Alberto Dainese (Team DSM) has come of age at his home Grand Tour today; the 24-year-old Italian putting in the sprint of his life at the end of stage 11 into Reggio Emilia to take the victory.
It was the first Grand Tour win of his career and the sheer speed he crossed the line - visibly much faster than his rivals - suggest there is a lot more to come from the 2019 European U23 road race champion.
He has finished on the podium three times on stages at last year's Vuelta - 2nd once and 3rd twice - but has not stepped up onto the top step of the podium. Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) looked like he may finally take the victory until Dainese came around him just before the line.
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Simone Consonni (Cofidis) was 3rd, Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) 4th, Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) 5th and Mark Cavendish (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) in 6th.
Dainese was about 10th rounding the final, left hand, corner. Demare was the first to pull the trigger, coming out of the corner, with Gaviria right on his wheel. However, while those two opened it up from a long way out, Dainese waited a little longer and kicked closer to the line, from about 8th position, to pass everyone on the left side of the road.
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While it looked like the stage would be decided between the winner and Gaviria based on their lunge for the line, a replay showed Dainese was the clear winning. His Team DSM squad had initially planned to sprint for Cees Bol, but switched to Dainese at the last minute.
More to come.
