Giro d’Italia: Breakaway rider Dries de Bondt claims his first Grand Tour win on stage 18

Breakaway rider Dries de Bondt claimed his first victory at a Grand Tour on stage 18 of the Giro d’Italia as Richard Carapaz retained the race lead.

Belgian De Bondt, 30, was in a four-man group that broke clear early in the 156km stage to Treviso.

Italy’s Edoardo Affini and Davide Gabburo came second and fourth with Denmark’s Magnus Cort in third.

The quartet’s resolve denied Mark Cavendish a chance to sprint for victory on the race’s last flat stage.

The result means Ecuador’s Carapaz continues to lead Australian Jai Hindley by three seconds as the race moves into its final three stages.

Hindley was distanced towards the conclusion of the stage after suffering a mechanical problem but with the incident happening in the final three kilometres he did not lose time overall.

However, Joao Almeida, who was fourth in the GC race, has withdrawn after testing positive for Covid-19.

The Portuguese rider lost more than a minute to race leader Carapaz in Wednesday’s mountainous stage to Lavarone. The rest of his UAE Team Emirates squad and staff have returned negative tests.

Cavendish, 37, was hoping for the opportunity to secure his 17th career win at the Giro having already won stage three, in Hungary.

However, his QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl colleagues and the other sprint teams were unable to reel in De Bondt’s group with Cavendish rolling over the finish line in eighth place alongside the other sprinters some 14 seconds later.

“The collaboration from the four of us was magnificent. Nobody skipped a turn. It was full, full, full,” De Bondt said.

“Everyone thought it would be a sprint, that it was written in the stars, but we made a plan, the four of us, and we stuck to it.”