Yates clings to Giro lead

PRATO NEVOSO, Italy: Giro d’Italia leader Simon Yates buckled then rallied as his rivals took turns to attack him on the final steep climb to a summit finish on stage 18, which was won by Germany’s Max Schachmann after a long breakaway.

As the main contenders came up the final 18km climb, long after the 24-year-old Schachmann had finished, defending champion Tom Dumoulin made the first bid to drop Yates, who initially stuck to his wheel with about 1.5km to go.

Then, on a gravelly surface devoid of tarmac, pre-race favourite Chris Froome launched a spectacular assault and was followed by Dumoulin and third placed Domenico Pozzovivo while Yates was unable to answer.

A haggard looking Yates dug deep however and limited the damage, crossing the finish line 28 seconds adrift of Dumoulin and Froome thereby maintaining half his advantage. Yates holds a 28-second lead over the Dutchman in the overall standings with two brutal mountain stages still to contest.

Pozzovivo is third at 2min 43sec and Froome remains fourth at 3 min 22 sec.Schachmann had been part of a ten rider escape group that opened a lead of over 14 minutes on the main contenders at the start of the final climb.The Quick Step man won easily in the end, a fifth stage on this Giro for the Belgian team, as he outsprinted Spain’s Ruben Plaza.