Unstoppable Fernando Gaviria sweeps past Sam Bennett to take Giro d'Italia stage 13 victory

Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) took an incredible fourth stage win of the 2017 Giro d'Italia as he comprehensively out-sprinted Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) on stage 13 to Tortona.

The Colombian sprinter was poorly positioned going into the final 300m, despite his Quick-Step Floors team working hard to battle with Bora-Hansgrohe on the front of the peloton.

Bora-Hansgrohe once again performed a near-perfect lead-out effort as they put Bennett in a prime position to take his first Grand Tour stage win, with the Irishman unleashing his sprint at the perfect moment for 200m to go.

>>> 'He's a superstar of the future': Is Fernando Gaviria's Grand Tour debut one of the greatest ever?

At that point Gaviria was so far back that he was barely in shot from the helicopter camera, but the Colombian picked the perfect line down the right of the road as he swept past team-mate Maximiliano Richeze and a frustratedly boxed-in Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott).

That move enabled him to carry plenty of speed into the final 150m, where he overhauled Bennett 25m before the line, raising his arms in celebration to continue his dream Grand Tour debut.

As for the overall contenders, there was no change at the top of the general classification, with the riders happy to save their legs for Saturday's summit finish to Oropa

How it happened

Stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia saw the riders face the prospect of 167 tediously flat kilometres from Reggio Emilia to Tortona, with four riders going clear with the first attack of the day.

They were Pavel Brutt (Gazprom - Rusvelo), Matej Mohoric (UAE Team Emirates), Vincenzo Albanese (Bardiani-CSF), and Johann Van Zyl (Dimension Data), although Van Zyl was called back to the bunch, presumably on team orders.

With this probably being the last chance for the sprinters to grab a stage win at this Giro, the break were only allowed a very short leash, enjoying a maximum advantage of just two minutes.

That was never going to be enough for them even survive close to the finish, and as the sprinters' teams started to get organised the break was caught with 22km remaining.

From there the race remained very controlled as no team came to the front to raise the pace, the bunch spread right across the wide road into Tortona as they rode into a headwind.

>>> Geraint Thomas abandons 2017 Giro d'Italia

Finally, with five kilometres remaining, the Bora-Hansgrohe and Quick-Step Floors trains began to form on the left of the peloton and the speed began to increase.

As was the case on stage 12, Bora-Hansgrohe had their entire team on the front in support of Sam Bennett, having a drag race with Quick-Step on the opposite side of the road.

But under the flamme rouge and Bora continued to control the front of the group, with Gaviria detached from the back of the Quick-Step lead-out train.

All looked set for Bennett to finally take his first win of the race, and he was put in a perfect position with 200m to go, but there was nothing to be done about the brilliant Gaviria, who seemed to have an extra gear compared to the rest of the sprinters, comfortably winning the stage.

Results

Giro d'Italia, stage 13: Reggio Emilia to Tortona (167km)

1. Fernando Gaviria (Col) Quick-Step Floors, in 3-47-45

2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe

3. Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

4. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

5. Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data

6. Rüdiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe

7. Sacha Modolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

8. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott

9. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal

10. Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, all at same time

General classification after stage 13

1. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Team Sunweb

2. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 2-23

3. Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 2-38

4. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ, at 2-40

5. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 2-47

6. Andrey Amador (CRc) Movistar Team, at 3-05

7. Bob Jungels (Lux) Quick-Step Floors, at 3-56

8. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale, at 3-59

9. Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team, at 3-59

10. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin, at 4-17

Others

12. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned) Team LottoNL-Jumbo, at 6-07

15. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott, at 6-56