Enrico Battaglin (Team Lotto NL-Jumbo) took his revenge at Santa Ninfa after losing his duel to Tim Wellens at Caltagirone yesterday. By winning an uphill sprint against Giovanni Visconti(Bahrain-Merida) who was racing on home soil in Sicily, Battaglin extended his Giro d’Italia account to three after he won stage 4 in 2013 and stage 5 in 2014 with his first success for the Dutch team he joined in 2016.

It’s also the third Italian stage victory in only five stages this year. Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) retained the Maglia Rosa for the fourth consecutive day on the eve of the first summit at the Etna.

STATISTICS

  • Three Italian victories in the first five stages: which hasn’t happened since 2009 when Alessandro Petacchi took Stages 2 and 3 and Stefano Garzelli won Stage 4.
  • It’s the 11th podium for Giovanni Visconti at the Giro d’Italia. He was also second on Stage 8 to Peschici last year and on Stage 13 to Cividale del Friuli two years ago. His last stage win at the Giro was on Stage 17 to Vicenza in 2013.
  • It’s the first podium at the Giro for JosĂŠ Gonçalves. The only Portuguese stage winner at the Giro d’Italia so far is Acacio Da Silva whose last success was on the Etna in 1989.
  • Rohan Dennis took the 27th Maglia Rosa for an Australian rider and the 70th leader’s jersey in a Grand Tour (34 at the Tour de France, 9 at La Vuelta). The first Australian to lead a Grand Tour was Phil Anderson on 30 June 1981 at the Tour de France in Saint-Lary-Soulan.

FINAL RESULT
1 – Enrico Battaglin (Team Lotto NL – Jumbo) – 153km in 4h06’33”, average speed 37.233km/h
2 – Giovanni Visconti (Bahrain – Merida) s.t.
3 – José Gonçalves (Team Katusha Alpecin) s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1 – Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team)
2 – Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 1?
3 – Simon Yates (Mitchelton – Scott) at 17?

Complete Rankings.

JERSEYS

  • Maglia Rosa(pink), general classification leader, sponsored by Enel – Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team)
  • Maglia Ciclamino(cyclamen), sprint classification leader, sponsored by Segafredo – Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors)
  • Maglia Azzurra (blue), King of the Mountains classification leader, sponsored by Banca Mediolanum – Enrico Barbin (Bardiani CSF)
  • Maglia Bianca (white), young rider general classification leader, sponsored by Eurospin – Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors)

PRESS CONFERENCE
The stage winner Enrico Battaglin said: “After my second stage victory at the Giro d’Italia in 2014, I haven’t been as consistent as I wanted. In 2015, I had a very bad crash from which I have never completely recovered. In 2016 I had a good Giro at the service of Steven Kruijswijk who was still leading with two days to go. Every Giro I did was positive, I was only missing a personal victory in the past four years. I’ve fought to come back to my best level. Yesterday I made a small mistake in the finale but I had good legs and it was confirmed today. Stage 11 to Osimo is similar to today’s. There will also be mountain stages that I’ll try to win from a breakaway.”

The Maglia Rosa Rohan Dennis said: “Today it was pretty calm compared to yesterday. I was pretty relaxed. I felt good from 2 to 1km to go. Had a split occurred, I could have closed the gap. I’ve gained confidence. Tomorrow will be a very important day in my four-year plan to become a Grand Tour contender. It’s a big test to see if the work in my training has gone the right way of if we need to change something in my preparation. If I can’t hold the pace of the best climbers, I’ll ride my own pace at my own limit like I did at the Tour de Romandie. I know the Etna. I’ve done every ascent in a training camp. The way we use tomorrow is the hardest at the bottom, then it gets easier. I hope to keep the Maglia Rosa.”

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