a flat 189 km from Alberobello to Lecce, with a chaotic and nervy final at a technical center circuit.
Poldi Visitmalta’s Francisco Munoz was the only rider who escaped on the road on a day that would always result in a bunch of sprint, who spent almost 140 km in front before it was caught.
Mads Pedersen held the pink sweater from the leader and finished fourth on stage, even though they had to chase back several times while Crashes split the couple.
A harmless early crash caught countless riders, including Pedersen and Tom Pidcock, whose teammate Nickolas Zukowsky was forced to leave with what looked like a collarbone injury.
The Lidl-Trek-Team of Pedersen suffered a blow in the final kilometers when leading man Soren Kragh Andersen crashed with 22 km and seemed to be injured, eventually 10 minutes behind the couple.
Race Favorite Primoz Roglic has bent two bonus seconds in the Red Bull Kil Sprint to reduce Pedersen’s lead over him to seven seconds.
Phase four results
1) Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL), in 4:02:21
2) Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike)
3) Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor Pro Cycling)
4) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek)
5) Kaden Groves (Alpecin-DECEUNINCK)
6) Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondialle)
7) Paul Magnier (Sudal-Quickstep)
8) Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers)
9) Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5)
10) Enrico Zanoncello (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), all at the same time
General classification after phase four
1) Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), in 11:44:31
2) Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +7 ”
3) Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) +14 ”
4) Brandon McNulty (VAE team Emirates-XRG) +21 ”
5) Isaac del Toro (VAE team Emirates-XRG) +22 ”
6) John Ayuso (VAE team Emirates-XRG) +25 ”
7) Max Poole (Team Picnic PostNL) +33 ”
8) Antonio Tiberius (Bahrain Victorious) +34 “
9) Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) +36 ”
10) Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Collo-Hansgrohe) +40 “
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