Asgreen wins and Del Toro pads Giro lead as rain brings down rivals

Nova Gorica, Slovenia: Kasper Asgreen grabbed a stage victory and Isaac Del Toro increased his overall lead on Saturday after several leading rivals were slowed by a crash as rain ruined Primoz Roglic´s parade on the Giro´s day out in Slovenia.

A largely flat 195km run from Treviso in Italy to Nova Gorica was set up for another mass finish, but the rain-slicked roads provoked a mass pileup that split the peloton and toppled the hopes of several favourites including local hero Roglic.

Mexican Del Toro, who had been looking over his shoulder at UAE team-mate Juan Ayuso, increased his lead to a more 1min 20sec as Simon Yates jumped to second overall.

Agreen was one of the fallers but bounced up and set off on the right side of the split with less than 20km to go after riders piled up on a cobbled corner entering the final loop round Nova Gorica for the first time.

“That´s not how you want to take time off the others. But that doesn´t change anything for me,” he said at the finish.

Giulio Ciccone, who started the day in seventh overall, hurt his knee and took a long time to get moving again. By the end he had lost 15 minutes.

Antonio Tiberi, in third overall before the crash, was slow to remount and, with three waiting team-mates, time-trialed desperately after the pack to finish two minutes behind Algreen.

The Dane was part of breakaway that was nursing a 28-second lead until the crash split the peloton and ended the chase.

Of the leaders in the overall standings Mexican del Toro, Englishman Yates, Canadian Derek Gee and Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz were in the leading group.

As the group passed the same spot on the next circuit, Del Toro lost control of his back wheel and only stayed upright after an alarming slide round the corner.

Asgreen, the loan survivor of the original breakaway, finished 16 seconds ahead of his closest pursuers.

“It´s frustrating to have to completely destroy yourself like that to win a race, but when it works, it´s absolutely worth it, so I´m incredibly happy,” he said at the finish. Kaden Groves edged fellow sprinter Olav Kooij in a battle for podium places and points with Del Toro and Yates rolling over in their slipstreams.

Roglic, who started the day in fifth, and Ayuso, who had been second, were 1min 4sec behind Asgreen. Ayuso dropped to third, 1min 26sec behind his team-mate. Roglic stayed fifth but trails by 2min 23sec.

Tiberi lost two minutes and Ciccone finished 15 minutes down.

Agreen´s EF Education team-mate Carapaz jumped to fourth overall.

“The rain makes it harder for the bunch,” said Asgreen. “The final circuit was quite technical, and with wet roads it was even harder.”

On Sunday, the race heads into the Alps for a 219km stage from Fiume Veneto that includes the first-category climb up Monte Grappa, but after falling on Saturday several leading contenders have an unexpected mountain to climb in the standings.