After battling through the mountains, the sprinters would once again get their opportunity at the Giro d’Italia on stage 18 into Padova. With a parcours that predominantly headed downhill, the peloton kept the breakaway close throughout the day to ensure they wouldn’t be given too much leeway. However, with the gap kept close there were counter attack attempts from the peloton at around 60 and 40 kilometres to go. Yet, they were quickly put out and the status quo resumed. In the peloton Team dsm-firmenich PostNL looked after finisher Tobias Lund Andresen, with the climbing group doing their best throughout the stage. Coming into the finale, Chris Hamilton dropped Lund Andresen off before Romain Bardet came forward and pulled Lund Andresen up as the race charge towards the flamme rouge. It was a hectic and chaotic finale, with multiple twists and turns on narrow roads. Unfortunately, Lund Andresen lost positions in the chaos and when he opened up his sprint it was from far back and into the wind, ultimately crossing the line in 16th place on the stage.
Speaking at the finish Lund Andresen said: “The guys did what they could do to position me with Chris dropping me off at around five kilometres to go. Romain then came up and did a nice job in the last couple of kilometres. In the end I was unfortunately on the wrong side and had to go slow for the last corner and was pushed out of the wheel I wanted to follow. From there I ended up having to ride into the wind the whole time and I never really caught any momentum. We’ll try again on the final day into Rome.”
