\n<\/p>\n
Mads Pedersen held off Wout van Aert to claim his fourth stage victory of this year’s Giro d’Italia as Isaac del Toro extended his overall lead in the general classification. <\/b><\/p>\n
Pedersen powered through on a long uphill sprint towards the end of stage 13’s 180km route from Rovigo to Vicenza and was able to maintain a slender advantage over Belgian Van Aert, with Mexico’s Del Toro in third. <\/p>\n
“I went a bit earlier than I really wanted to but on such a hard uphill final like this sometimes it’s OK to go early because everyone has burning legs the last 100 meters,” said Denmark’s Pedersen.<\/p>\n
“I’m just happy with this one and adding another 50 points to the ‘ciclomino’ [sprint] jersey so let’s see how it goes.” <\/p>\n
Pederson is two wins away from the six stage victories managed by Tadej Pogacar in 2024.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Del Toro stretched his advantage in the battle for the pink jersey by earning a four-second bonus for the stage finish to add to the two seconds he collected in the intermediate sprint. <\/p>\n
The UAE Team Emirates rider is now 38 seconds clear of team-mate Juan Ayuso in the general classification race with Italy’s Antonio Tiberi in third, another 40 seconds adrift. <\/p>\n
Britain’s Simon Yates in fourth as he seeks his first Grand Tour triumph since winning the Vuelta a Espana in 2018. <\/p>\n
Saturday’s 14th stage is a largely flat 195km run from nearby Treviso to Nova Gorica across Italy’s border with Slovenia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n