Arnaud Démare earned his second straight stage victory and his third in this year’s Giro d’Italia by winning in another mass sprint on Friday, as João Almeida held on to the overall leader’s pink jersey.
Démare edged Peter Sagan, Michael Matthews and Fabio Felline at the end of the mostly flat 143-kilometre (89-mile) seventh stage from Matera to Brindisi. Démare, a French rider with the Groupama-FDJ team, also won the fourth and sixth stages, which also ended in mass sprints.
“The work my team did was amazing,” said Démare. “I waited a little bit and I launched my sprint at the right moment.”
Giro d’Italia
(@giroditalia)Démare doesn’t have rivals and wins the third sprint out of three in Brindisi. Watch now the Last Km!
Arnaud Demare non ha rivali e vince la terza volata su tre a Brindisi. Ecco l’ultimo chilometro!#Giro pic.twitter.com/Vw0Jed3gaY
There was little drama on Friday despite heavy crosswinds affecting some parts of the stage. Almeida of Deceuninck-Quick Step remains 43 seconds ahead of Spanish rider Pello Bilbao.
Saturday’s eighth stage is a 200km route from Giovinazzo to Vieste. The first half is mainly flat but there are two categorised climbs in the much more undulating second part of the stage.