Giro d'Italia: Jai Hindley wins summit finish at Blockhaus as Juan Pedro López keeps pink

BORA - hansgrohe's Jai Hindley was a surprise winner today at the Giro d'Italia, as the Australian climber stormed to the win at Blockhaus at what was the first real GC challenge of the race.

The fast start was complicated, however there wasn't too much battle in the peloton to form a breakaway. Natnael Tesfatsion and Eduardo Sepúlveda (Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli), Diego Rosa (EOLO - Kometa), Joe Dombrowski (Astana Qazaqstan Team), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost), Nans Peters and Felix Gall (AG2R Citroën Team), James Knox (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) and Filippo Zana (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè) went up the road, but were never given much freedom as Trek - Segafredo and INEOS Grenadiers controlled the stage.

There was a lot of incoordination in the group from early on as the gaps shortened. Diego Rosa, Nans Peters and Joe Dombrowski stood apart in the Passo Lanciano, together with Tesfatsion who crashed in the downhill. Dombrowski was the final survivor, but was caught just before the official start of the Blockhaus as INEOS Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates set a strong pace.

Sivakov and Porte set up an attack from Richard Carapaz which came with three kilometers to go, followed by Mikel Landa and Romain Bardet. The trio seemed equal in forces, slowly brought in by another trio coming from behind with João Almeida, Jai Hindley and Domenico Pozzovivo riding at the very best level.

There were several small moves, but the six riders couldn't distance themselves from the others, leading to a sprint finish atop the brutal ascent. Jai Hindley launched his move early in the sprint, and managed to have the power to keep the lead all the way to the line as Romain Bardet and Richard Carapaz took the remaining bonus seconds.

Wilco Kelderman suffered a mechanical, Simon Yates was dropped very early on in the ascent, and there were big gaps made to some riders. Juan Pedro López managed to survive in the pink jersey after a very strong performance.