The riders were grabbing for drinks and caked in salt marks from sweat as stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia finished in the sweltering heat of Cesano Maderno. After a week of grey skies and rain, the sun was a welcome sight when it finally came out, but the change of weather also ushered in a change of plan on the final transitional stage of the race.
All morning, debate had fizzed around the teams over whether stage 18 would be a breakaway day or a sprint day, and at one point, it looked like it was going to be both. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) all got in a large breakaway that got up the road, with the main peloton seemingly happy for these riders to battle it out up front, away from the GC riders taking a well-earned easier day.
