Juan Pedro López fights to give Giro d'Italia a perfect ending: "Keeping the jersey will be a daily challenge"

Juan Pedro López lost 2:43 minutes to the peloton yesterday at the Giro d'Italia despite the best efforts of Trek - Segafredo to bring him back, a costly mistake however one that may no be deadly to his ambitions in the closing of the race.

“Keeping the jersey will be a daily challenge. Today was a complicated day, I lost some precious time but that’s part of the game," the leader of Trek - Segafredo said at the end of the stage yesterday. The flat stage into Treviso was on paper a day to recover towards the final mountain stages, however it became the opposite as the Spaniard was caught behind a split and, with the peloton on full speed trying to catch the breakaway, lost important time.

López found himself in the unexpected position of being back in the lead of the youth classification after João Almeida tested positive for Covid-19 and abandoned before the start of stage 18. This is now the main goal for the Spaniard, who admits it won't be easy to keep: "I have to accept this and turn the page. Until Verona it will be a daily fight.”

The three remaining stages of the race will all be challenging. López is on great form and is sitting in ninth place at the start of the ninth stage. Despite yesterday's loss, he still has a buffer of five minutes over Santiago Buitrago - his most direct competitor.