Italian Lorenzo Fortunato (Eolo-Kometa), who had never won a race before, won the 14th stage of the cycling Tour of Italy on Saturday at the finish at Monte Zoncolan near the Austrian border. The Colombian Egan Bernal (Ineos), first of the favorites at the top, reinforced his pink leader's jersey in the fog and the cold. On the terrible slopes of Zoncolan, up to more than 20%, Fortunato, a young Italian of 25, beat the Slovenian Jan Tratnik by 26 seconds and the Italian Alessandro Covi by 59 seconds. At an altitude of 1730 meters, Bernal, 4th in the stage at 1 min 43 sec, took time from all his rivals. He left the Briton Simon Yates (11 seconds apart) on the last slopes, which he had been the only one to follow in the last 1,500 meters, the steepest of this climb.
Giro d'Italia 2021 - Stage 1⃣4⃣
Cittadella - Monte Zoncolan
@lorenzfortunato
@JTratnik
@ AlessandroCovi # Giropic.twitter.com / kV8jVF4nzE
- Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 22, 2021
The Russian Aleksandr Vlasov, whose Astana team ensured the pursuit behind the breakaway of the day formed in the first kilometers, let go in the final and lost more than a minute on Bernal.
The Belgian Remco Evenepoel yielded for his part 1 min 30 sec to the Colombian.
In the general classification, the wearer of the pink jersey now precedes Simon Yates by 1 min 33 sec and the Italian Damiano Caruso by 1 min 51 sec.
“I never imagined winning here,” said Fortunato, who runs for the team led by former Giro winner Ivan Basso.
Sunday, the 15th stage, 147 kilometers long between Grado and Gorizia, includes a cross-border circuit (Italy and Slovenia) to be done three times before reaching the finish.
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